![]() |
These are my trips in the Trophy, so far this year. |
Posting my picks in hopes my fortunes change. My results haven't been great in the last several tournaments.
The Plan is to eat well again, thanks to Snatcher Herman. |
Thanks to recent changes at Fish Swami, it is easy to look up my history at places I have fished since 2011, the first year I seriously started logging my trips. I have fished three tournaments at Birch Lake and pre-fished two of those, for a total of five days on the lake. In 2016, it was also the first tournament of the year. The "heart" for May 31, 2016, was for a 33.5" pike I caught. The bass we got pre-fishing in 2016 were pretty random, and I kind of remember where we caught bass in the tournament. I will be pre-fishing the lake on Tuesday with my boater, Herman. It looks like the weather going in will be warm and stable going into the tournament. I suspect most fish will be post-spawn by next Saturday.
With four days left to fish, I have already broken my personal best record for most fish caught in April. The Silver Bullhead bite has also set an all time personal best with 370 silver bullheads caught in a year and counting. Silver Bullheads not to be confused with crappie, which I have had better years with because of ice fishing. The weather, which hasn't been too hot or too cold and lack of boat traffic because it is April are two of the main factors that have held the bite together for two weeks now. I did notice two male crappie beginning to turn darker last night. Hopefully, the silver bullhead bite will make it to next week.
My worst Day 1, so far this season.
I'm calling "Ice Out!" today, though I could not verify the fact in person. I didn't return from the cities with Mom in time to look. It was sunny and breezy out of the West, ice-breaking weather. If I find out at the DNR site that somebody says it went out on the 6th, I'll change the date of this post.
I gave a three-paragraph reply, which I will share in three separate posts. This is Part 3, and it is about me fishing in the Root River at Racine, Wisconsin, and the Pike River in Kenosha.
I didn't see any ice on Rock tonight, there definitely was ice on the North end of Platte. What a slushy drive tonight.
![]() |
MN Opener 1996 |
On IDO Outdoors Fishing Forums, one of the regulars was reminiscing about wade fishing in rivers, streams, and creeks in his childhood.
I gave a three-paragraph reply, which I will share in three separate posts. This is Part 1: Nine Mile Creek.
The first paragraph was about Nine-Mile Creek, a quarter mile from where I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota. I don't think I have a single picture of me ever fishing there. Maybe getting one fishing in my old stomping grounds is a future fishing goal in the making.
Nine Mile Creek in Bloomington, MN, was not much for fishing in my youth, or at least not in the stretch close to home in the Moir Park area. We might catch a sunfish, bullhead, or crawfish if we were lucky. There were two to three-pound carp around occasionally. And one summer when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old, I think they stocked the area with bass, but they may have been trout. They were about 8-10 inches long, and I never caught one of them. They swam as a school, and I spied them frequently in a particular bend in the creek. They seemed to be on the move quite a bit. When I got older, I caught a few pike and bass where Nine Mile enters Lake Normandale. I heard stories of huge pike, bass, and crappies coming out of Normandale. I favored wading and float tubing in Hyland and Bush, mainly Hyland, where I had better luck and there was more shore access, being fully surrounded by the park.