Wind City

I arrived at the GOMH by 7:30PM and it looked a bit windy out of the South. I was surprised no one was there fishing. I got out of the truck walked around back and when I cleared the truck I found out it was "a bit windy" all right; Try 25-30mph sustained. I tried to fish the SE and SE side but the wind was pretty much blowing straight in and there were white caps hitting the shore. After giving it about 10 minutes I headed to the North side. On my way I discovered my Rapala Measuring Board laying up on the road under the car barrier. I figured it had blown out of my bad, but it turns out I had left it there on Thursday night and Lantern Man put it up there hoping I would find it.

Anyway I got to the North side which is a bit protected and started flinging and I was rewarded with a 15" jumpin bullhead. I was very glad there wasn't going to be a skunk tonight. The bite gave me hope. A little while later I got another bite on the beetle spin and brought in this 22.5" Pike.

(Yeah I know, lousy pic. This was the best of the 4 I took)

A little after getting that fish Lantern Man showed up. He said it was pretty windy last night too. Said he got a 21inch 6lb+ jumpin bullhead last night, but it was the only fish he got. After about 10 minutes LM caught a small toothy bullhead. He fished for about 10 more minutes then went to try the South side in the wind. Just after he left I got a 26" toothy bullhead on the beetle spin. A little bit after that I had the beetle spin bit off and that was the end of the action. I think I left around 9PM.

DNF

Was in the Twin Cities for the day, didn't get back until 9PM and decided not to go out night fishing because I've been running all day on very little sleep (Not because of watching the Royal Wedding).

I may very well get up early tomorrow to see if there is any kind of morning bite.

FLW Pro Joe Thomas Blog Lucky Craft Giveaway

Surviving in the Reel World with Joe Thomas blog is giving away a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP in Aurora Black to a lucky Follower or Subscriber.

Joe has really taken to blogging and writes something almost every day. Go check his blog and get entered to win.

Tonight's Fishing Report

Nothin' But Jumpin Bullhead (For Me) over at the Bass Pundit Fishing Log Blog.

Hey Minnesota Do You Know This Guy?

This is outrageous!!! In the video is some A Hole harassing a fishermen on Pool 2 of the Mississippi River. The A Hole snags the guy who's filming the harassment's Shimano Curado 200e7 and St Croix Rod setup and when he drives off sends the expensive combo to the bottom of the river. That is the reason for the swearing.

If you think you know who it is send me an email at basspundit@hotmail.com and I will make sure his name gets passed on to the proper people.

I encourage all MN Sportsman to post this on Facebook, Minnesota Fishing Message Boards, or your blogs so this jerk gets caught and gets what is coming to him. How would you like it if someone did that to one of your best combo's?

Thanks!

Update: Apparently this guy lives on the river and they know where. Complaints have been made about him in the past. It also seems to be the case that the rod went overboard because the line got caught in the prop. The line should not have been in the water because you can only fish one line in MN on Pool 2. Both parties should have fines coming.

Sorta Slow GOMH!

Weather: Today was cool with intermittent snow throughout the day, overcast. Wind out of the North from 5-10.

I went and got minnows at Bear Traxx before they closed at 6:30PM and I was fishing by 6:45PM. I didn't get any bites in the first hour. Around 7:50PM I popped a 13.25" jumpin bullhead. About 15 minutes later I popped this 17.25" jumper.
That was all the minnows could get me, no silver bullheads tonight. I did miss a couple of bites.

"Dock Fishing" Angler Rights in Minnesota

Came across an excellent article spelling out the legal issues involved in fishing other people's docks from a boat in Minnesota.

Dock Fishing Rights and Obligations

I have been harassed by dock owners 5 different times, although the 1st time my fishing partner kind of had it coming. So far the people on Platte/Sullivan have all been cool, knock on wood.

In The Mail- Bait Monkey Edition

UPS Man!!!

So I waited and waited for Tackle Warehouse to have a 20% off sale, but the best they were going to give was 10% off on their Tax Rebate/Easter Sale. I know Bass Tackle Depot was at 15% off, but they don't carry any of my must haves so Tackle Warehouse it was. Here is the Bait Monkey's Packing list:
Think Tank Triggerfish Silver Shad
Think Tank Triggerfish Baby Bass (Backordered) I Have wanted the Triggerfish for several years now, but it simply has not been available until this year. I just hope it works right as that seems to be a problem with some of the baits being sold.
Lucky Craft Kelly J Jr. Ghost Baby Bluegill
Lucky Craft Kelly J Jr. Baby Bluegill (Backordered) I didn't realise until the package was on it's way that I was getting the Jr. and not the full size Kelly J. Hopefully the Jr. will cast well. It weighs 5/16th which is the same as a Berkley Frenzy Popper, but the Frenzy Popper doesn't have two propellers to slow it down.
10 Packs Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig in various colors
2 Packs Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper
Gambler EZ Swimmer

Can you tell which style of lure I'm adding to my arsenal this year? It's nice that Bassmaster Magazine has an article on fishing the RI Skinny Dipper this month.

Update "Easy Come Easy Go!": Actually this package arrived yesterday on Tuesday. So when I went out fishing last night I took the Triggerfish with me to play with it. I was able to make it perform all it's tricks. I was just about ready to put it away when I caught some brush on my back cast which caused me to backlash and the line snapped sending the lure quite a ways into the lake. There was a strong wind blowing out into the lake. I quickly rushed up to the car and got an outfit to try and cast to get it, but by the time I got back to the water I couldn't make out where it was with the chop on the water. That Sucks!!! Well as I say: Easy Come Easy Go! At least I ordered 2.

I think I am going to have to re-evaluate my topwater line because I have a number of lures that weigh a 1/2oz or more, which might be a bit to much for 14lb Fireline if the line suddenly stops on a hard cast.

Tonight's Fishing Report

Report at the Bass Pundit Fishing Log Blog (That is the blog dedicated to fishing reports)

WOW!!!

George Kramer takes a pot shot at Bryan Kerchal...

Seriously??? Had Kerchal lived I seriously doubt Kramer would be saying this, because that "amateur" would be a veteran Pro now. Two Classic appearances through the Federation isn't a cake walk and no doubt the Classic victory would have given him the bona fides to be a long standing fixture in the sport.

How many "no-name" players have World Series or Super Bowl rings or Golf Major Championships? Sorry, George but your reasoning on this example is stupid and disrespectful.

All Terrain Tackle Skip-N-Jig

Now this is a good idea.

I will probably buy a few if Gander or Reeds carries them.

First Things First

I headed out tonight at about 6PM and my first stop was Rock Lake. Last year the ice was off area lakes before April 1st. The Rock Dock didn't go in until May 6th. This year the ice was off Rock Lake on Tuesday April 19th and the dock was in today. Go figure that one out.

The Rock Dock didn't bring me any luck, not even a bite. I left at about 7PM to head to the Grumpy Old Man Hole.

I parked on the NE side and started fishing on the NE side, Nothing. I then headed to the SW side. I was throwing the Vampire Orange(Red/Black) Berkley Havoc Pit Boss for dogfish and on about my 3rd cast I got a 13.5" blind in one eye jumpin bullhead. I switched up to a beetle spin and caught a little toothy bullhead. About 10 minutes later I got a 16.5 jumpin bullhead on the beetle spin. A couple of minutes later I had a small toothy bullhead swipe at the beetle spin but not get it. Then there was nothing for a long time. I decided to try to put a 2" Storm Wildeye Shad on a beetle spin, didn't get any hits on that. It was starting to get dark and so I decided it was time to break out bobber with the pink Cubby Mini-Mite. I was working it just a little ways out and the bobber started scooting off. I set the hook and the fight was on. I pretty sure it was a nice, but not huge, jumpin bullhead, don't know for sure because it got off. A couple of minutes later in almost the same exact spot the bobber tipped over, so I set the hook. Sure enough a silver bullhead had just inhaled the Cubby. I didn't have a bucket with me so back it went.
. It got dark enough that I had to put a light on the bobber. After about 5 minutes with the light on the bobber started moving to my left, so I set the hook and got another silver bullhead that just inhaled the pink cubby. I had the bobber move off one more time but I missed it. I left a little after 9:30PM.

OH NO Not Again!

I started fishing at 6PM, nothing at Rock. Somebody put a bobber in a tree there today. Then I tried a few casts at Jenny's, nothing. So it was off to the GOMH. Nobody was there when I showed up at around 7:30PM. I decided to head to the NE side and fish into Platte. Pretty much nothing was going on and it was just about 8PM and I was throwing a Vampire Orange(red/black) Berkley Havoc Pit Boss trying for a dogfish. On one of my retrieves after I pulled the lure from the water there was a pretty good size boil that I thought was probably a fish, so I started pitching to the area. On about the 4th cast, something nailed it. I set the hook and the fish started moving up the current which was flowing into Sullivan. It felt like a good fish and just like that it came off. I inspected my line and it was frayed so I sat down and re-tied. I got back to pitching the area again and after about 10 casts something hit it. I set the hook and didn't get it. Once again my line was frayed so I had to retie. I pitched the area for about 5 minutes before I finally had another hit about in the middle of the channel. The fish was off before I could even set the hook. I kept working the area and had it hit really good. I rared back on the hookset, I felt the fish for a couple of seconds then it was off again. The Pit Boss was messed up on the hook and the Texas Rig Trailer Hitch I was using to keep the plastic in place was gone and once again the line was frayed. I retied and put on another Pit Boss, but I didn't get any more hits. The fact that it didn't break me off and I couldn't hook it, makes me think it was probably a dogfish. At about 8:30PM I switched to the SE side. Lantern Man and I think his daughter was fishing the SW side with minnows. They hadn't gotten any bites by the time I left when it was to dark to see my bobber.

Happy Easter!!!

Keith Green singing Easter Song.


Normally I don't blog about the Christian faith or my faith here at the main Bass Pundit blog (that stuff is done at Bass Pundit Preach blog), but Easter is a special day. Easter is the day we remember the greatest day in history or the biggest hoax ever perpetrated. Jesus either rose from the dead after being crucified or he didn't; the whole of Christianity hangs on this one point.

In the Bible Paul put it this way:
...and if Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins...If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
1 Corinthians 15:17,19

Was the witness of the Apostles bunk? The fact that their testimony cost almost all of them their lives and that the Jesus sect flourished despite harsh persecution seems to indicate it most probably was not.

James was caught by Herod, Herod captured Peter
They were sharin' Herod's outbreak of attacks upon believers
James would have to face the sword and Peter would escape it
They were not afraid of dyin'; they both knew that they could take it
Thomas preached in Babylon and India they claim
Then the local folks impaled him with a lance while he was prayin'
They were all about to die but they weren't thinking much about it
And their story didn't have a chance but none of 'em were doubtin'
Why oh why would someone die if it was just a hoax?
Why then take the awful risk to tell us Jesus rose?
Simple men from Galilee would not have spoken lies
To get enrolled in history books as martyrs for Jesus Christ
Simon died along with Jude from arrows, spears or crosses
Someone gave Bartholomew a skin-removal process
Some of them were stoned alive like James the son of Alphaeus
And their stories are the evidence that none of them were doubters
Why oh why would someone die if it was just a hoax?
Why then take the awful risk to tell us Jesus rose?
Simple men like you and me would not have spoken lies
To get well known in all the books as martyrs for Jesus Christ
A lot of guys were crucified for calling Him Messiah
Philip died and Andrew did and possibly Matthias
Peter's was a most unpleasant death for being Christian
They would turn him upside down and then go through with crucifixion
Paul he was beheaded probl'y Matthew did the same
Well, they threw off of the temple top the other guy named James
They were all about to die but they weren't thinking much about it
That's a gorey bunch of evidence that none of them were doubters
Why oh why would someone die if it was just a hoax?
Why then take the awful risk to tell us Jesus rose?
Simple men from Galilee would not have spoken lies
To get enrolled in history books as martyrs for Jesus Christ
The Song People by Apologetix

Bite Offs

Tonight I fished at the GOMH from 8:10PM till dark. Had plastic bit off on the Sullivan side, had my whole bait bit off on the Platte side.

Tommorrow the weather is suppose to be nice. Hopefully that will get the fish to move in.

Hmmm

Josh Douglas has emailed me, asking if we can start up the 2011 Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Bloggers Derby now. Wonder Why?
This toad went 6.60lbs and apparently Rich Lindgren got a 5.70lber.

I'm not going to start the Derby until May 28th, but I will think about putting in a rule making 5lb fish or greater caught where bass fishing is open legally retro-actively eligible. After all legal fish like that SHOULD count, even if it isn't fair to everybody.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Today's actual high temp. 43°F
Average high temp. is 58°F

Did Not Fish. I fell asleep at about 5AM this morning and didn't wake up until after 6PM. I suppose I could have gone out, but it's raining and the cold temps mean the fish probably did nothing about moving up today. I'll probably try tomorrow night, but it isn't suppose to be nice weather wise until Sunday.

Not Rockin!

Three consecutive days of Skunk. I think I missed a hit on both Tues. and Wed., but tonight I didn't even get a bite.

Off to a slow start this year and the weather which has been sucky for a week plus isn't going to take a turn for the better until Easter Sunday. Hopefully some bullheads will show up then. Maybe I'll do something about getting the boat ready next week if the weather shapes up.

I'm Confused

Is the MN Fishing Regulation Booklet wrong in regards to the legal date when bass fishing and muskie season opens in MN?

I just so happened to be looking around on the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes website and I was looking at the topic of BASS and I clicked on the link about seasons and this is what I found:
97C.395 OPEN SEASONS FOR ANGLING.

Subdivision 1.Dates for certain species. (a) The open seasons to take fish by angling are as follows:
(1) for walleye, sauger, northern pike, muskellunge, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass, the Saturday two weeks prior to the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to the last Sunday in February;

There is nothing written later about bass and muskie having a later date. According to my thinking the Statute is the State Law and holds more weight than the DNR's regulation if the two are in conflict, which they apparently are.

I've emailed the DNR a question about this, as well as my brother who is a freshly minted lawyer in the State of Minnesota.

Update: The DNR got back to me and in addition to the Statutes there are also "Rules" which apparently are also law, which are allowed to be more restrictive then a Statute or in rare cases if a Statute allows a Rule may be less restrictive. The relevent rule is 6262.0200A2 FISHING REGULATIONS FOR INLAND WATERS

Mercer With Prime Time Frog Action

It won't be long now.

Ice Out By Easter Update #8

Ice Out Platte Lake
Ice Out Sullivan Lake
Ice Out Bulldog Lake
The picture is the view from the Platte Lake public access. Yes there is ice there, but you could launch a boat because somebody did just that today. I didn't take a close look at Sullivan but it looked to be all the way open from the GOMH. Today's ice out makes this the 2nd latest ice out on Platte since I moved North in 2003.

The boat that launched on Platte was fishing at the GOMH on the Sullivan side. They said they hadn't caught anything and I didn't see them catch anything. I have been skunked the past two days in a row.

Updates from Minnesota Climatology:
Emily (Pope)out 4-18
Minnewaska (Pope)out 4-19

The last lake I'm following is Mille Lacs which has an average ice out date of April 24th. It should be later than that by a couple of days this year.

Dave Lefebre Jersey Up For Auction Again

Please consider bidding a significant amount of money for the Dave Lefebre Hoodie in the current Jerseys for St. Jude Auction. As you may recall this hoodie was up for auction before and I was the only bidder. I felt bad about the low amount of my bid as I would have hoped the hoodie would got for at least 4 times, what I bid. We made the decision to put it up for auction again in the hopes of raising a bigger pile of cash for the St. Jude Children's Hospital.

To bid just send an email with your name and the bid amount to jerseysforstjude@hotmail.com

Ice Out By Easter Update #7

Platte/Sullivan Area Lakes:
Rock- Ice Free
Long- Ice Free
Platte- 99% Ice Free
Bulldog- 80% Ice Free
Sullivan- Maybe 50% or more, not sure.

The wind today was enough for Rock. I would call Platte Open but the only remaining slab of ice is right out from the Platte Lake public access and for me to call the lake open I have to be able to get from the Public Access to our place on the East end of the lake and you can't quite do that yet. Probably tomorrow.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes this year for the docks to get in at the public accesses of my area lakes. Last year it took more than a month after ice out. In many other years they have been in within a week to a few days of ice out. I'm guessing last year the delay was because the DNR was not ready for the early ice out and all the area lakes were open by the time they started working on the docks and they prioritized them differently than normal.

New Lakes Open according to Minnesota Climatology:
Artichoke (Big Stone)out 4-17
Big Stone (Big Stone) out 4-16
Green (Kandiyohi)out 4-19

Fish Fair at Anoka County Fairgrounds

(Click to Enlarge)

Get yourself and the kids ready for fishing opener by going to the Fishing For Life Fish Fair at the Anoka County Fairgrounds Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7 (10 am to 9 pm both days)

For more info and online ticket sales see http://fishfair.eventbrite.com/

Ice Out By Easter Update #6

Platte/Sullivan area lakes.
Platte 80% Ice Free
Sullivan 35% Ice Free
Rock 90% Ice Free
Bulldog 20% Ice Free
It got cold last night and only got to 46 today with overcast skies and light winds. Tomorrow it isn't even suppose to get to 40 but it is suppose to rain/snow with a 13mph wind out of the East which will probably be enough to open up Rock. I suspect it's going to take a least until Wed. for Platte to fully open.

Latest from Minnesota Climatology:
Knife (Kanabec)out 4-16
Belle Lake (Meeker)out 4-12

Today's Agenda

Hopefully I have my computer anti-virus software issues straightened out now.

I will check the ice on area lakes and possibly do a little fishing.

Taxes

Follow the conclusion of FLW on Chic and the Elites at Toledo Bend.

Get my blog re-registered for the new Directory at the Outdoor Blogger Network.

Ice Out By Easter Update #5

Well it's gotten cool windy and kind of nasty out with very light rain. We might get a couple of inches of snow tonight. I checked out some area lakes today. On Platte the Bay with our lake place looked about 80% open. The big West public access Bay and the big middle bay still have lots of ice. Rock looked to be mostly covered however, the area by the access had enough open water that I actually think I would have a shot at catching something if I tried it. Bulldog looked to be about 5% open. Even with this cool weather I think the ice will be out by Tuesday at the latest.

Here are the lakes Minnesota Climatology has open since my last update.
Minnetonka (Hennepin)out 4-14
Lindstrom (Chisago)out 4-13
White Bear (Ramsey)out 4-13
Rush (Chisago)out 4-15
Buck (Todd)out 4-14
Cedar Lake (Morrison)out 4-15
Moose (Todd)out 4-14
Buck (Todd)out 4-14
Traverse (Traverse)out 4-13

Interesting that Traverse is out, but no word on Big Stone which is farther South. I believe Moose in Todd County is the farthest lake North.

Ouch Again!

Sure Day 1 in Fantasy Bass Fishing doesn't mean Jack Squat, but you can bury yourself pretty good.

B.A.S.S.
Klein 23rd
KJ 59th
Combs 64th
Rowland 71st
Reed 77th
Pathetic!!!

Advanced Anglers.com
Faircloth 4th
Alton 28th
Tieje 28th
KVD 41st
KJ 59th
Mediocre

FLW
Kenney 13th
Morgan 21st
Powers 30th
Strader 49th
Thrift 63rd
Coulter 67th
Lefebre 68th
Tharp 81st
Browne 124th
Baumgardner 142nd
Highly Mediocre!

FLW Advanced Anglers.com
Canterbury 14th
Morgan 21st
Powers 30th
Thrift 63rd
Lefebre 68th
Maybe there can be some Day 2 magic for this one.

Ice Out By Easter Update #4

Minnesota Climatology has added a new map (Google Map). It's a step up in terms of showing all the lakes they track, but visually I don't think it looks as nice as the other one. Right now the other one's page isn't working so I can't get a screen capture.

Anyway as of April 13th here are the new lakes I haven't mentioned yet.
Shaokatan (Lincoln)out 4-13
Waconia (Carver)out 4-13
White Bear (Ramsey)out 4-13
Peltier (Anoka)out 4-12
Prior (Scott)out 4-11
Dutch (Hennepin)out 4-10
Bald Eagle (Ramsey)out 4-13
Forest #3 (Washington)out 4-12
Gervias (Ramsey)out 4-11
Carrie Lake(Kandiyohi)out 4-12
Pearl(Stearns)out 4-13

The farthest North of these lakes is Pearl in Stearns which is located about 10 miles South of St. Cloud.

It wouldn't surprise me if Platte and my other area lakes are out this weekend, but I could also see it taking a few days longer. The ice will definitely be gone by Easter. If I had to pick a date for Platte, I'd say the Mon the 18th at this point.

Birds, No Bullheads

Today I headed out to the Grumpy Old Man Hole early because I wanted to watch Survivor and I had to tape American Idol. It was in the low 50's with sun and about a 10mph breeze out of the North. I got out around 3PM and fished to about 6:30. No luck on the bullheads. However I got multiple close up looks at Loons. A couple of times they came up right by my bobber. In addition to the loons were various ducks including hooded mergansers and some kind of tiny diving duck. The Loons seemed to be fishing as they didn't spend much time on the surface before diving again. Various Loons must have swam under water under the bridge about 8-10 times. I also saw a mature bald Eagle, another large raptor, maybe an Osprey, some kind of hawk, and some seagulls. Remarkably enough no red wing black birds have set up shop in the GOMH area yet.

Here is a Loon on the Platte side:

This shot was a Loon close up that was just a little late:

Here you can get a pretty good idea of just how much open water is on the South end of Platte Lake. Open to the small Island and about 1/3 of Channel in Bay. I would say the area of open water doubled from yesterday.
(Click Pictures to Enlarge)
On the Sullivan side the Platte River Outlet Bay is almost totally wide open.

Bass Pundit Blog Hoodie Jersey Proofs

My blog readers may recall I was the winning bidder for a Rayjus Custom Hoodie in a Jerseys For St. Jude auction.

Last week I got my first set of proofs for the jersey design back and this is what it looked like:

I asked for a few changes and they came back to me with this:

I liked it, so this is what I'm going with.
(click on the pics to enlarge them for a better view)

The Jersey should arrive in 4 to 5 weeks. I'm excited!!!

In the Mail- From OBN

Up pulled the Fed Ex Man, after the surprise on Monday, I remembered that I had a package coming from the Outdoor Blogger Network for a product review.

You may recall that the product is a foursome of the new Berkley Havoc Baits (Ike's Devil Spear, Klein's The Deuce (double tail grub), Skeet's Pit Boss, and B. Lane's Craw Fatty.

First impressions: The Devil Spear is an impressive piece of plastic, The Deuce not so much. The Pit Boss and Craw Fatty are kind of similar to one another; I think I'm going to have to do some reading about how they were designed to be used differently from one another. I noticed that Pit Boss's had slightly different head shapes from one another while the Craw Fatty's are much more uniform from one bait to the next.

I have decided I will review each bait separately. Look for those reviews to start sometime after the MN fishing Opener May 14th.

Bullheads Baby!!!

Today was delightful. Sun and it was almost to 70°F. I decided it would be a good night to hit up the Grumpy Old Man Hole (GOMH) and see if anything might have showed up. I left the house at about 7:20PM so I arrived about 7:30PM. There was open water on the Sullivan side beyond where I could see going towards the Platte River Outlet, but the PRO itself still has ice well along the Southern shore. The Platte side maybe had 5-8 acres of open water. The water is as high as I've ever seen it at the GOMH, almost all the rocks are under water on the SW side.

I started on the SW corner throwing a 2" Storm Wildeye Swim Shad. After trying that for a while with no luck, I had a hunch that I should go and try the Platte side of the bridge, so I went over to the NE side. On my very first cast to a spot that held lots of fish last year, it was bullhead on!!!

It was about 13" or so, I didn't measure it. I didn't have any luck and after about 10 minutes a young beaver started swimming around in the area and smacking it's tail every once and a while. I tried a few different things without any luck. At about 8:10PM I switched back to the SW side. Right before I switched sides another bigger beaver showed up.

Once again first cast, BAM BULLHEAD!!!

This one I did measure and it went a bit over 18". It wasn't very fat, so it might have been a male. After a few more casts with nothing I switched up to a Cubby Mini Mite under a bobber. I got a hit on that but missed it. Eventually it got to dark to fish around 8:35PM.

Nice to see my first fish of the year.

The Brianna (Bri) Palaniuk Bandwagon- All Aboard!

Brianna or Bri Palaniuk is the little sister of B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Champion and Elite Series Rookie Brandon Palaniuk. Her sparkling personality has gotten her noticed. It all started at the Bassmaster Classic when she was interviewed by Anglers Channel.com for some insight into how Brandon was doing. The people at Anglers Channel.com were obviously impressed and asked Bri to film a shoot with them down in Florida at the Citrus Slam. Also while in Florida Brianna got to do a Hook'd Up segment with Dave Mercer. The people with B.A.S.S were obviously impressed because they asked her to do some BassCam interviews at the Alabama Charge at Pickwick Lake. As Bass Parade blog reported her interviews were quite popular with the Internet audience. Brianna told me, "Being a correspondent of some sort has been my dream since I was a little girl." She also did an interview with Brandon for BassFIRST.com

Brandon has asked Brianna to stay and help him for the rest of the tour as a personal assistant and she is more than happy to do it. I kind of think she is having as much fun on tour as Brandon. She is hoping to do more stuff with B.A.S.S. but said at this point "nothing is in stone."

I highly encourage Bass Pundit readers to use Facebook to let the powers that be at B.A.S.S. (Jerry McKinnis, Angie Thompson, Dave Mercer, Zona, and the official B.A.S.S. Fan Page) know you would like to see more Bri.

Note- I have sent a link to this post on Facebook to Jerry McKinnis,Angie Thompson, Dave Mercer, Zona's Awesome Fishing Show, and B.A.S.S.., also sent a link to Don Barone.

FLW Blogs About Minnesota's Closed Bass Season

And you thought Wisconsin was weird Money Quote: There is some potentially good news on the horizon as a movement has begun to end the madness. The group “Minnesotans for an Early Bass Fishing Season” is growing in numbers and unifying its vision before presenting to the powers that be. Hopefully, Minnesota will recognize their hypocrisy and make May 14 the statewide catch and release bass opener. Because in the end, no one can tell me Wisconsin’s bass fishing is any worse than Minnesota’s. They just get to have more fun, which is what fishing is supposed to be about.

Go read the whole thing.

Personally I am of the view that all of the MN closed bass season should be open to catch and release fishing for bass. Making pre-spawn catch and release bass fishing illegal is asinine and done completely without any scientific justification in terms of conserving the resource.

In the Mail Today!

UPS man pulls into the driveway today and I wondered what this might be as I wasn't expecting anything. Sure enough he pulls out this little package for me.

Inside was a Big Bite Baits Dean Rojas Fighting Frog.
I vaguely remember Dean Rojas having some deal on Facebook about getting a free pack of the frogs.

Unexpected Surprise!

Ice Out By Easter Update #3

I'll start out with today's view from the GOMH out on to Sullivan.

Next is the view on to Platte Lake. I am surprised to see such a big area on Platte open, the ice hasn't even pulled away from the shore elsewhere around the lake.

This is the updated map from Minnesota Climatology.

Here is the current score from Minnesota Climatology, lots of action over the weekend thanks to warm temps and rain.
Sarah (Murray)out 4-10
Shetek (Murray)out 4-10
Albert Lea (Freeborn)out 4-8
Clear (Waseca)out 4-10
Fountain (Freeborn)out 4-8
Loon (Waseca)out 4-8
Madison (Blue Earth)out 4-10
St Olaf (Waseca)out 4-9
Sakatah (Le Seuer)out 4-10
Shields (Rice)out 4-10
Tetonka (Le Sueur)out 4-10
Cannon (Rice)out
Zumbro (Olmsted)out
Gervias (Ramsey)out 4-11
Calhoun (Hennepin)out
Harriet (Hennepin)out
Kohlman (Ramsey)out 4-10
Lake of the Isles(Hennepin)out
Medicine (Hennepin)out 4-10
Phalen (Ramsey)out 4-11
I believe Medicine is the farthest North of these lakes. Judging by this I would guess most Twin City lakes will go sometime this week. Lakes up here look pretty solid for now. I'm thinking sometime mid next week. With all the open water at the GOMH, I could be catching fish this week if I'm lucky.

Winning Bidder Chicken Dinner!

This morning on my Facebook newsfeed there was a post about the Jersey for St. Judes silent auction for a Dave Lefebre autographed hoodie. The previous auctions were done on Ebay and had various levels of success. The post on my newsfeed said they didn't have any bidders in the silent auction they were doing for this one through the blog. I thought what the heck, I'll put in bid. It just so happened that I was the only bidder.

Here's the thing, I would love to have that hoodie but my bid was under $60 and I would think if it had been on an Ebay auction it would have gone for $150 or more. Paul Strege, the guy behind Jersey's for St. Jude gave me a call to let me know I had won and I let him know I didn't feel right about getting the hoodie at the price I bid. So Paul is going to talk with Dave about what to do and the hoodie will probably go up for auction again.

I suppose I could pitch in a bit more money, but my top floor would still be significantly less than I think the hoodie is worth and I really want the maximum amount possible to go to St. Judes.

I'm sure I'll have an update about how things shake out.

Alton's Power Pole Harpoons Dead Carp!

This is the kind stuff you get by being a fan of Alton Jones on Facebook.

Spring Note- Lilah is Shaking

No they are not dropping bombs at Ripley. First Thunder of the year.

Went outside to work the sump pumps and there was a muskrat in the window well with the water. Glad it wasn't a skunk or bear. Eventually the little guy made an escape. Hopefully he will not find his way into our house like the one last Fall.

Hmmm I could have sworn I blogged about that muskrat last fall. Must of only Facebooked it, cause I found nothing. Anyway here is a picture of the one we caught in the living room in late October last year.

Elite Series Pickwick Lake

(Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina)

I haven't had anything to say about this one, so I haven't. My fantasy performance was even worse than usual.
B.A.S.S.
Herren 21st
Kvd 22nd
Chapman 55th
Vinson 64th
Walker 66th

Advanced Anglers
Kvd 22nd
Skeet 37th
Short 45th
Kennedy 59th
Biffle 71st

Hopefully we will see more of Brianna Palaniuk. Her brother Brandon now has a Facebook page. Unfortunately I missed Brianna's interview with Mercer.
Update: Apparently the interview with Mercer was done at one of the Florida stops.

Congratulations to Davy Hite on his big win!!!

Spring Note- Frog ON!!!

Tonight I heard frogs calling for the first time.

Trouble!

This is the picture of a topwater frog waiting to get bit off or torn up.

In the Mail: Bass Zone.com Stuff

The package arrived as I was watching Bass Zone.com Wide Open this morning.


Here is the SCORE!
Bass Zone.Com hat
6 Pack Lazer Trokar 3/0 EWG Worm hooks
5 Pack Lazer Trokar 4/0 EWG Worm hooks
5 Pack Lazer Trokar 4/0 EWG HD Worm hooks
Lazor Trokar sticker and PR literature
1/2 White/black/red Booyah Blade Spinnerbait
30lb 75yrd sample Spiderwire Stealth Braid
4 Pack of 5" Yum Money Minnow
Pack Yum Live Prey Technology Lizard Watermelon Candy
Pack Yum LPT 6" Dinger Pumpkin Purple
Pack Yum LPT 5" Dinger Watermelon Seed
Pack Yum LPT Craw Papi

How did I get all this stuff? Simple, just called into the Bass Zone.com Wide Open hotline and was on the show.

THANK YOU BASS ZONE!!!

Ice Out By Easter Update #2

Minnesota Climatology Reports April 7th:
Lake Pepin (Wabasha County) 4-3 Ice Out
Budd (Martin County) 4-6 Ice Out
St. James (Watonwan) 4-7 Ice Out

Partial Cover:
Albert Lea Lake
Fountain Lake
Cannon Lake
Zumbro Lake

Weather is suppose to be above average temps with some rain. New lakes should be popping up every couple of days.

I Did Go

OK this isn't getting posted till the AM of the next morning, but the date reflects the day I was out Thursday April 7th.

I headed out to the Grumpy Old Man Hole(GOMH)

There was about a football field worth of open water on the Sullivan side.

I was actually surprised to see Platte this open.

As I promised I brought a few rods and did some fishing.
The water level is up about a foot from where it was on March 21st but there wasn't much current and the flow was actually into Platte. I didn't get any bites, but I saw a beaver and several muskrats, ducks, and quite a few geese.

Spring Note:

The cat got Simon this morning, looks like the Chipmunks won't be putting out any more albums or movies.

A Unique Spinner

This is a unique bait and not many fish have probably seen it. Clicking on the banner will take you to their website.

Ha!!!!

Looks like Cyberfish got himself in a little trouble. Wonder why he didn' blog about this? Or maybe he just didn't get to it yet.

Hat Tip: Greg Clusiau of Life and Times in the Great Outdoors.

Update: The Story at Fish Chaser...

Singing the Blues

Lanier Hang Over is the PAA tournament recap from Matt Peters of fishwithmatt.com blog. It's interesting because he was working with Troy Morrow who had a good tournament.