Bass Opener Day 3

Because it's Memorial Day weekend the Minnesota Bass Opener is a 3 day affair.

Today my lower back was giving me issues and I wasn't sure if I was going to get out. It was cloudy and breezy out of the SE. I eventually did get out on Platte Lake around 4:30PM. I headed East.

I started on a few docks that are usually unproductive and they lived up to expectation. After wasting 20 minutes I finally got into more productive water and nabbed this pike off a dock on a small black/red Hart spinnerbait.

As you can see I'm sporting my new cantaloupe Columbia Men's Airgill™ shirt with homemade hoodie. Columbia sent me the shirt to try along with some Drainmaker™ shoes. Today was in the 80's and humid, but with the breeze that Airgill shirt worked it's magic and I wasn't the least bit hot even with the sleeves down. I'm loving the shoes as well and they arrived none to soon as I've been getting my feet wet the past few days.

Anyway I made my way West and was into a good area and I popped this 16" on the Hart spinnerbait.
A little after that I got a 14.25" largie on the chart tiger Stanley Phantom topwater. Next I popped a couple of pike on the white Havoc Grass Pig, losing the Pig on the 2nd pike. I put a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper on the 1/4oz weighted 5/0 Moaner Stroker Hook. I won those Moaner hooks earlier this year. It sure is nice to get to try something and see how it works for free. I popped one more bass on the Hart Spinnerbait, then I had a small pike destroy the spinnerbait. At that point I decided to head back East. I had my red shad Zoom Super Fluke bit off on the very first dock. It's possible I broke my line on the boat lift, but I think it was probably a pike.

As I worked my way West a guy came out to fish on his dock and got a crappie. I went around him and missed a fish, I think it was a bass, on the Cane Thumper. I covered an area that usually has rice and pads, but none were to be seen and no fish were there. Finally I got to some more docks. I popped a 15" largie on the PB&J Yum Wooly Bug along with an 11+" and a 12". That was the end of the PB&J bait so I tried a orange crawdad Yum Wooly Bug and got a 12" on that. I was in the wind and struggling with boat control thanks to my broken trolling motor bracket. I did pull a 12" and 14.25" off docks with the Cane Thumper as I drifted by.

I made a move, a little later than I should have to Loon Sex Bay. I started working the Phantom and had a couple of misses on that before I connected with a 14" largie. I was covering water quickly and I decided to give the Cane Thumper a try and that paid off with a pike and 3 ok sized bass. I think I figured out how to set the hook on those swimbait bites. It's kind of a surging sweep set. I left the fish biting as I had to get back and get the boat on the trailer before it got to dark.

I stopped at the GOMH on the way home and didn't get a bite.

So that was
13 Bass
6 Pike

All told for Bass Opener weekend this year I landed 51 bass and 39 pike.

2011 Bass Opener Day 2

I got out at around 3PM. Lots of people out on the lake today. It was pretty much overcast the whole time. Right about 9PM it rained for a little bit. There was a light breeze out of the NE.

I put in at the Platte Lake Access and headed North. Right after I stopped I saw a fish swirl, so I casted over there and was rewarded with a 14" bass on the PB&J Yum Wooly Bug. I had another bite and it felt like a good fish but it didn't hook up and that was the end of that. I switched to a white Stanley Phantom(spook) and nailed a pike right away on that. I had a few more hits on the Phantom maybe catching one more pike and a bass. I followed up a miss with a red shad Zoom Super Fluke and got a decent bass. On the next cast it got bit off. I cast out again and the Fluke got ripped right off the hook. I tried a pink X-Rap and got a few pike on that. I switched the Phantom to a chartreuse tiger and got a 16 bass right away. Then I nailed this 18.5"


Low and behold I looked down the way and saw the brown Tuffy of Bass Pundit blog reader Mike B. We chatted for a while. He told me a few things. He had mostly been getting pike and the bass were spread out. He went South and I continued North. I kept fishing the chart Phantom and was rewarded with a good bass every so often and there were several missed hits. I think I might have had 2 dogfish follows, but I couldn't get bit on a follow up bait. In one particular spot I got 3 bass in close succession. It started to rain and that was the end of the action.

I didn't have anything to write on but I think the official count was:
14 Bass (2 Wooly Bug, 2 Fluke, 10 Phantom) I had several 15 inch bass.
7 Pike

2011 Bass Opener Day 1

It's that time!

I was not a spring chicken and didn't get to the launch until after 6AM. I wasn't fishing until about 6:45AM and much to my surprise I couldn't see anyone at the spot. As I was getting set up there was a red Lund heading my way. There was a bit of a SW breeze and I got blown towards the North Shore. I ran the trolling motor to get back towards the South shore. As the boat approached he was headed to go between me and the South shore. I yelled and pointed for him to go around the other way. I lined up my first cast of the morning with a white Stanley Jigs Phantom(spook) . Next thing I know the red Lund is passing between me and the South shore and headed right to where my bait is sitting. I was not happy, so I yelled at the guy (I have this on video and will post it when I figure out how to post to Youtube). Anyway if there were fish there, there weren't any longer. In the video if you look close you can see he drives right over where my lure was sitting, before I reeled it in.

Fishing the area I had one hit on the Phantom but it didn't hook up. Next bait in the quiver was a Havoc Lane's Grass Pig (Dipper). I could feel fish hitting it but they didn't hold on so I could set the hook. Next I tried a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper and had a fish hit that and not hook up. I went subsurface with a PB&J Yum Wooly Bug and finally I got a bass.

It was only 11.25". A couple of casts later I got my first "keeper" at 15".

I caught a few more fish but it was slow. Eventually the red Lund came back out of the river. I asked them if they caught anything and the guy swore at me, so I'm guessing that is a no. I could see another boat in the river fishing it's way towards me. They said it was really slow and only got a couple of small fish. I had to see for myself and they were right. The one notable thing is that I caught my first Dipper fish. Actually I got two, one on an unweighted set up and one on a weighted hook. Both fish smacked it and held on.

Eventually I left the river and went to fish the greater Pro. I was throwing the white weighted Grass Pig and I had it get bumped a few times but the fish were not taking it. Finally I had enough of that and switched to a black blue Pure Poison Chatter Jig and got a bass on that. After a while it became clear the fish just were not chasing so I started pitching the Wooly Bug to groups of pads. I was rewarded with my biggest fish of the day at 17.75".

I caught a few more and missed a couple of bites doing that. Eventually I went to where it was calm and looked for fish. Saw one good bass, a few average to small one's and one nice pike. Not a single dogfish. Eventually I got back into the wind and got one on the Pure Poison and an Orange Swim Jig with Havoc Devil Spear trailer. I got a few more hits that didn't hook up and on one of the hits the Spear tail came off. I switched the tail to a 4" pumpkin Action Plastics Grub and got a couple pike. As I was fishing down the shore a couple of guys from the Bass Snatchers came by. They were getting the lay of the land and hadn't started fishing yet.

I worked my way to the GOMH and into Platte where I got a 15.25" on the Pure Poison, along with a couple of pike.

I worked into channel in bay where it was calm and it was dead, not even panfish.

Eventually I worked my way into the Big West Bay. I tied on a baby bass Ninja Spinnerbait and the pike fest was on as I drifted the weed flat in the wind (and it was windy folks). I think I caught about 15 pike and two bass. Eventually I made a switch to a smaller black and red faux Ninja and the bass and pike evened out a bit. I think I finally narrowed down an area that was holding a few bass and I headed in.

It was an ordeal getting the boat trailered in that big wind on a NE shore access, but I did it and didn't break anything. I'm lucky I didn't swamp the boat and break stuff.

I ended up with:
24 Bass (Best 5:17.75, 16.25, 15.25, 15.25, 15)
26 Pike

Note: My "new and improved" trolling motor bracket didn't survive the first trip. I can still use it for now, but we are gonna need to try something else.

The Derby is Open!!!

This bad boy goes 6.60lbs and gets JoshDouglasFishing.com on the board first and his own rule.

Now rumor is Rich Lindgren also has a fish that qualifies under the Josh Douglas Rule, but I need a picture.

The 2011 BP MN Bass Blogger Derby Rules Are Up

You Know The Rules! (Actually there is a new rule that Rich Lindgren might want to pay attention too.)

Good Luck Bloggers!!!

NO! Not A MN State Record Bass

(Photo: Star Tribune)

The Star Tribune's head Outdoor Sportswriter Dennis Anderson asks "Was Bass a Record?" Supposedly the measurements on this fish were 23.5" Length and 21.5" girth. If those measurements were accurate it would no doubt be a record fish. However, I think the fish's true length is 21 inches max and probably isn't even that. Yes, it's good fish but I don't know that it's 6lbs, let alone 9+.

Congratulations Dennis, you got me to blog about it.

Derby Is ON!!!

I got to get my act together. MN Bass Opener is Sat and I don't have the Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Bloggers Derby blog reloaded for 2011.

In the Mail: Take Me Fishing Stuff

There was a knock at the door and it was the FedEx man with this:
As soon as I saw the box I figured it was the stuff I had won from the Outdoor Blogger Network via takemefishing.org

I knew all of the stuff I was getting and had a general idea in my mind about what it would look like. This is the actual stuff:

To be honest it was a bit less than I expected. I thought the tackle box was going to be something more than a small utility box. I thought it was going to be a full sized kids tackle box that would be perfect for me nieces who I just gave fishing rods for Christmas. I also expected the Flip Video camera to come with a more substantial amount of stuff. That Flip Video must be awfully simple to use because the instructions that came with it is bare bones.

Updated: It kind of looks like this free camera is going to be a boon for the people at Hatcams. I'm thinking about a hat, tripod, and neoprene protective cover.


I am not sure what I will do with the 2 kids fishing rods and reels. Right now I'm leaning towards sending them to a 5 year old niece in Florida.

Cry (Berkley) Havoc and Let Slip An OBN Product Review

I entered and was randomly selected by the Outdoor Blogger Network to do a product review on four Berkley Havoc baits.

If you were anywhere near the Bassmaster Classic this past February no doubt you heard about the new economy priced Berkley Havoc Plastics. If you weren't paying attention to the Classic and don't care about professional bass fishing maybe you haven't heard about them. For instance I am not aware of a store in my area in Central Minnesota that is carrying them Spring.

The four baits I received to review are the Bobby Lane designed Craw Fatty™, Gary Klein designed The Deuce™, Skeet Reese designed Pit Boss™, and the Mike Iaconelli designed Devil Spear™. These were the four baits rolled out for the Bassmaster Classic and as you can tell from the previous sentence Berkley B.A.S.S. Elite Series Pro Staff are being given credit for inspiring the designs of each bait. Could be marketing hype or could be the truth, I don't think it matters.

I don't believe the baits are suppose to be "scented" but a couple of reviews about the baits I've read suggested it smells somewhat like an old Powerbait formula. I guess I can't make up my mind if that is the case or not. If it does, the scent isn't very strong. The plastic on all the baits is soft, but not so much so that I would call it a wimpy weak formula thus the plastic is reasonably durable.

I will do my reviews in order of preference for the baits:

The Mike Iaconelli designed Devil Spear™.
The Devil Spear has to be the most original bait of this crop. The Devil Spear is 4 inches long and a serious piece of plastic that comes in at least 10 colors; I was sent a pack of June Bug and Green Pumpkin. The bait gets it name mostly from the unique ribbed spear shaped tail. The original intent for this bait was to be a compact bait good for punching heavy cover with a stout 5/0 flipping hook. However, when I saw the action of it's tail on a You Tube Video before I ever received the bait I was fixated on one thing and one thing only. I wanted to use the Devil Spear as a swim jig trailer and that's it. The ribbed spear tail's action is a dead ringer for the tail of a baitfish propelling the fish through the water. Rigged on a swim jig it gives an incredible baitfish profile and action just like I thought it would. It can also be rigged on a weighted swim bait hook and be used as a swim bait.

As a swim jig trailer I have only thrown the Devil Spear for about 30 minutes from shore. With the weight and compact stature of plastic you can throw even a light swim jig a very long ways; Swim jigs are definitely a bait where distance can matter. In the 30 minutes I caught a pike and a couple of bass and had a couple of other hits that came off. One thing that is nice is that you can rig up the Devil Spear out of 4 different sides on a swim jig which adds to it's shelf life.

From what I have seen I give the Devil Spear an A-.

The Bobby Lane designed Craw Fatty™

Aptly named the 4 inch Craw Fatty kind of reminds me of a hybrid semi-beaver/Chigger Craw. It's body is wide and thin with Chigger Craw arms. The body is detailed with little ribs, little legs off the side, raised eyes and two plastic strip antenna in-between the craw arms. The Craw Fatty comes in at least 10 colors of which I was sent black blue fleck and green pumpkin. Texas rig it, use it as a jig trailer, or chatter jig trailer is all good. I read somewhere else that it skips well and makes a serviceable topwater toad.

I used it as a a chatter jig trailer and this is some of what I caught on the black blue fleck:

I really like the Craw Fatty, I also give it an A-

Gary Klein designed The Deuce™
There isn't to much original or exciting when it comes to the The Deuce; It's a 3 inch double tail grub that Berkley says has an extended body to accommodate a bigger hook and specially designed twin tails that are suppose to move at very slow speeds. You couldn't prove either of those things by me because I just don't own many double tail grubs and the one's I do own are buried somewhere. It comes in 10 colors and I was sent smoke sparkle and green pumpkin. I used it on a ball head jig and as a swim jig trailer. No luck with it as a swim jig trailer, but the fish didn't seem to want a swim jig that day. I did catch quite a few fish either jigged or straight retrieved on the ball head jig, but the fish seemed to run small.

I think it's a reasonably good bait, so I'll give it a B-.

The Skeet Reese designed Pit Boss™
I guess you would call the 4 inch Pit Boss a creature bait. It's got kind of a very elongated tear drop shaped body with ribs that are mostly on one side and off the bottom it has two saber tails and two tails that come straight off the bottom. The saber tails give a lot of kicking action when pulled through the water. They come in at least 10 colors and Skeet gave some of them original names. I was sent California which is kind of a brown pumpkin with lots of red fleck and Vampire Orange which is black and red. It is designed to be a flipping bait, presumably Texas rigged and that is how I fished it. I was excited about Vampire Orange because black/red is a good bowfin color. So far I have given the Vampire Orange a workout and caught several bass and a couple of pike. I think I may have had 4 bites on it from a bowfin but I couldn't hook up. Sometimes hooking up was a problem with both a 3/0 wide gap or 4/0 wide gap hook. I tried it as a chatter jig trailer but wasn't impressed as the saber tails seemed to lose their magic. I think the bait is probably most effective when hopped a foot or two and then letting it fall with either a horizontal or vertical retrieve. Because of the saber tail action you can swim it as well.

I was least impressed with the Pit Boss so I'm giving it a C.

One great thing about all the Havoc baits is they are $2.99 a pack and can be found at Tackle Warehouse and Bass Tackle Depot.

Other reviews of these Havoc baits can be found at:
Lunker Hunt
Man Versus Fish

Disclaimer: The Berkley Havoc plastics were provided to me free from Berkley via the Outdoor Blogger Network. Other than the free product I was not paid to write this post and it is my honest opinion.

Visit to the GOMH

I'm trying to let my upper back heal up a bit so I haven't been fishing. Tonight I went to the Grumpy Old Man Hole but didn't bring a rod with. GOM Willard was there along with a couple of people fishing the SW side and a couple fishing the SE side. We had a lot of rain yesterday and the lake is now higher than it has been all Spring. A few lilly pads have come up to the surface and rice is starting to rise from the bottom about 12 inches or so. At normal water levels some would probably be at the surface. The channel buoys are in on Platte but not Sullivan for some reason. While Willard and I talked a few bullheads were brought it, mostly on the SW side. I saw a guy on each side get broken off by good fish as they had them almost landed. Occasionally a fish would whack something on the surface. One fish did it several times right below us. It was probably a big toothy bullhead or a dogfish; I saw a silhouette but I couldn't make out what it was.

The Bass Pundit Blog Hoodie Jersey

I absolutely hate wearing any kind of shirt that is on the small side. Therefore when I ordered my Jersey's For St. Jude Rayjus Hoodie I went big despite the fact that Rayjus stated their jerseys are on the big side for their size designation. Now that I have the Jersey I should have gone XL instead of XXL and possibly could have gotten by with a Large. Oh well live and learn. Even though they say it won't shrink maybe it will a little bit.

One thing that I didn't know was that the hoodie would have a hand warmer pocket. If you have seen some of my summer fishing photo's you probably know I often wear a hoodie with a pouch when I fish. I like to keep bags of the plastic I am using in the pouch, so the pocket was a pleasant surprize.

Here it is:

Bassackwards Blog Name Change

Minnesota Bass Fishing Blog Carl's Bassackwards Fishing Blog has changed it's name to BassMN.com. Subtitled: "Bass Fishing in Minnesota...Tournaments, Lakes, and Lures" A savvy move for sure. BassMN.com fits on his tourny jersey and it got me to type it in. He just fished his first tourny of the season on Trade Lake, WIscheese

Go check it out and follow if you don't already.

Trophy On the Water

( Picture not from today)

I got the Trophy (Cyberfish's boat) out on the water today at Rock Lake. The engine started right up and I took it for a quick spin just to check everything out. The thing is I'm going to try hanging a different 25hp Johnson on the boat. This other 25 is almost 10 years newer and has rope start back up to the electric start. With the motor on the boat now, if the electric start fails for some reason you're pretty much hosed and I don't like that idea.

I also have work to do on the electric trolling motor, which wasn't even on the boat today.

Trailer lights worked!!!

Hopefully I will have the motor situations squared away by the end of this weekend.

No fishing today. I watched American Idol results instead. I hoped and figured it would be Scotty and Lauren. Haley never should have gone as far as she did with some of the other talent this season. James was robbed!!!

Victory Is Achieved!!!

The Trophy is no longer stuck in the back yard. It was a painstaking process to get it out but we did it and didn't sink the truck luckily. Now I've just got to get the big motor and trolling motor situations ironed out by bass opener.

In other news, I went to the Chiropracter yet again today and he recommended that I take a break from casting for a few days. I can still fish, just no chuck and wind.

GOMH Oh Yeah!

Weather: Today was sunny and in the mid 60's with a breeze out of the NE about from 3 to 10. As I fished the wind would come and go.

Tonight I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole right about 5PM and I set up on the NE side. I started off throwing a clear smoke sparkle Berkley Havoc The Deuce double tail grub on a ball head jig and I was quickly rewarded with an 18 inch toothy bullhead.

I didn't bother to ask if anybody wanted it and threw it back. I started getting some small jumpin bullheads, several of which were jumpers. Next I tried a couple of swim jigs with no luck whatsoever.

I pulled out the River2Sea Wide Glide that I won in a contest and tried to work it. It didn't help that it was breezy and I couldn't work it right. I tried later when there was less wind and still couldn't get the hang of it. The lure is suppose to glide from side to side. It takes a different cadence than a normal walk the dog bait. I'm skeptical that I am going to like it, do to the difficulty in working it properly.

Eventually I put on a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatter jig with Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty black blue flake. It didn't take long and I got this 20" class fish.

I gave the toothy to a guy and girl that were fishing. The girl had just left to go to the South side and had been throwing a spinnerbait right where the fish hit. I proceeded to miss a couple of toothy's and then it got slow when the wind picked up.

I was hoping the Poison/Fatty off the bottom when I had a hit and it quickly was apparent this was no little fish. It took a couple of powerful runs pulling drag before I saw it was a toothy. I couldn't see the lure and the line was coming out the side of it mouth. I thought for sure it was going to break me off, but the 14lb Fireline held and I landed this 35 inch beast.

The guy who took the picture thought it was a good idea to take the picture with the truck as a back drop. I wish he hadn't. This pike went back in the lake. I wish all people would throw back pike that size so they have a chance to get to 40". At 40" I don't care if somebody keeps it for the wall. This is my biggest GOMH toothy bullhead and biggest Platte/Sullivan Pike. However Cyberfish caught one quite a bit bigger than this one a few years back in shallow slop in like July or August on a hollow body frog. I wish we had a pic of that fish.

After this one I might have gotten a couple of more toothy hits but nothing for sure. Of note I did get this 18.75" pig jumpin bullhead on the Poison/Fatty.

I'll tell you what, that Berkley Havoc Lane's 4" Craw Fatty is a good bait.

As it got dark GOM Willard came over to see me. He actually had been fishing tonight. He ended up giving his bullheads (orange's and 1 silver) to GOM Lee Anders grandson to take to Lee Ander. Willard didn't see the pike, so I showed him the picture on the camera.

Also of note tonight Conservation Officer Kuske showed up for a few minutes. He didn't come over to talk to me, so I didn't get to show him the pike pictures. There were several boats tonight fishing the South GOMH.

I left about a quarter to 10 or so. Didn't even try for silvers.

Another Night at Eddy's with GOMH Stop.

The night ban goes into effect tonight at 10PM, so that leaves two and a half over nights to take advantage of the Eddy's Jetty night bite. Sunday was sunny and warmer with a good wind out of the East and that East wind should be good for fishing the Eddy's Jetty which is on the West shore, but if you read my last report Saturday night was inexplicably a bust.

I arrived at the Jetty around 9:30PM and it was pretty much slick with clear skies. I went to the North Jetty corner and threw out a leech with the lighted bobber. After about 10 minutes it got weird. With no hint of a bite my bobber started moving toward the Jetty and off to my right. I started reeling in and the movement to the right was more pronounced but there didn't seem to be a fish there and the bobber was up on the surface. The more I reeled the farther to the right it went. It seemed that I somehow my line got stuck in a rock that was well to the right of where I cast. As I got to were the "rock" was my bobber went under and I thought I was going to lose the bobber. But then the bobber came around and I was hung up, but not on a rock, but a very big fish. I had the fish on for about 40 seconds and then it came off. Could have been a muskie, pike, walleye, carp or smallie.

Here's my theory, my fishing line which was sinking got grabbed by a crayfish. A big fish then picked up the crayfish getting my line in it's mouth. As I reeled in the line passed through the fish's mouth until the fish got stuck by my hook. Man I wish I would have landed it or at least figured out what it was.

Anyway about 20 minutes later I caught this fellow on my line.

I had crayfish on my line 4 or 5 times throughout the night.

I tried Leeches and throwing raps but basically nothing happened until about 1AM when I put on an old clown Rapala Husky Jerk 14. I decided to give it a twitching action in the calm conditions and I got a hit but it got off. About 10 minutes later I landed one that was just over 18 inches and so in the protected slot.

After a little while I decided to change colors to a silver blue black Husky Jerk 14. I got a hit on that and landed my first keeper of the weekend at 16".

I went 15 minutes without a hit so then I tried a couple of smaller HJ12's without any luck. Because of the clear skies I thought maybe the glass white HJ14 might work. I had to the middle belly hook off so it wouldn't sink. This lure sort of turned out to be the deal. I missed a hit then on the next cast hooked up with a 17.25" keeper.


Shortly after that I caught a 18.5" that had to go back.

I then had 5 or 6 more hits a couple of which were ferocious, but couldn't hook up any of them. Then the action stopped. I tried switching baits but it went dead. This guy named Luke who I'd talked to a couple of times this weekend came out and got a bite on a leech, so I switched to a leech in the area where I had missed the most hits. After about 15 minutes the bobber went down and I got a 22". Here being held by Luke.

While it was still pretty dark but light on the horizon I got another bite but the fish let go right before I was going to set the hook. It took it down again for a couple of seconds, but then let go and that was it.

When it got pretty light out I caught 2 perch, one of which was nice which I gave to Luke. Luke put it on a stringer which he would later lose when he went to show a security guard the fish and he nearly fell in the harbor in the process. After that bigger perch Luke's bobber went down and he pulled in an eye that I think went 22".

I left just before 6AM.

I stopped at the Shakopee Lake bridge and I think I had a hit on my Strike King Pure Poison chatter-jig, but it got off right away. Wonder what it was?

I decided to go straight to the Grumpy Old Man Hole, where all I could catch was some jumpin bullheads, so I left.

Mille Lacs Gets Tough and GOMH Show

On Saturday the wind blew out of the East all day. Normally that makes Eddy's hot. It didn't. I arrived at 8PM and set up on the North Jetty Harbor Mouth. Much to my astonishment nothing happened. Finally at 10PM I went to chuck raps off the North jetty corner and that didn't work. The wind was about 5 mph less than last night. I went to the lighted bobber and a leech and got bit around 11PM. I lost the fish more than half the way in. It may have been a keeper. About 35 minutes later the bobber was gone and this time I landed it. The fish went 19" and had to go back.

At 12:30AM I went to the truck to take a nap. I got up at 3AM and tried off the South jetty. The wind had picked up some. No luck. A little after 4AM I went back to the North jetty. I did get a bite but I waited to long and it spit the leech. Once the sun got up I tried the harbor mouth, nothing! I left at 6:30AM

I made a quick stop at the bridge North of Shakopee lake. Nothing, but I talked to a guy who said he gets walleye and northern there and bass occasionally.

After getting home and changing some things out I headed to the Grumpy Old Man Hole. There were several trucks parked, but nobody on the NE side so I was happy. My first lure was the Chuck Fall Pike Spinnerbait. I got a 14.5" jumpin bullhead on my first cast and 17.75" on my second. About 20 casts later I got a 16" jumper and that was it. I tried a bunch of lures but got nothing more.

I went to the SE side on the bank and made long casts with an orange swim jig I just won on Ebay with a Havoc Devil Spear Green Pumpkin dipped in Chart. JJ's Magic Dye. I got a 20" toothy bullhead and two 14.5" jumpin bullheads on it and missed a couple of hits. That Devil Spear is the bee's knee's for a swim jig trailer.

Seriously???!!!

Got out at midnight on Eddy's Jetty and man did conditions seem right with that E SE wind. From Midnight to 2:15AM I got 5.

23" and 19" on gold Husky Jerk 12
25" and 24.5" on glass perch Husky Jerk 12
22" on white X-Rap Shallow Shad

Full report and pictures on my blog Bass Pundit
This is a fishing report I left this morning on a certain Minnesota fishing message board/forum. I went back to look and see if there were any more reports and I discover the line referring people to my blog had been edited out. (Keep in mind that is just a mention without a hyperlink)

An Administrator leaves a comment:
It would sure be nice if you posted some pics and the full report here.

Really LSF!!!
That thread as of 6:30pm today has 273 views. Meanwhile my blog has gotten 64 visits since I posted there and it looks like less than half of those visits had anything to do with today's Mille Lacs Lake post. Keep in mind I also posted on Facebook and at IDOFishing.com, which has left my little blog plug (no link) up.

Of all the fishing message boards out there I think The Bassholes.com gets it. The Bassholes.com banner on my sidebar is there totally free for the Bassholes.com. If you have a fishing blog, the Bassholes.com is your friend.

Somehow I don't think ole LSF is getting any more fishing reports from me.

Gold Rush!!!

Lord Have Mercy!

That was my reaction when I saw the conditions off of Eddy's Jetty. 10-15mph E SE wind so I went to the corner of the North Jetty. I thought it was going to be a serious whack fest, turns out the fishing was just OK.

I started casting a couple of minutes past midnight throwing a purple perch Husky Jerk because I whacked them hard on that color in similar conditions in 2007 (and 2007 Part Deux). That didn't pan out so I switched to a gold husky jerk.

After about 10 minutes it was "fish on" and I landed it.

It went 23" and had to go back because it was in the protected 18-28slot.

About 10 minutes later it was fish on again.

This one went 19"

I went for about 15 minutes without a bite, so I switched to a glass perch color and I got two on that.


This one, both pictures, went 25" and was big fish of the night.

This one went 24.5

I then had a long lull and tried several baits before getting this 22" on a white Shallow Shad X-Rap.


I got this last fish around 2:15AM. Soon after that my upper back started to really bug me and by 3AM I had to give up the rap throwing.

I went and got my bobber rod and went up the center jetty and fished the North harbor mouth. There had been 3 guys fishing at the North harbor mouth from the North Jetty and they got a total of 4 Eye's. After about an hour I got a bite and missed it. I quickly put on another leech and cast back to the same spot. Sure enough it got picked up and I reeled the slack and set the hook. This one looked like an eater, but it got off. That was my last bite. I stayed till a little after 6:30am but the fish were just not going like I would think they should be.

I'll be back tonight.

Fishing Opener Eve 2011

Well it is now almost 11PM on the eve of the 2011 Minnesota Fishing Opener. "Minnesota Fishing Opener" is the day the state fish walleye and those toothy Northern Pike become legal to fish. The Bass Opener isn't until Memorial Day weekend.

It's going to be a low key opener for me this year. I plan to hit Mille Lacs at mid-night from Eddy's Jetty for walleye. The weather and bite will dicatate how long I stay. I may or may not hit up the Grumpy Old Man Hole early to try for some toothy bullheads. The boat isn't ready to go this year so I'm 100% shore bound.

You can view Bass Pundit Opener Posts Past Here...

Two Trips

Last Night I fished at the GOMH from 7:30-10PM. Weather was cool and cloudy with moderate wind out of the NW.

I started out fishing on the bridge with GOM Bud. Bucketman was there on the SW side as were a couple of other people I recognized. The SE side was filled with people I didn't know. The action was pretty steady. I used a plain leadhead panfish tube jig head with a minnow. I got a silver bullhead and two jumpin bullheads while on the bride.

Around 8:15PM everybody that was on the SW side left so I went down there. I was catching a few silvers and then I stared missing a bunch when GOM Willard came down to talk. Eventually Bud left with 9 silvers, 4 of which I gave him. John W. showed up and started nailing fish right away. I started giving him the one's that I caught. Eventually Lantern Man and a friend of his showed up. Lantern Man was once again up in arms about the GOMH being on the Internet. The friend had bow fished some dogfish at the bridge North of Shakopee Lake. Interesting. When I left at 10PM I had caught a total of 10 silvers with 1 of them being a dink.

This morning I got to the GOMH a bit later than I should have at around 6AM. John W was there and said he had caught 10 but only 3 were keepers. He was on the SW side so I went to the SE side. I proceeded to go through my last 6 minnows without catching a thing. The fish were real finicky and would often take it down for a second let go and not come back. When the minnows were gone I switched to a beetle spin and got several jumpin bullheads including an 18" and another real fat one that I didn't measure that was in the 17" class.

I left at 8AM and stopped to get more minnows at Bear Traxx, they didn't have bigger leeches in yet/

FYI

Blogging Note- Not that it is my readers problem, but Google Blogger, which is my blogging service was down yesterday into this morning and I didn't get some things blogged that I wanted to and now I'm way behind because I also didn't do my tackle preparation for the Minnesota Fishing Opener yet. So basically I'm behind the 8 Ball on where I should be at this point. I need food!

Thank You!

Update: Fishing Tackle Prep done, such that it is. Tip: Don't open J.J's Magic Dye in the house.

Another Double Trip

Weather- A bit of fog in the morning with overcast and even a quick sprinkle. Light South Wind. Humid

Evening- 77°F was the days high, I think it was hazy with some sun.

Morning Trip:
I headed out the door for the Grumpy Old Man Hole a bit before day break and had to use the lighted bobber for about 20 minutes. I got 3 silver bullheads. After that it was nothing but jumping bullheads on both the South and North. Notable was this 18.5" jumper caught on a Panfish Chatterbait.


Evening Trip- I didn't get to the GOMH until a bit after 8:30PM, it wasn't as busy as last night, but the South side was well covered. GOM Willard arrived when I did. GOM Bud was there as was Bucket Man who was back to his bucket tonight. I was told the bullheads had been biting fairly good, so I got my rod and fished off the bridge. I was having zero luck. The guy next to me, John, said people were getting them on a plain hook. He started getting a few on a plain jig head. I tried a couple different colored tubes, then took the plastic off. Finally I got bit. Gave that one to John. Proceeded to lose my next 5-6 bites. It got dark and people started leaving. Joe from my bass fishing club the Baxter Bass Snatchers showed up with a buddy. A little later Lantern Man showed up. LM got to talking to Joe about how more people were fishing the GOMH because they heard about it on the Internet. Joe didn't tell him about my blog. It's hard for me to tell if the Grumpy Old Man Hole is busier now than it was previous to my blogging about it. People have always fished there and if the bite is on the word gets out. Lots of people fished it 2009, but the bite was really hot that year. It seems like it was less busy last year with the prolonged Spring and a bite that just wasn't as good. This year it has been moderately busy starting last Friday.


Anyway I got 3 nice silver bullheads and gave them to Joe and friend. I left at 10:30PM.

Culling Allowed In Cheese Land

The Wisconsin "Culling Bill" has passed and is on it's way to be signed by the Governor, which he has said he will do.

Congratulations to all the Bass Fishermen that made it happen!

I wonder if MN will now immediately reciprocate and drop the ban on culling on the WI border waters.

Yesterday's Fishing Report

"Double Trip" over at the Bass Pundit Fishing Log Blog...

WOW!

Andy's Bass Blog-A Minnesocold Bass Fishing Blog that has evaded my detection since May of 2008. I am actually Facebook Friends with Andy and that is how I discovered he was a bass fishing blogger. He put up a link to his most recent post and I was like, what?

Bullheads- No Kidding Around!

Weather: We had thunderstorms in the morning or I would have gone out. The rain quit about 8:30AM. The day was cloudy, breezy, and mild with a high of 63°F.

After a feast of silver bullhead for supper I headed out and arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole around 7:30PM. No surprise it was busy. Bud, the foul mouthed Grumpy Old Man was there, along with "Bucket Man" who now sits in a chair, a new guy this year who I'll call Turkey with his kid, and then there were several others fishing as well. I set up next to GOM Bud up on the bridge South side. Silver bullheads were coming in everywhere sporadically and after about 10 minutes I got my first and gave it to Bud.

I would give him a total of 3 and also get a 14" bullhead from the bridge. Around 7:50PM Grumpy Old Man Willard showed up. Round about 8:30PM Turkey and son left, so I went down on the SW side were they were. That turned out to be a bad move as I couldn't figure the fish out. Bucket Man filled his limit and I caught a little silver and missed one. Bud managed to fill out his limit up on the bridge. Some other young guys fished the South side of the bridge and got a couple of silvers and jumpers. The people on the SE side were getting fish, but by 9PM it was pretty much just me and Willard and those young guys who were now fishing the North side. Willard suggested I go to the SE side, so I went and tried that. Willard told me that GOM Lee Ander can't drive anymore because of his eye sight and it isn't very likely that he will fish at the GOMH anymore.

After about 5 minutes on the SE side I got a nice silver bullhead. Willard almost took it, but it went back in the lake. Willard left shortly after that. I started nailing a few silvers including this 12.25" fish.

Around 10PM the action slowed, but I did catch a bullhead. Yes a real live bullhead.

I had 3 more bites that I couldn't hook and I left around 10:30PM.

All in all I got
11 Silver Bullhead
1 Jumpin Bullhead
1 Yellow Bullhead