GOMH- Progress in Platte Lake Finally and A Flock of Loons and I Got Skunked

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The South end of Platte Lake opened up quite a bit today.  This was enough to start a noticeable current moving under the bridge.  The Sullivan Side also opened significantly more but the PRO (Platte River Outlet) area is not completely open to the river yet.  Here's a couple of picks of the Loons that were out there tonight.

 I was hoping I would get a bite, but that didn't happen.  I missed getting a picture of a spectacular pink/red sky as the sun set.  I drove down to the South end inlet and the water was really flowing in there.  There was a bit less open water there than was on Platte tonight.

Ice Out Forecast:
It's only going to be in the low to mid 40's for the next 5 days with lows near freezing.  The wild card is rain. If it's only cloudy most of the time than we probably won't have open water until next week.  With rain it's possible it could happen this weekend if not sooner.  I don't know if I will fish anymore this week or not.

Not A Bullhead, I Snagged A Carp!!!

I've never seen a carp caught at the Grumpy Old Man Hole before so this was totally unexpected.   I didn't know what it was for a long time and was hoping it was gonna be a dogfish.  The carp was snagged in it's dorsal fin and it had to be at least 10lbs.  I probably fought it for 15 minutes.  As I was pulling it into the rocks the hook gave way.  I wasn't about to try and grab it for a  picture and before I could get the camera out it was gone.  Even though it was snagged I'm still gonna call it my first fish of the year.

I did have one bite that I missed.

There was a small flock of  Swans

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 And this bird, that I think was some kind of Hawk, had been up in this tree since I left this afternoon.

I Missed A Bullhead

That's right, I had a jumpin bullhead on the line , but as I was thinking about going up to get the camera out of the car it got off.  I was fishing on the SW side when it struck.  I am now saying it's a 50/50 shot of me landing a fish before May.

As for the ice, it's open for a good ways beyond the corner into Sullivan.  On the Platte side a couple of holes opened up a ways out, but other than that it hasn't progressed very much.

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I'm going to go back out tonight.

Will I Catch A Fish By May 1st?

So I went out to the GOMH again tonight.  The Platte side was only slightly more open than yesterday.  The Sullivan side is progressing.  I saw the Loons again and there were a lot more ducks or possibly more loons swimming towards the far end of the open water in Sullivan.  No much current moving through yet.  It looks like we get 2 more warm days, before we go back to the 40's for the rest of the week.  I would put the chances of me getting a fish before May 1st at under 10%.  I am guessing that the area lakes won't open up until at least May 6th.  I would say the chances that Mille Lacs will be ice free by Fishing Opener on the 11th      are slim to none at this point.  Maybe some of the bays will be free of ice, but I can't imagine the big lake will be.  I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Opener is less than 2 weeks away.

I spent quite a bit of time in my tackle warehouse today switching things around and getting baits back in their proper place.  I didn't get that done last Fall due to my back problems.  I will probably do more of that tomorrow.

Tonight At The GOMH

Well it got to 72° today and was in the mid 60's yesterday.  The Sullivan side is showing progress.

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Platte side, not so much.

Yes that is a loon.

Yes I did throw a few casts, but didn't get anything.  The water level has come up, but is still a long ways from last years Spring high water mark.

Trophy Boat Cover Trouble

So today I went out and pulled the canvas cover off the boat to find the other cover ripped significantly in two places.

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Not sure if we will be able to fix it or have to go to someone else.  The canvas cover needs repaired as well.

Very Slight Improvement at the GOMH

It was a cold week, the area at the Grumpy Old Man Hole only opened up a little bit more.

View into Sullivan (Click to Enlarge)

View into Platte

I did take a few casts tonight.  Not a surprise that nothing bit.  I'll probably give it another shot on Saturday when it's supposed to get up to 70° after being in the mid to high 60's on Friday.

Spring is finally in sight!

Today Is The Latest...

OK, so in the song it's "today is the greatest", but today is the latest it's been in the Spring since moving up North in 2003 that I have gotten my 1st open water fish of the year;  I got that one in 2008 when I called ice off Platte Lake on the 24th.  We are nowhere close to ice being off this year.  I may head up to check the GOMH later on tonight and throw a few casts just for the heck of it.  We got about 3 more inches of snow yesterday and it's only gonna get 40 degrees today and tomorrow, however on Friday it's supposed to get to 63 and 70 by Sunday.  Platte could be open  by the end of the month, maybe

Jason Christie- Man on Fire

B.A.S.S./Overstreet

Elite Series Rookie ,Oklahoma Pro, Jason Christie won at Bull Shoals this week in the B.A.S.S. Elite Series.  And last week he won at Beaver Lake in the FLW Tour.  That's right back to back tour wins on the two premier bass fishing tours.  His win at Bull Shoals was the largest jump in terms of place in the standings in Elite Series history,  11th to 1st.  I first heard about Christie in his rookie year on the FLW Tour through their Pundit Picks.  One of the guys raved about how good this guy was and he has been on my radar ever since.  Unfortunately I didn't put him on my Fantasy Fishing this week when they changed the bucket he was in.   Major League Fishing needs to get him in their league.

FLW/Kyle Wood

Bass Utopia's Tips On Romancing Your Bassin' Gal

New Minnesocold Bassin' Blog Midwest Swimbaits

I  just found out about the new blog Midwest Swimbaits.  Obviously the blog is about swimbait fishing in the Midwest.  I don't know if throwing hard swimbaits will ever gain much traction here in Minnesocold, but I think hollow belly's, dippers, and other plastic swimbaits have caught on to one degree or another.

GOMH Birds and Beaver

So I got out to the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight.  I wish Mike Thompson could have been there with his camera.  He could have gotten some great shots.  As it is you will have to put up with mine.  In the first picture that is a great blue heron flying above that tree (Click All the Pictures to Enlarge).

The view into Sullivan

 It's about 4 to 5 times more open than last Sunday on the Sullivan side.

The view into Platte

 About 3 times more open than last Sunday.

The beaver swam under me.

I also saw an owl and 4 deer over towards the Platte Lake Access.  At this point I'm predicting the lakes to be open in two weeks on the 30th of April.  We've got a few more cool days than it is suppose to start warming up a little.

1 Year Ago Today It Did Snow

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That's right, last year wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.  It got cool for a couple of weeks around this time.  However we did have open water and in two days when it warmed up I put the boat in the water for the first time and got some fish.  I don't know if I'll be able to get the boat out of the back yard this month.  The 10th day of the 10 day forecast looks promising, but we are supposed to get more snow tomorrow and Thursday.  I may go check to see the GOMH later on tonight.

Some lakes in Southern MN are open now.

This Cracked Me Up

Go see more video's at Yumisfun.com

It's Back

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Well we got about 5 more inches of new snow.  It was enough so that I had to get the snow blower out.  This kind of sucks.  The 10 day forecast doesn't have a temp over  42 ^°. Looks like it could very well be May before I get a fish this year. Yikes!

Jersey's For St. Jude's Auction

Brandon Palaniuk, Chris Lane, A-Mart, Luke Clausen, Ott Defoe, Brent Ehrler, Paul Elias, Randall Tharp, Scott Martin, Dave Lefebre and Dave Dudley all have Jersey's up for auction this year.  Be sure to check it out the auctions all end on Sunday.  I'm not sure if there is going to be a second round of auctions or not.

Don't got the cha-ching to put down on a jersey, but want to give to St. Jude's.  I recommend giving to either
Jason Holmer or Glenn Walker who are both giving away prizes to their contributors this year.  Or also Paul Strege who puts together the auctions.

Holmer is giving away one big prize.

While Walker is giving away several small prizes.

Not A Lot Of Progress At The GOMH This Week

I got out to check the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight.  It was just slightly more open than last week.  The water level is fairly low.  There was a beaver swimming around on the North side.  I did throw a few casts, but didn't get a bite.  The water looked really stained, almost like an algae bloom was going on.  The weather  looks like it is gonna be cool again this week.

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There was a lot of debris floating around

I Can See My Driveway 2013!!!

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I'm calling it clear today, because I wouldn't touch snow on my way out or in.  It looks like it's going to be on the cool side again this week, Harumph Humbug!!!

I'll probably check the GOMH tomorrow.

In the Mail Today- Jonathan Paul Fitovers and Christopherson's Crawtubes (and a Little Forgotten Treasure)

I really like the fact that they come with a permanently attached tether strap.

 I got 50 White Crawtubes and 50 Huckleberry Crawtubes from Christopherson's in Alexandria.

I put them in Zoom bags.

And while I was getting the Zoom bags I discovered some Crawtubes that I bought last year and forgot where in my big box of Zoom Horny Toads.  They are form Jerry's Baits and Tackle out of who knows where.  I got them on Ebay last year.  They are smoke/purple and bluegill.  They came in packs of 20 and I also transferred these to Zoom bags.

2013 When Can I See My Driveway? #5

Almost there.  The Top of driveway is totally clear.  Just a little bit down in the middle.

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Tonight I heard my first Red Wing Blackbird of the year.

2013 When Will I See My Driveway? #4

Well even with the cold weather the last 3 days we have lost quite a bit.  My guess is the ice will be completely  off on Thursday.  It supposed to be up close to 50 degrees the next couple of days.

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One last scrap at the top of the driveway.

The area that will take longest

The very end of the driveway is totally clear.

18 Blog Posts In March

That is the worst post total for March since I started blogging in Nov. of 2004.  I blame it mostly on Facebook.  I wouldn't say 18 posts is a pathetic number though.