The Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bloggers Derby Has Started for 2013

Jason Holmer was credited with the 1st fish of 2013 under the Josh Douglas Rule.  Look at that Beast 5.81lb Smallie.  I will be adding photo's the next few days at the Derby Blog.  Rich Lindgren also had a Josh Douglas Rule fish this year, which will go up tomorrow.   I myself have 4 fish at this point and I know Rich has some more as well.  So Derby participants blog about those bass and I would appreciate it if you let me know you got one.  by Facebooking me,  leaving a message at one of my blogs, or emailing me at basspundit@hotmail.com.

Fishing with Dad at the GOMH Tonight

12" Or So Jumpin Bullhead

Tonight Dad came fishing with me from 8:00PM to 9:30PM.  We started at Bulldog.  Dad caught himself a tree thanks to the wind that was blowing.  I almost got it out but ended up losing my last Berkley swim jig hook and a leader.

So next we went to the GOMH and there was only one guy there fishing on the SW side.   Dad took up on the bridge and I took the SE side.  I immediately hooked up with this skinny 18" jumper on a Craw Tube and Dad got the one in the picture above on a Grass Pig Jr.

Dad ended up with 4 jumpin bullheads on the Grass Pig Jr. and I got 10, on the Craw Tube, a D.M. Baits Piranha, and a Grass Pig.  They ranged from 16" to 12" inches.  I also got this bonus golden bullhead on the Huckleberry Craw Tube.  I think I might have lost another one.

18"

We left around 9:30PM after that fish I lost messed up my Craw Tube.

Fishing Report at the Fishing Log Blog

Topwater Tonight

Bass Opener Day 3

South Long Pre-fish:

15.75" my second biggest fish of the day

I got out for a few hours today with my boater Owen to pre-fish for next Saturday's Tournament on South Long.  The lake seems to be a bit behind Platte Lake at this point.  The warmest water we found was 55°F and it was pretty much 54°F everywhere.  The wind was blowing out of the E SE yet again for the 3rd or 4th straight day.  I guess the air temp got to 61°F today and there was no sun.  We basically didn't catch very many fish.  I got 5 but two of them were quality keepers at or a bit over 2lbs.  We got everything on moving baits.  Depending on the weather improving a bit this week, we have confidence in a couple of spots.  Thankfully they both are fairly large areas.  Being boat #1 should help.

The GOMH:
I arrived at the GOMH around 5PM and started on "the juice".  All I got was one toothy bullhead on the Grass Pig.  Eventually I moved to the SW side and there I started getting fish on the huckleberry Christopherson's Craw Tube.  My 10th fish was this Toad Bullhead.

I'm not sure of the exact length because I didn't have my ruler along, but I'm calling it 19.5" for the Derby.  She was definitely close to 5lbs full of eggs. I caught a total of 11 bass at the GOMH.  I left at 9PM

Fish for the Day
Bass: 16
Pike: 1

Fish Total for Bass Opener
Bass: 73
Pike: 11
Walleye: 1

Bass Opener Day 2

I didn't get on the water on Sullivan Lake until a bit after 2PM then I spent an hour and a half trying to figure out my motor issues.  I ended up calling Dad and he brought out a new fuel line for me.  While I was waiting for him to show up I fished a single dock and picked up my first Derby fish of the year on a huckleberry Christopherson's Craw Tube.

17.75"

The picture doesn't show it well but it was a fat fish, obviously still had eggs in her.  Once dad got the new fuel line to me I was off to the North Shore of the Platte River Outlet.  I started hitting bass right away on my Gambler Ninja Spin.  I put down the poor man's power pole and proceeded to get this walleye on the Grass Pig.

16"

I proceeded to work the flat getting largies and pike on the Grass Pig, a Terminator Spinnerbait, the Ninja Spin, and Craw Tube.  Once again the biggest fish came on the Craw Tube at almost 16 inches.  My plan was to be off the water at 6PM then go to the GOMH to try some topwater action on "the juice".  Thanks to there being a boat at the Platte River Mouth that's what happened.

I got to the GOMH a bit after 7PM and there was a guy and a girl fishing on "the juice".  I managed to get two jumpin bullhead with a Stanley Phantom just to the East of the juice then the girl left allowing me to get straight on to it.  I proceeded to land a few and miss a few on the Phantom.  I got a toothy on the Grass pig and two fat 15"+ ers on a Lucky Craft Kelly J.  I was out of there by 9PM.

Total Fish for the Day-
Bass: 23
Pike: 3
Walleye: 1

My Bass Opener Day 1

I decided to start this year fishing from shore at the GOMH but I brought my boat just in case fishing wasn't that great.  There was somebody already on the South side when I got there at 5AM, which was fine with me.  I took the NE side fishing by the bridge.  I started out throwing Berkley Frenzy Popper but didn't have any hits on that.  This was my first fish.

A fat 16 inch jumpin bullhead on a Craw Tube.  I proceeded to get a couple more and a toothy, before another group arrived and I chose to go to the juice so they wouldn't stumble on to it.  Once again I tried topwater but that wasn't happening.  Turns out the juice had been invaded  by toothy bullheads;  I got 3 of those along with a few jumpers no bigger than the first fish I got.  I used Craw Tubes, Grass Pigs, and a Spro Aruku Shad.  It was now 6:30AM and I had 10 jumpin bullheads and 4 toothy bullheads when I made the call to bail.  I decided to check out the Platte Lake Access and seeing as there were only 2 cars at the ramp and nobody to wait for I put in there.  I decided to hit the tip of the Platte Lake Access peninsula point first.  The wind was blowing in on it pretty good and  I quickly got on the board with this 15 incher.

I got a couple on that Pure Poison, a couple on the Grass Pig, and a couple on a Craw Tube including one that was just shy of 17 inches.  That was all I could get off the point. I then proceeded to drift into Channel Inn Bay.  I got a nice pike on a Gambler Ninja Spin and then I got into a little school of bass that I caught on the Ninja Spin and the Grass Pig.  By 9AM my upper back was giving me issues.  I toughed it out for a couple more hours.  I added 4 pike and 24 bass to my morning total.

Bass: 34
Pike: 8

Rock Lake:
I didn't get on Rock until a little after 7:30PM.  I started in RPRO where I got my pike two days ago and I got 3 pike to start with on the Gambler Ninja Spin.  I got my first bass on a Zoom Horny Toad.  I started throwing my firetiger Stanley Phantom and started catching bass on that including this almost 17 inch beauty.

I also got some on a Grass Pig and one nice fish on a Craw Tube, that was also just shy of 17 inches. I called it a night right around 9PM

Bass: 16
Pike: 3

Totals-
Bass: 50
Pike: 11

Bass Opener Is Tomorrow!

It's 2AM on Opener Eve and I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet.  I was thinking about trailering the boat and starting from shore at the GOMH.  I think we are still gonna be mostly pre-spawn in this area.   Hopefully after I'm on the water today I'll have a plan.  I'll update this post tonight.

Update: Things I needed to get done with the boat combined with getting my gear together didn't allow me to get out in the boat today.  I really still don't have my tackle organized the way I would like it to be.  Oh well it's a long season.  I decided to go with my plan to take the boat with me and fish from the shore at the GOMH and make the call from there about what I do next.  It looks like it's going to be wet when I get to the lake at 5AM.  That is if I can get up.

I plan on throwing topwater first thing.  Maybe it will be the Frenzy Popper maybe not.

Good Luck

Trophy's 1st Run of the Year

I had planned to get stuff organized today, but that didn't happen because I took an overlong nap not getting up until 4:30PM.  I didn't get the Trophy to the lake until 7PM.  It ran just fine, but I didn't have GPS with to check my top speed and also I didn't have the Garmin to tell me the lake temp.

22"

I started out on the North side by the little inlet.  I got that pike there and saw a dogfish, but I spooked it when I cast for it.  I then went into the RPRO and got this pike.

25"

I got down by the Beaver Dam and discovered the bog that had set up here last year.

Had moved into the mouth of the river blocking it off just past the beaver dam.

I did get this 17"+ largie in that general area.

I think that's the moon off my elbow.

Here is the moon on my way out of the RPRO.

GOMH Gold, Mille Lacs Gamble and Back to the GOMH Twice More

15"

This morning I got out to the GOMH around a quarter to 5AM.  It was windy and drizzling out of the NE.  The water has come up near last years high water mark with all the rain fall we have had.  I got a jumpin bullhead, then I got this little golden bullhead on the North side.  I got a couple jumpin bullheads on the South side all on the swamp gas Grass Pig.

I made the decision when I left this morning to try hitting up Eddy's Jetty on Mille Lacs.  I thought with the East winds we've been having that things might pay off.  I got to Mille Lacs a little after 6AM.  I fished to 7:30AM without a bite so I took off.

I stopped back at the GOMH and only got a couple of more bullheads before I quit.

In the evening Dad and I hit the GOMH up again.  I set Dad up with a bobber rig and a Grass Pig rod up on the South side of the bridge.  I kept throwing the Grass Pig. I had a small jumper destroy the swamp gas Grass Pig so I put on a refurbished with Mend-It white one.  I missed several hits before connecting with a 22" toothy bullhead that just choked it.  I got a couple jumpers then I moved to the North side.  All I got there were jumpin bullheads and a bunch more missed hits.

I went up on the bridge to check on Dad and he had gotten a big bass on the swamp gas Grass Pig and missed a few fish with T.H.E. Jig and a minnow.  I took the Jig and got bit off by a toother.  That is when we called it a night around 9:30 or so.

Tomorrow I plan to get the boat out, so I may or may not hit the GOMH in the morning.

No Gold, But Hawgs and a Slabber

This morning I got to the GOMH just after 5AM.  The water was up even higher and the wind was blowing in hard on the North side.  My first fish of the morning was this chunky 19" jumper on the swamp gas Grass Pig.

Later on in the morning I got 20" slob of a jumpin bullhead.

She was probably over 5lbs as that she was full of eggs.

I fished some of the morning for silver bullheads with T.H.E. Jig and a minnow.  I got this minnow of a bullhead.

On the very next cast I got this slabber bullhead.

13"

That was the only decent one I caught.

I went back to the North side and got a toothy bullhead.

22"

I quit fishing at a quarter to 8AM.

Two More Golden Bullheads Tonight

I arrived after it stopped raining at the GOMH around 8PM.   I started fishing the NE side were the wind was blowing in pretty good and all I could get were jumpers.  I had a couple of tails bit off my swamp gas Grass Pig, so there were some toothers there; They just weren't getting it.  Here is my biggest jumper of the night.

18"

John W. showed up. Eventually we went to the SE side.  Everybody else had left the South side by then.  We got a few more jumpin bullheads. John left to go have dinner and about 2 minutes later I got the first golden on the swamp gas Grass Pig.  About half an hour later I got my second one.  I missed one more.  I left at 10:30PM when it started to sprinkle.

Good Morning and Evening at the GOMH

Sunrise at the Grumpy Old Man Hole

This morning I got up a little earlier than normal to try and hit the GOMH for some crappies.  That didn't work out so at 5:00AM I was fishing for gold.  I managed to get two on a Grass Pig.

17"

17.5"

I had an 18" jumpin bullhead just choke my Spro 25 Crank

I got one toothy bullhead.

I did get a couple of small silver bullheads as well.

In the evening I got a late start due to the fact I left without my rods in the car.  I think I got to the GOMH around 9:30PM.  I managed to get 4 golden bullhead and several jumpin bullheads including one 18 to 19 inch sow on a swamp gas Grass Pig.  I got fish from both sides of the bridge in the evening, while it was mostly the North side in the morning.  I didn't have the camera with, so I got these picks of the golden bullheads after I got home.

I Got Me a Dogfish!

We got dumped on my a thunderstorm this morning so I didn't get out until after 6:00am.  It was actually still sprinkling when I got there.  There was 1 guy on the SW side and that was it.  I decided to go to the NE side and try for some golden bullheads.  I quickly noticed that all the rain we got had cleared up the water.  No gold today.

While fishing with the Money Minnow I had a jumpin bullhead wrap me around the buoy marker line.  It eventually got off but my line was still stuck.  Fortunately my line broke at the bait, so I didn't lose my wire leader.  I started fishing with a parrot X-Rap and tied into this little dogfish.

 I caught a several jumpin bullheads on the X-Rap.

Then I went up and got re-tied.  All my Money Minnows are waiting for my new Mend-It bottle to arrive.  I accidentally left the cap on loose earlier this week, Oops.  I put on a white Grass Pig and got a couple of toothy bullheads on that.

I also of course got some jumpin bullheads on the Grass Pig.  This was the biggest at 17 inches.

I eventually decided to give the other side a try for some silver bullheads. I missed a couple of bites and got a  real small one before taking off at a little after 9:00AM.

We went into Little Falls to get my new glasses today, so I didn't get to bed until 3PM and I didn't wake up until 10PM.  So no fishing tonight

Golden Bullheads at the GOMH

This morning I got to the GOMH at 5AM in search of some gold.  I started on the NE side and it wasn't long and I was bringing in my first golden bullhead on a Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shad.

18.5"

 I missed another one and got a couple of jumpin bullheads.  I then went to try the SE side, but only got jumpin bullheads there.  Because it was cloudy and windy blowing into the N side I went back and scored my second golden bullhead of the day.  Here's both of them from this morning.

I did get a couple of toothy bullheads, including one that had a jig in it's mouth.  Here is the one that didn't have the jig.

Here is my biggest jumper of the morning.

17.75

I lost several other really nice jumpin bullheads and a couple that I don't know what they were.

For the evening trip I didn't arrive until 8:30PM and I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of people and within 20 minutes of me being there all but my friend Joe's buddies were gone.  I started on the NE side and only got a couple of jumpin bullheads.  I then tried the SE side for a while and once again only got jumpin bullheads.  I switched back to the North side and immediately got a golden bullhead on a Spro 25 crank in parrot.

I got my last 2 golden bullheads on the night on a Powerbait Ripple Shad.

16"

17"

I think I missed one or two more.  I gave the fish to Joe's friend and he gave me some minnows.  John W. showed up. He had something big on, probably a pike he said.  I left a little before 10:30PM

Another Good Night at the GOMH with Dad

Dad and I got to the GOMH about 7PM.  Everywhere was filled, so we took up on the bridge on the Sullivan side.  I started out by weed whacking.  I found out Chris from the Bass Snatchers was there again tonight.  He ended up giving us some minnows, which was nice.  CO Kuske pinched another person tonight for no license  Dad got a silver bullhead and a jumpin bullhead and missed several other bites.

9.5"

 As for me I got 2 silver bullheads, a toothy bullhead, and 10 jumpin bullheads.  I possibly lost a golden bullhead as well after it got dark.  I missed several bites tonight.

All in all it was a good night.

Golden Bullheads and Jumpin Bullheads, No Toothers

I got out early today to try for some golden bullheads.  I thought I wasn't going to get one.  I tried the NW side and nothing.  Then I tried the NE side and broke the front off my Frenzy crankbait when I hit the wall.  I  switched to a baitcaster and got another Frenzy.  I made several casts with nothing and was just about to give up when I got a hit.  Sure enough it was a golden bullhead and I managed to land it despite it not being very well hooked.

22"

I then got a jumpin bullhead on the Frenzy then nothing.  I switched to the YUM Money Minnow and had a bigger eye on but it got off somehow.  I don't know if I would have kept it, because it was at least 24 inches.  I got a couple more jumpers on the Money Minnow then I switched to the SW side.

All I could get there were jumpin bullheads, this 18" was the biggest.

No matter where or how far I cast all I could get were jumpin bullheads, not a toothy bullhead to be found.  I even tried for panfish bullheads and got jumpin bullheads.  I called it quits a 8AM my thumbs were raw.

Great Morning, Good Night at the GOMH

This morning I got to the GOMH around 5:30AM.  I set up on the SW side.  It was a little slow at first, but then I changed to the Grass Pig I got the fish on last night and my first fish was this toothy bullhead.

After getting a couple of jumpin bullheads the Grass Pig was trashed, so I went to the car and got a white Gambler EZ Swimbait.  On like my second cast I got this Golden Bullhead.

18"

A couple of casts later I got a nice jumpin bullhead.  Then a couple of casts later I got another toothy bullhead.  I remarked to the guy fishing on the SE side that I didn't know what I was gonna catch.
I got a couple of 4lb plus jumpin bullheads.

20"

 This fish was a bit on the skinny side.

19.75"

This fish was quite a bit more chunky and I'm sure weighed more.  I missed one more that I think was in that size class.

Eventually I went through the three Gambler EZ's I had and I switched up to a Yum Money Minnow in hitch color.  I got a couple of jumpin bullheads on that and 4 or 5 toothy bullheads.  I ended up with 16 jumpin bullheads, 9 toothy bullheads, and 1 golden bullhead.  Not a bad morning.  I quit at 8AM after the action slowed.

Note:  After catching each pike I washed my hands with a bar of Captain Knoll's Fisherman's Hand and Body Soap. I was quite impressed with it's ability to get the pike slime off of my hands and leave them smelling like anise.  The bar has a bit of grittiness to it  It's a great product and I'm guessing the bar is going to last a long time.  As I didn't even put a dent in it.  I recommend you go to their website and check it out.

In the evening I went back to the GOMH with Dad.  The place was full of people and they were catching a few bullheads but nothing spectacular.  Joe and Chris from the Bass Snatchers were fishing on the NW side. Dad and I set up on the bridge and I got a couple of jumpin bullheads and I missed a few hits as well.  We only had 2 minnows left and 1 was a stickleback, but Dad managed to get a small silver bullhead on T.H.E. Jig..

As it got later the bite picked up and I managed to get this golden bullhead.

21.5"

It was about the same size as the one I got last night.  A guy fishing on the NE side got 3 golden bullheads then he let me take the spot.  I got a couple of hits but couldn't keep them hooked up.  I decided that throwing a rap would work better and I went to the car to get one.  I should have called Dad over to come and fish, because right as I was getting back two guys cut me off and went right in the spot I was fishing.  Oops.  I managed to get one more jumpin bullhead on the South side and missed a couple of more hits on the Money Minnow.  We left at 10PM