Sunday, June 30, 2013

Derby Fish For Me Tonight

She choked it!

Not one good photo.  I hit the micro button
Tonight I got this 19.25" slob at the Culvert.  That will put me over 20lbs in the Derby.  For some reason I decided to throw the Tru Tungsten Mad Maxx frog first and I was rewarded with that choice. I got a dink pike on the Hack Jig and had 14" or so bass jump me off.  I got a 15" or so jumpin bullhead at the GOMH on the Mad Maxx;  It now sinks pretty quickly, so I'm going to retire it.  I missed a couple of hits on the Mad Maxx as well.  John and his daughter were at the GOMH and got at least 4 jumpers.  A couple of teenagers were fishing at the GOMH as well.  He had a small jumper and golden bullhead in his pail.
This Mornings Sunrise
I also fished at the GOMH in the morning. I got 3 small jumpers on the Frenzy Popper and missed a couple as well.  A couple small jumpers on the Fluke and a 15.5" on the Mad Maxx.  I also fished at the Culvert and Inlet but didn't get anything.

Kramer Gone Fishing Writes About The Frenzy Popper


The curious case of the Frenzy Popper

(click on the link to read the story George wrote)
Ah yes the Berkley Frenzy Popper.  A lure that kind of fell out of favor with me the last couple of years.  I only got 6 bass on them in 2012 and only 4 on them in 2011.  This year I've already got 20 fish on them and I would probably have a lot more if the Stanley Phantom wasn't catching them so well this year.  Go read George's piece.

Friday, June 28, 2013

My 1st Broken Rod Post

I didn't realize I only published this at the Fishing Log Blog, not here at mother ship blog.

I wrote this on 6-26-13


Kind of had a feeling this might happen thanks to my cat climbing were it shouldn't have been. He shut the Explorers rear window on it and 2 others. I'm hoping the heavy rod makes it through the season at least. The good thing is they were all St. Croix Avid's, so I can replace them with a new rod at more than 50% off what a new one costs. I'll have this rods replacement before my next tournament.
17.5"
I had caught this jumpin' bullhead, my best of the morning, and 10 others on it between this morning and my last two outings before the rod cracked and broke in two. 

 It was a good morning of fishing.  I hit the GOMH, the PRO Culvert, and the inlet getting fish at each and missing a bunch as well. I arrived at the GOMH at 5:50AM.  I started off getting them on topwater on a Lucky Craft Kelly J (12.5"), a Frenzy Popper (2x14", 15") and the Stanley Phantom (2x13", 3x14", 15", 16" and two little toothy bullheads).  Then I got them on the Fluke until the rod broke (2x14", 17.5",11.75" and a small toothy bullhead).  I got 1 (14") and yet another small toothy on a Chigger Craw.  I left to go to the culvert around 9AM.

There I missed my first several hits on a Horny Toad before finally getting a 13", I also got 1 (14") on a Chigger Craw and 1 (14") on a Subwart in the culvert.

I then headed to the Inlet and missed two good fish on the Grass Pig before connecting with a 15.5".  That was my last fish of the morning.  I quit at 11AM.

Best 6 Fish
17.5", 16", 15.5", 15", 15" and 14.25"
20 bass Total and 4 Pike

Broke The Heavy

Well looks like I'm replacing all 3 rods.  I broke the 7' Heavy St. Croix rod fighting a little northern that got down in the weeds.  The rod cracked and broke in two.

Here is the window the cat tried to climb out on resulting on the widow shutting on the 3 rods.
Unfortunately I caught the cat instead of the window. I was really hoping the Heavy St. Croix would make it.  I'm glad I found out now, so I can have the rod back by my next tournament.

Fishing sucked. I didn't get anything at the culvert, and the "new new juice" had two guys fishing it.  They were keeping some jumpin bullheads and letting some go. They were also getting some orange bullheads.  I got 2 jumpers on the SW side and that toothy that I broke the rod on.  I fished from 10AM to 11:45AM.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Great Point By Kumar on Palaniuk DQ

If I'm Rapala – a MN company – I'm going to chew out MN's head of fisheries because my guy missed out on potentially millions of dollars worth of exposure due to a rule that should've died round about the time T Rex did. Sheesh.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Mission Lake Full Tournament Recap Up

I'm not even gonna bother posting it here, my day was so poor.   Mission Lakes has my number.

You can read about it if you want over at Bass Pundit's Tourny HQ.  It might be of interest to some because I fished with the tournament winner.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Apology To Brandon Palaniuk On His Disqualification

PHOTO: B.A.S.S./SEIGO SAITO
Brandon I am so sorry that my state and it's idiotic rules on culling on the Mississippi River caused you to be DQ'ed from the Mississippi River Rumble.  I know it was a tough one to swallow as it looked like you were on your way to winning and getting to the Bassmaster Classic next year.  Minnesota and it's rules and regulations regarding bass fishing are a never ending source frustration for me.  Unfortunately I don't see things changing, but who knows maybe some good will come out of this.  Our state just got a huge black eye.

I encourage everyone reading this to send the MN DNR an Email voicing your displeasure. info@dnr.state.mn.us

Updated: MN finally got rid of the no culling rule for the 2017 Season

Mission Lakes Tournament Quick Report


I got run over by the suck truck.  No excuses, I just didn't fish well at all.  My boater Nate Steinbauer got first place.  I think I got 2nd to last out of 33 guys, my worst Snatcher finish ever.  As always my full report will come later this week.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Adam Henkensiefken Wins 2013 Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship

We now have our first father son tandem of MBC Grand Champion's.  Adam joins his dad Guy, who was our Champion in back in 2001.  Adam caught his 24.5 inch Bowfin on Mission Lake with a pumpkin seed craw tube.
2nd Place went to 2004 & 2006 Grand Champion Dave Maas for the bigger of his two 23" fish, both of those came from Platte Lake.

3rd Place went to 2000 & 2010 Grand Champion Chuck Fields for a 21.5" fin caught out of the Whitefish Chain.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

TWOnight's

18"'s Good Side
18's Bad Side
 Monday June 17th:
This was by far the better of both night's, although neither one were bad.  I just crushed them this evening.  I fished from 5:30PM to 8:30PM the whole time on the "new juice."  It started out sunny with a bit of a wind coming out of the NE.  I got three 14" jumpin bullheads on my first few casts on the white Stanley Phantom.  I didn't get anymore hits on that, so started throwing a green pumpkin Grass Pig which I crushed 'em on.  After I had been there half an hour the wind really cranked up out of the same direction, so much so that  I had to adjust the breaks on the reels.  The fish just kept biting and I got 15 total before the fish finally quit biting for me around 7:30PM or so when the clouds moved in.    From that point on  I got one good 15.25" on the Huckleberry and a dink 9.5" on the Phantom.  A guy fishing in the channel with leeches caught a bunch of small fish when the clouds moved in.  These fish were much smaller on average than the one's I had been catching, so I don't think the school moved.  

It started getting pretty cool and the fish stopped biting so I left at 8:30PM

My best six were 18", 15.75", 15.25" and 3x 15"'s  and it was total of 20 jumpin bullheads.  I gave a few of my smaller one's to a guy with a cute girlfriend who went swimming to retrieve a stuck bait.  That was when it was still sunny out.


Tonight:
I got there an hour later this evening at around 6:30PM.  The wind was still out of the NE but much lighter. It was mostly sunny.  Once again right out of the gate I got them on the Stanley Phantom, but this time on the bone color.  I had to work for them a bit but  I got 5  before I finally switched up to a breen Chigger Craw.  I got 3 bullheads on that.  Then the action cut off, once again around 7:30pm just like last night.  But tonight there was no difference in cloud cover.  Eventually I gave up around 9:15pm and headed East of the GOMH
where I landed my last fish of the night, a chunky 16" on the "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx Frog.  Here are the two 16"'s I got.
Chigger Craw 16"
Big Sexy 16"
 My six best tonight were 16", 16", 15.25",15", 14", and 14" with 9 caught total.  All but the one were caught around the "new juice"

Monday, June 17, 2013

Jody White Is Now Officially A Minnesocold Bassin' Blogger

.
If your not familiar with Jody of Jody White Fishing, he's been blogging since 2009.  He was a Collegiate Angler at Virginia Tech and is originally from Vermont.  He also co-hosted Jody and Jesse's Bass Fishing Podcast, which now looks to be over with.

Yesterday he got his first taste of Minnesocold bassin' out at Mille Lacs from his kayak.  He even got himself a Derby Fish, maybe more than one.

I don't know if the job he got out here is permanent or a short term thing.  It would be something if a bass fishing blogger moved to Minnesocold on a permanent basis instead of moving away ala Josh Douglas Fishing and Fishing Hype.  Time will tell.

Enjoy your stay here no matter how long or short.  Maybe even we could get out some time. My boat is slightly bigger than a kayak

Sunday, June 16, 2013

My Lucky Night! (A Good True Fish Story)

But it didn't look that way to start out with. I arrived at the GOMH at about 8:30PM and started casting my white Stanley Phantom just to the left of "the juice."  The "juice" is now plugged up with weeds. On about my third cast a fish was hitting my lure and I jerked.  My Phantom came off of the Norman Speed Clip.  I must not have put it on correctly because that has never ever happened to me with a topwater lure;  Spinnerbaits more times than I care to think about, a couple of times with diving plugs, but never a topwater.  Anyway I hadn't hooked the fish, so I could see it floating out there. I immediately grabbed the chartreuse firetiger Phantom and started casting for it. On about the 3rd attempt a jumpin bullhead jumped all over the chartreuse Phantom. Keep in mind I was not working the bait, just trying to catch my lure.  I quickly reeled it in the discover it was a 19" Derby Fish.

 I got the fish back in the lake.  The current was not pulling from the area my Phantom was sitting, so I re-spotted  it and tried in vain to hook it.  But after about 10 minutes of that a boat came through the channel and agreed to try and get it for me.  Being that it's such a big bait he spotted it no problem when I cast to show him where it was.  I got my Phantom back!  I do have one more in that color, but all the same I don't want to ever lose any of them.  I may never be able to find another one of any color.
My hero driving away
gSince he went through the "new juice" I cast a Spro Poppin' Frog off to the East and got a 15.5" on that.  I went back to throwing the chartreuse Phantom and got four more jumpers from 13" to 15.5" before the mosquito's chased me out at around 9:35PM.

Nothing!

That is what the search for my pliers turned up and it's also what I caught this morning.

In my defense I got a late start and I missed at least 5 bites.  The pliers must have been lost during my morning trip yesterday.  I'm 95% sure I would have seen them otherwise.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

I Thought It Was Gonna Be On, Instead I Got a Mystery


I arrived East of the GOMH at 8:15 and on my second cast with the Herb's Dilly I got this 16" bass.  I then fished the Dilly for the next 20 minutes, mostly getting it caught in the rice.  I eventually gave up on the Dilly and took my 3 Frog rods to where I got fish last night.  I missed one hit on the Horny Toad.  Then Mike B. came into talking range as he worked down the shore line.  I got a small pike on a black/blue Snag Proof Pro Series Tournament Frog.  I think I got it out with my hands, but might have used my pliers.  This little detail will come into focus in a minute.  Willard drove by just as I released it.  Mike caught several fish beyond my casting range.  I missed a couple of fish on the Snag Proof staying in the spot maybe longer than I should have.  I moved and at about 9:30PM I got this 26" pike on the Horny Toad.
At this point I went to get my pliers from the car.  The pliers were not where they were supposed to be.  I think I got confused at this point, because I now think I carried the pliers with me and must have dropped them.  But at this time I thought I had possibly left them on the car bumper when I caught the pike this morning.  Luckily I was able to get the fish off without need of the pliers.  I looked for the pliers up by the road and in the car, but didn't retrace where I had been tonight.  I will try to do that in the morning.

Will I find them or Not?  When did I lose my pliers?

Morning GOMH Trip

I got out early enough to catch the sunrise this morning.

I started things off with a jumpin bullhead on the Phantom on the North side.  Then I got a 14.25" on the Frenzy Popper from "the juice".  I then switched to the bridge on the South side.  A guy was already there fishing the SE when I arrived this morning.  He was fishing with leeches an had gotten a few jumpin'bullhead. I got a 13.75" right away on the Chigger Craw.  Then about 20 minutes later I got this 16.75".
What is with the 16.75" fish this past week.  That was all I got on the South side.

I went back to the North side and got a 13..5" jumpin bullhead and a 20" and 24.5" toothy bullhead there.
I did go down and fish to the East, had one fish boil on Mad Maxx, but not get it.  I left around 8:30AM.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Quality at the GOMH Tonight

Tonight I got out at 8:40PM.  It was heavily overcast. I wish I would have gotten out a half hour to an hour earlier.  I started out fishing in the opening 100 yards to the East of the GOMH.  I quickly had a pike miss my frog, but then I got this close to 16" fish on Mad Maxx in Big Sexy.
The ruler was back at the car and I didn't want to go get it, so I don't know the exact size of the 3 bass I got.      One of them had to be pretty close to 17" if not over and the other one was about the same size as this one.  The mosquito's were getting bad as that the spot I was fishing was close to the woods.  I got this pike and headed back to the car.
Next I was off to "the juice".  I got 4 jumpin' bullheads there with two of them being at least 16".  All of those fish came on the chartreuse firetiger Stanley Phantom.
16.5"
I missed a couple of bites as well.  It got to dark and the mosquito's came out by 9:40PM so I bailed.  I bet I had a 3lb average for my five best tonight.

This morning that was not the case.

The TopWater Bite- Blog I Found

The TopWater Bite is a blog about my favorite kind of fishing, topwater. Check it out and be sure to Like their page on Facebook.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Couple of Trips

Today I fished at the Grumpy Old Man Hole, the river culvert, and the inlet from 5:30AM to 9:00AM and at the GOMH from 9:00PM to 9:45PM.

In the morning things started slow with me getting nothing on the North side.  I switched to the South side and did get a couple of bites on the clack/blue Pure Poison that didn't hook up.  The tail of the Grass Pig Jr. got bit off. I switched to a black/blue Chigger Craw and got my first jumpin bullhead while swimming it.  I got one more doing that and missed a couple.  I switched to the Pure Poison and put a Chigger Craw on it and got 2 that way.  I was going back to the car to change Chigger Craw colors because the one I was using only had one claw left.  I decided to fish off the bridge and immediately smacked 3 fish in a row doing that including my biggest of the morning.
16.75lbs
I switched to the breen color and got one more off the bridge.  I also missed one on a Frenzy Popper off to the SE.

I then went to the North side and got a jumpin bullhead off "the juice" on the Frenzy Popper and the Chigger Craw.  It was now coming up on 8AM so I headed for the river culvert.  I might have had one bite there.  Next I went to the Inlet. I got a pike before losing my jig in the weeds when I made a bad cast.  I had a quality bass on the Chigger Craw jump and get off right by shore.  It was at least 16 inches, maybe as big as 18".

The Evening Trip:
Some grumpy old men tonight
I didn't have much time so I went right to "the juice" and nailed fish on my first 4 casts with a Frenzy Popper.  My second fish was this 16.5 incher.

Willard came over an said hello and Mike B. showed up in his boat.  I got a total of 8 jumpin bullheads and one sunfish on the Frenzy Popper.  On the way home I clipped a deer with the Explorer.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Before The Mosquito's Carried Me Off...

... I caught a few fish.

I hit up Bulldog for a few minutes getting a small bass on the Pure Poison and a small pike on the Cane Thumper.  I was there from 8:30-8:45PM

Next I headed to Jenny's had a couple of swirls on the Horny Toad, but didn't get anything.

Last I hit up the GOMH and got a 16" jumpin bullhead on the Horny Toad.  Right after that I got this 17.25" jumper on the Stanley Phantom.
Got both of those on "the juice"

I got this nice 26" toothy bullhead on the Phantom well to the East of "the juice"
The mosquito's got horrible, so I left a little before 9:45PM

Monday, June 10, 2013

My Best Fantasy Fishing Line Up In Years

Tackle Warehouse League shows you where you finished because pretty much everyone is in that League.

Isn't worth Jack Squat.  As far as I know the only prizes out there are for end of the year standings and I'm nowhere close to doing anything in those standings because I've been having a bad year until now.

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Range Bassmasters At Platte/Sullivan Today

Well my camera went on the Fritz today, so my photo's suck.

Here is the Big Bass and Tournament Winner Ron.
She went 4/11 and was caught under a tree on Platte Lake on a jig I think.  He must be a new guy in the club, as that they don't have his full name on their website yet.  His winning bag went 15/1.


Second Place went to Emmet Smith at 14lbs and 3rd Place went to Emmet's partner Marty, who also must be new to the club this year as his full name doesn't appear on the website either; His bag was 12/14.  It sounded like all the winners fish came from Platte Lake.

I think there was just one other fish over 4lbs.  They had 8 boats fishing

Saturday, June 08, 2013

Things Slow at the GOMH Today

I took a trip this morning

and here is my report from tonight

Dad and John W. who got the bullhead
"The juice" only gave up 2 jumpin' bullheads tonight.  One on a purple Frenzy Popper and one on the "Huckleberry"  That was all I got from 8 to 10PM.  Dad managed that one golden bullhead and a silver bullhead on T.H.E. Jig.  I also had a toothy bite off the Grass Pig Jr.  That was it.

June 1st Bass Snatcher South Long Lake Tournament Full Recap

The Weather:
The weather forecast was for it to be raining from the get go and winds out of the NW gusting upwards of 20mph.  Fortunately the rain held off and the wind stayed fairly mild as well out of E NE for the first couple of hours.  It then rained for about an hour or so and the wind was really blowing by the end of the day.

The Tournament:
We were first boat out at around quarter to 7AM.  We would have got out sooner but a certain boat put there plug in the wrong hole.  We went right to our starting spot and my boater Owen had his big bass of the day in the first five minutes.  I decided the conditions might be right for topwater so I had put on my Stanley Phantom.
Right after Owen got his fish in the boat.  I had my first keeper on, a solid 15.25" fish that I would hold onto all day.  I caught the next 3 fish as well landing a 14.5", 16", 14.75".  By this point we started getting crowded by a couple of different boats; All of them catching fish as well.  Owen landed a few to catch up with me.  I got a 15.75" and 13.50".  We were now in a calm area and I got my big fish of the day a 17.5" , 3lb 1oz bass also on the Phantom.  Unfortunately we didn't really stay in that area to work it over and headed back over the water we had just come from.  The wind had come up a little bit more at this point and when we got back into the wind the topwater bite seemed to have died.

Owen caught one off a dock so we did that for bit, but that was totally unproductive.  It started to rain so we headed to our secondary area.  I think I landed one that didn't help then I got a 16 incher getting both fish on black blue Strike King Pure Poison with black blue Berkley Havoc Grass Pig Jr. as the trailer.
This is what I would get the rest of my fish on for the day.  Other than that one fish that area was a bust.

We then went to an old reed bed that was in the wind.  I had a good feeling fish on right away but it came off half way to the boat.  That was it for that area, so we went back to our starting spot which was quite crowded at this point.  We started catching fish almost immediately, so we worked the area for the rest of the day.  However we did go up into the calm area that was still calm and I culled a couple of times with a 15.25" and a 16.5" and I got several that didn't help. Owen culled a couple of times as well.  I did try throwing the Phantom some scaring Chuck Steinbauer in the process, but didn't get any hits on it.

Results:
My 6 fish weighed in a 14lbs 7ozs which put me in a tie for 5th place, which I won on the big bass tie breaker.  I got lucky because the other guy had a dead fish penalty.  Owen had 13/7 and came in 10th.  We broke the record for the best first club tournament of the year in terms of total weight caught.  Our average bag was 12.65lbs.  Chuck Steinbauer won with 16/15 beating Ed Ott by an ounce.

Analysis:
I'm happy with how things went for the most part.  I had fun, it was a good day with the topwater to start.  It's pretty clear we wasted time fishing those docks, but one fish sent us off on that mission, so what are you gonna do?

Friday, June 07, 2013

What I Won From Dave Lefebre!

I guessed his exact weight at a tournament a couple of months back.  There were like 4 or 5 of us winners.  I was beginning to think I wasn't going to see anything, but then this arrived in the mail this week.
Dave Lefebre Autographed Hat
A Crankin' Rap
An Autographed DT-Fat
3 Sample Packs of Kinami Baits (2 Hula Grubs, 2 Senko's, and 6 D Bug's)
Autographed Card
And a Tony the Tiger bracelet

The Rapala Boxes were pretty much wrecked and I think I want to use that DT-Fat

Anyway, Thanks Dave

Thursday, June 06, 2013

Two Trips Today, One with Dad.


Dad and I got out to the GOMH from 5PM to 6:30PM.  I mostly caught jumpin bullheads at "the juice" on the chartruese firetiger Stanley Phantom.  I got eight of them doing that and one on the Chigger Craw. I also got one toothy on a watermelon red fleck Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper.  Dad got a jumper and a couple toothy's on the Grass Pig Jr.

I got out again by myself at 8:30PM. I went to Bulldog first and got 4 small bass and a pike on the Cane Thumper and a 15" bass on the Chigger Craw.  I then went to Jenny's for five minutes and got nothing.

I got to the GOMH at ten after 9PM.  I got a couple of jumpin bullheads at "the juice" and a 16" off the NE side.  I then landed these two golden bullheads on the Cane Thumper.

My back was giving me issues, so I quit at 10PM.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

With Dad at the GOMH Again

12"
Today once again Dad got over to the GOMH with out me in the afternoon.  He wrecked the jumpin bullheads pretty good again;  keeping 6 he gave to some friends.  He didn't keep any big one's this time, thankfully.  Some people were getting some really nice silver bullheads and orange bullheads, so he got some  minnows for our trip. We got there around 6 PM  Dad landed the 12" silver bullhead on T.H.E. Jig and a minnow after I got his sinker situation corrected.  He got one more nice one and then it started pouring rain.  Dad had to go home and change.

While he was gone I got 2 small silver bullheads.  There was a league fishing tonight and there was this annoying boat that kept fishing around the area all evening.  When Dad got back around 7:45PM.  I headed to the North side of the bridge.  I wasn't getting much until I went to "the juice" and they were there.  See if you can guess the size of these 3 jumpin' bullheads
The first one is only 16.25", the second one is only 16.5" and the third one is 18" all caught on a black/blue 4" Powerbait Crazy Legs Chigger Craw.  I lost another good one when apparently my knot gave way after those first two.  The thing in my mouth is a Texas Rig Hitch which doesn't seem to agree with the 4/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG and the Chigger Craw.  I really think I need to be using a 3/0 with those Chigger Craws.  That 16.5 incher is gonna be a huge fish if it is allowed to grow, was just thick as all get out.
17.5"
As it got dark I managed to pull two golden bullheads on the swamp gas Grass Pig.  We left at 10 to 10PM.

I ended with 11 jumpers, 2 goldens, and 2 silvers.

Here is what we kept.  2 jumpers, 2 silvers, and 2 golden's
Dad's got two crappies in his hand. Lousy photo, I know  I was to far back for the flash to work.  I had to take it from far back because the screen on my camera wasn't working.