Bass Snatcher Lake Alexander Tournament Postponed One Week

This what we were confronted with when the Bass Snatchers arrived at the West Public Access on Lake Alexander this morning.

Guys were conferring about what to do.

Dennis Lothspeich was able to push it out aways, but couldn't move it  from there.

Most of the guys were not enthusiastic about fishing in thunderstorms all day long and so the bog possibly blowing back in and keeping anybody from getting off the water were to big a risk for the guys, so we voted to postpone the tournament to next week.  There will be a new partner draw for guys who's partners will not be able to fish and guys that were not going to fish can get in if they can make it this next Saturday and get their info to Dennis by Tue. night.

Updated- My thoughts on the tournament being postponed.  Fishing in and around thunderstorms is something I have done my entire life.  I wanted to go fishing, but I could go next week as well, so it didn't matter to me what was decided.  I didn't vote and as the votes went, mine wouldn't have mattered.  I didn't understand why more guys weren't  trying to help Dennis move the bog.  Well what's done is done.  Maybe I'll be able to get out and pre-fish the lake this week.

Bass Snatcher Lake Alexander Tournament Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have my first tournament of the year on Lake Alexander.  It's a lake that neither me or my boater pre-fished due to him having motor problems.  I've fished on the lake once in the Fall.  My boater has fished the lake many times over the years, so he has a general idea of where to go.  Looks like there will be wind out of the South all day and a chance of thunderstorms from before we start as well.  I don't know why it's a 8AM start.  It's a good thing I looked today, or I would have been there at 6AM wondering where everybody is.

I am going with 9 rods for this one, 1 more rod than usual
7' 3" MH Chatterbait, Topwater, Lipless
7' 3" MH Swimbait possibly Horny Toad Rod
7' 3" MH Swim Jig Rod
7' 3" MH Spinnerbait Rod
7' H Craw Tube
6' 8" M Topwater, Chatterbait, Swimbait, Lipless, Crankbait, Jerkbait
6' 6" MH Yabbie Rod

Spinning Rods
6' MH  Super Fluke
6' M Senko

I don't know if we will try for or come across any smallmouth.  In the past I think it has taken smallmouth to win.  I'm hoping I can get fish on topwater.  I guess we'll see tomorrow.  

Bass Opener Closes

Pathetic
11 Bass
17 Pike

To learn how we got there go to the Bass Pundit Fishing Log Blog.  All 3 days and 4 trips are recounted.

Bass Opener Bust

Bulldog Lake Lunker

4:00-10:30AM
Conditions- There were some clouds at day break turning sunny, warm, with a breeze out of the S SW

Well after what transpired yesterday, I can't say I'm all that surprised at what transpired today.  After getting in from last nights trip so late I decided I would just stay up all night and be sure to get the spot I wanted at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I arrived at 4:00AM and nobody was there.  I put my stuff down on the SE side and went up on the bridge and did some stretching.  I really need to always do that if I plan to fish for any length of time.  From what the radar was showing when I left I expected the clouds that were coming to bring some rain but they didn't.  It was warmer out than I thought it would be and didn't get as cool as what the forecast said it would get.  I was wearing a stocking cap and forgotten to bring a ball cap, Doh!

 I got my first bite at 4:24AM while fishing off of the S side of the bridge with the firetiger Ripple Shad, but whatever it was got off.  I went down to the SE side and started throwing the Grass Pig and missed a couple of bites on that.  Next I picked up a blue/black Pure Poison with Craw Fatty trailer and on my very first cast I had a 16 or so inch fish take it at 4:42AM.  Why no picture you ask?  Well as I swung it up on shore it came off. It wiggled right past me down 3 steps and into the water.  I thought no problem, I'd just catch another one.  I was amazed when I couldn't get another bite on the Poison.  So then I started throwing a huckleberry Craw Tube.  I had a fish swirl on it as I was lifting it out of the water.  I cast back to the spot a couple of times and then got instantly cut off.  Thankfully I was smart enough to not use tungsten and I quickly retied.  I decided to head over to the SW side and cast from there for a bit before someone else showed up.  I brought the Craw Tube and Poison rods with me.  I had a couple of bites that I didn't hook up with when somebody else drove up at 4:58, so I quickly went back to the SE side.  I thought maybe he was a panfish fishermen by the gear he came down with, but he was fishing for jumpers with worms and a bobber.

I got a 21" toothy bullhead on the huckleberry shortly after the other guy showed up.  He got a jumpin bullhead.  I had a few bites on the craw tube, but I was having trouble detecting the bites.  A combination of being out of practice and the old line on my reel.  I switched to a Chigger Craw and got a couple of jumpers on that, but I missed about 7 bites.  The guy with his daughter showed up and were still after panfish and the guy who was in the boat yesterday with his buddy wrecking the jumpers showed up as well.  He anchored for a bit, got nothing and put the trolling motor down.  I experimented with various crankbaits and had a couple bites that got off.  It was really slow.  The guy out in the boat got a dogfish coming down the SE side towards me.  He said "the bass must know it's opener, because it's all I could catch the past couple of days."  I got a slimer while working along the cattails next to shore with a green pumpkin craw tube, also missed another bite that might have been a jumper doing that.

Catch of the Day

While fishing with the Chigger Craw towards under the bridge I thought I had a bite, but it was a snag.  When I went up on the bridge to try and get it loose I found out I was caught on somebody else's snag that it turns out had snagged somebody else, that had snagged somebody else.  All I could see at the time was the Rapala.  I went and got the Pure Poison what has 40lb Power Pro on it and snagged the Rapala.  When I pulled it loose the  other two snags came with it.  The dad said, well at least I caught something.  The hooks still looked good on the rap, so I cast it out a few times but didn't get anything.

The Morning's Entertainment, a goose family that swam through the culvert

Some panfish fisherman showed up and  I went up on the bridge and started casting a swamp gas Grass Pig and I got 3 toothies doing that.  The guy who was fishing with worms and the dad and daughter left around 8AM.  I think the guy with worms got 4 or 5 jumpers total.  I went over to the SW side and got a 15" or so jumper on the green pumpkin craw tube, but I didn't bring the ruler with me to know for sure how big it was. I also forgot to get a picture.  A couple of grandma's showed up so I went back to the SE side and started packing up at about 8:30.  When I got up to the car it looked like the NE side was open, so I put on a senko knock off Snatch Stix from the people at BassSnatchin.com and headed over there only to find some guy was fishing down there.  I went  to the NW side.  I had a toothy under the bridge swipe at the Snatch Stix a couple of different times but not get it.  The other guy left, so I switched sides.  Over there I got a couple of toothies on the Grass Pig and one on an old wooden Bass Pro Shops flat crankbait that I have weighted to suspend. Some guys that were fishing down a little ways from me were more than happy to take them from me.  I left a little before 10 when some kids on bikes who were going to fish showed up.

I headed over to Bulldog Lake and was happy to see no one fishing there so I pulled in.  I got the fish on the top of this blog.  Then unbelievably I caught a smaller one also on the Snatch Stix.  I had to go meet Dad at Jenny's so I didn't stay long.

I wish I would have thought to go fish the Culvert over the Platte River.  I came home and crashed, so that was it for my 1st day of Bass Opener.

8 Pike
6 Bass

It's the GOMH this year for MN Bass Opener

Well Dad has been sick with a cold for about a month now, so we haven't gotten the Trophy out of storage yet.  So tomorrow for what is probably the first time since I started writing this blog that I will not be out on Platte/Sullivan for the MN state Bass Opener.  And after my trip last night, oh what fun it's going to be.  I'm in the process right now of doing an all nighter in the hope's the spot I want won't be taken.  All it will take is a couple of late night/early morning golden bullhead fishermen who intend to stay and I'm screwed.  After last night I have no clue how the bite might turn out.  I'm gonna catch some, but I don't anticipate a whack fest, but then again a school can move in too.  My plan is to get there before 4AM and then sit on the SE side.  No trying for golden's on the N side and chancing someone showing up and taking a spot before I can get there.

Well I better get cracking.

GOMH Throws Me A Curve and Stupid Boaters

19.5"

8:30-11:15PM
Conditions:  It was warm enough for short sleeves, partly cloudy, and very little wind on a day that got to 77°F, the warmest day of the year I believe.

The plan was simple, Go and confirm where I should put myself for Bass Opener in the morning.  I wouldn't even fish if it was really crowded.  There were a lot of people on the SW side, couple on the NE side, and nobody on the SE side so I grabbed two rods and went down there.  I started throwing the Piranha, but the fish weren't having that so I switched up to chucking rattlebaits way out. Nothing.

Blog reader Mike B. was out in his boat today and stopped by to talk as he was on his way home.  I don't remember if I had caught anything yet at that point.  We had a good talk and then he left.

Boats started leaving and people started leaving.  I got a toothy and a jumper on the Spro Aruku Shad in "Cell Mate" color.  One of the boats that left trolled through on his trolling motor, not  a problem.  They must have gotten a golden because they came back through not alerting the bullhead fisherman (the guy WAS fishing for bullheads) up on the bridge and he ended up hooking one of the ladies in the boats rods.  That's a problem.  He was able to get it off quick and the guy on the bridge didn't say anything.  After the guy turned around and went through again, another boat decided to troll through, again not a problem.  The 1st boat came back through again, this time I warned the guy to pull up his line.  I made a remark to the bullhead fisherman that continuing to troll through an area where people are fishing from shore is pretty bush league.  I don't know if the people in the boat heard me or not.  They turned around and went back through.  Then the 2nd boat came through catching a nice golden right in front of us and immediately went to turn around.  I said something to the guy, which he didn't appreciate.  He told me there was no law against him trolling under the bridge like that.  It's to bad Willard or Bud  wasn't there to go off on him because that would have been fun to hear..  However, he didn't put his lines back in and headed under the bridge again to leave.  He said something to the other boat as they were coming back through.  This time I cast across the channel and happened to hook his line.  A battle I would win seeing as how I was using 40lb  Power Pro, but the lines unhooked.

I asked the bullhead fisherman if the people who had been fishing on the other side were gone, and he said he thought they were, so I went to the NE side.  It wasn't long before I had a my first golden bullhead of the evening, a small keeper which I gave to the bullhead fisherman.  I ended up giving them 4 golden's.  As the boat came through on one of the passes they asked me how many I caught and I told them.  On their way back through the next time I asked them how many that had gotten and he said they were getting close to their limits (3 people in the boat).  I asked them if they had gotten any bass and they said not one.  So every fish I heard them catch was a golden bullhead if they weren't lying to me.  I did get one nice toothy which I snagged under his jaw.  She was released.  Toothies that size help keep the small one's in check.

33" or so toothy bullhead

After the bullhead fishermen left on a pass from S to N they caught a young guys lighted bobber.  One of the young guys came across the road yelling for them to stop which they did and turned around bringing the bobber in the boat.  The guy kind of lost control of the trolling motor and ended up going under the bridge and I think he scraped his boat a little bit.  Ah justice.  They left not long after that.  I ended up getting my limit golden for the day and left.

Devin, Reeds Manager, and a Loon

This was written today for my fishing trip yesterday.

With all the fishing I've been doing I kind of lost track of time for got to get the younger of my two nieces who live down in Florida a birthday card this year.  Devin caught her first bass ever this year, so I came up with a plan to dedicate my first fish of the day to her. It had to be the day after her birthday because it was around 11PM on her birthday when I came up with the idea.  I was hoping it would be a golden bullhead, but it turned out to be a nice chunky 16" jumper that hit my Grass Pig first.  Second fish of the day was a golden bullhead.

17"

I got it way up under the bridge.  That was my only golden of the morning.  It looks darker in the picture than it actually was.  I arrived at 4:45AM and didn't get the golden until around 5:15AM.  A guy showed up who was fishing the Grumpy Old Man Hole for the first time.  He showed up just as I was contemplating moving to the South side.  We talked for a little bit.  Then he went to get his stuff and went down on the SW side.  I arrived on the SE side maybe 5 minutes later.  Turns out his name is Josh and is the Assistant Manager at Reeds Sporting Goods.  He and his wife just bought a house in the Hillman area, not sure if it was in town or not.  He is a multi-species fisherman who prefers toothy critters, which were biting this morning.  I ended up getting 8 toothy bullheads today, with a couple of more missed..

I think got Josh one or two toothies and a couple of jumpers as well.  An older guy came and started fishing on the SW side with Josh for sunfish.  He didn't have much luck.  Fishing slowed and I was contemplating going back to the N side when Josh picked up his stuff and started heading that way.  I told him I was just thinking about doing that and he was nice enough to offer to fish on the NW side, so I could go back to where I was fishing when he first saw me in the morning.  I took him up on the offer.  I buzzed off my first cast with a swim jig toward the channel buoys and was immediately struck by a jumpin bullhead.  I hadn't gotten anything but toothy's out there so far this year.  I had a fish caught or hit on probably my next 10 casts before it slowed down.  Josh got a jumper on a minnow and then had to leave.  As he was going a loon swam into the area I was getting bit in and Josh said something about it.  I took a picture of the loon as it came in, then it came in closer and kept diving in the area I was getting fish.  The loon must of pretty well scattered the bait fish that were in the area because the fish stopped biting for me.

I missed one last toothy and left around 10AM.  I got fish on the Grass Pig, Frenzy Crankbait, Berkley Ripple Shad and two different Brovarney Jigs one with Devil Spear and one with a Grass Pig Jr. for the trailer.

Two Follows And One Hit from A Bird At Mille Lacs

The carnage at the North Side of Eddy's Jetty (Click to Enlarge)

Today I fished at Mille Lacs from shore from 5-9PM, with a break to eat dinner at Subway.  I started off fishing at Eddy's Jetty.  I fished off the South and off the North Jetty tonight.  I had a seagull try and grab my jerkbait that was fouled in my line as I was retrieving it.  I also saw a school of large suckers swim past.  It's to bad there isn't a largemouth within a mile of Eddy's because it would have been on that tree in the water.

After I had dinner I went to Cemetery Jetty.  The water is so high I couldn't get out and fish off the tip and unfortunately the ice didn't come in and lay waist to brush that has been growing there.  I did spook something in the old harbor.  On consecutive casts I had follows by absolute beast of a muskie and then a smallmouth on the same KVD jerkbait I got the pike on yesterday.  This muskie could have eaten that pike.  So any muskie fishermen that read my blog, the Cemetery Jetty is the point just to the North of where the Rum River flows out of Vineland Bay.  I've also seen huge muskie at Eddy's Jetty before.  A loon also came by twice.  I pulled off one wood tick going out and 5 and 1 deer tick on my way back

After leaving Mille Lacs I went to the GOMH and got skunked there as well.

Painfully Slow At the GOMH, Big Pike at Eddy's Jetty

20.5"

This afternoon I fished at the GOMH from 3:30 to 5:30PM and all I got was this toothy on the NE side.  Not even a hit on the SE side or at Bulldog or Jenny's.  A few oranges were being caught by people in boats and the daughter.  Most boats didn't seem to be getting anything.

I decided to take my evening trip to Mille Lacs at Eddy's Jetty hoping for some smallies or walters.  The Hotel and Restraunt are now completely torn down.

I arrived at around 8PM.  The second lure I threw was a strobe shad Strike King KVD Jerkbait and a rather beat up 35" or so pike hit it.  It didn't put up much of  a fight, but I could tell it was a big fish.

Yes that is ice on the North Jetty

I got to see a nice sunset, but no smallies or walleye's showed themselves.  As required by law I quit fishing at 10PM

What The MN DNR Has To Say About An Early Catch And Release Season

Right now the MN DNR is taking comments statewide fishing regulation changes for next year.  Among the changes are a long awaited early catch and release season for bass that would coincide with the walleye/pike opener.  Here is what the DNR had to say about it in their Statement of Need and Reasonableness.

Item A (2) This part of the rule proposes a catch and release season for bass statewide for 
inland waters prior to the harvest season. Bass populations are generally expanding across 
Minnesota. A statewide bass angler survey in 2012 (Schroeder 2012) indicated a moderate level 
of support for some form of catch and release season for bass. The Minnesota Bass Advisory 
Committee, comprised of representatives of the State’s primary bass organizations, has long 
advocated for an early catch and release season. Other northern latitude states (New York and 
Michigan) have recently made similar changes to their season structure in response to expanding 
bass populations, and to provide bass anglers with additional angling opportunity with low risk 
to bass fisheries (Jackson et. al. 2013; Jackson et. al. 2008; Einhouse et. al 2002; and, Bremigan 
et. al. 2008). Recent work by Philipp (2012) suggests through a conceptual model there may be 
some potential for genetic shift in bass populations exposed to catch and release angling during 
spawning. Research and management staffs have documented sufficient recruitment in most of 
Minnesota bass lakes and rivers. In addition, harvest rates from creel surveys are routinely low 
(less than 10% of overall catch). Jackson et al (2013) and Einhouse et al (2002) suggested in 
New York’s Lake Erie, that the smallmouth bass population actually increased in abundance 
since the opening of an early catch and release bass season (since 1994). Similarly, Gwinn and 
Allen (2010) suggested that seasonal closures would have little benefit on most largemouth bass 
fisheries, provided overall harvest rates are low. Therefore, it is reasonable and necessary to 
offer increased recreational opportunities without significant harm to bass populations in 
Minnesota. 

The question I have with this stuff being the case is why not open bass, or at the very least largemouth bass, up to catch and release fishing in March, instead of only to coincide with the walleye/pike opener?

What A Day at the Grumpy Old Man Hole

(Click Picture to Enlarge to See the Heron on the 1st Dock)

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole at 5am just in time to see the Moon set and about 20 minutes later the sunrise.  It was a cold morning with temps close to freezing when I arrived.  The fishing was slow but I managed a few bullheads.  These two were the biggest and both were caught on the Powerbait Ripple Shad.

22"

16.75"

I also caught fish on a Frenzy crankbait and Pure Poison.  I left at 8:30AM

Evening Conditions:  Mostly clear and cool/cold with the wind blowing out of the NW

In the evening I arrived at 8:45PM.  There were a few boats fishing in close on the SW side apparently getting silver bullheads.  The South side had 4 guys fishing it.  I talked to the guy on the bridge fishing for golden bullheads.  All he got were a couple of jumpin' bullheads.  I took a few casts next to him then went to the NE side.  I got a jumpin bullhead fishing on the NE side right away on the swamp gas Grass Pig then it slowed down.  I went up on the bridge and captured the Moon rise.

The fish started hitting.  I got 4 more jumpin bullheads on the Grass Pig fishing off the bridge.  After the 4th one I decided to stay down on the NE side where I was landing them when I got hit by a big fish.  It came up and semi jumped so I saw it was a very good jumpin bullhead.  When I got my thumb on it's lip, I was like, "Dang, this IS A Good One! "

It went just over 21 inches on my Rapala ruler.  I had to go to the car to get my Rapala Spring scale which I am carrying with me this year.  It had her at just over 6.5lbs.  This may very well be my personal best MN bass.  I did catch a 21" out of Platte in 2003 or 2004 that was similar sized but had a gut full of food, not food and eggs.

While I was landing the fish another car with two guys showed up and they went down on the NW side and got a golden bullhead right away.  Not to be out done I got me a golden bullhead and then a toothy bullhead.

19"

23"

At 10pm I decided to call it a night.  Everything was caught on the swamp gas Grass Pig in the evening.

Opener Round 2

Conditions: Warm enough with sun and breezy out of SE turning cloudy with some sprinkles and the wind switching out of the North.

Fished from around 3PM to around 9PM

I was surprised when I arrived that the Grumpy Old Man Hole wasn't totally packed with people.  There were quite a few boats however but they were all farther out.  I originally went down on the SW side where another guy was fishing on the steps.  I didn't get a bite in about 10 minutes, so I went over the SE side which  was open.  I started catching toothy bullheads right away on the swamp gas Grass Pig.  Then much to my delight I got a golden bullhead.

20.5"

 Local Walleye guy showed up in his boat again and they were getting a few golden's in the area they fished in the morning.  I heard a couple other boats say that got goldens as well.  People came and went, not a lot of panfish being caught or jumpin bullheads other than the one a kid fishing with his mother caught over by me;  The fish got caught up in the bullrushes by shore and they needed my long net, which I fortunately didn't take out of the car from my trip to Mille Lacs.  I continued to get toothy bullheads and then I would get golden bullhead about every hour to hour and a half.  After the sprinkles came through and the wind switched the toothies shut off and I only got one more golden after that.  I didn't get a single jumpin bullhead.  I got 4 golden bullheads all between 19.5" and 21" and 10 toothy bullheads between 24" and 17" long.  A few silver bullheads started getting caught by the Dad and daughter as it got dark.  Local Walleye Guy took the boat in and came and fished off the bridge.  He said they got more goldens in the afternoon than in the morning.  It didn't seem that way to me, but I didn't keep my eye on them the whole time either.  At around 9PM I had enough and went home.

5 Walleye and 12 pike not a bad Opener.

The Cook photobombs my 4th GB of the day

Mille Lacs Bust, Opener Saved by Bullheads

Conditions: Clear and cold, but no wind, so I was never chilled.

I didn't have my tackle organized enough to be at Mille Lacs at midnight because I overslept yesterday but arrived at Eddy's at around 12:20 AM. As I was driving, I thought about my plan to stay until sun up and fish for smallies and decided with it getting so cold tonight, that wasn't a good idea. At Eddy's, they put up a construction fence around the whole place, including the Marina but the Jetty wasn't blocked off in any way. The lights were off, and there was a lot of piled ice where I fish.    I could have fished off the center dock, but elected to put on my waders and head to Option #2, where I fished last year. I parked across the street from a couple of cars there.   Some guys went to their car while I was getting my stuff ready. I said loudly enough for them to hear. Did you get your limit already? They didn't acknowledge me at all, got in their car, and left.

It was right around 12:45 when I got down to the water. I took my jerkbait rod and two rods with swimbaits, one of them being the Abu Garcia Rocket/St. Croix LTB with the Powerbait  4.5" Rib Shad. I put my stuff down where I crossed the road. I saw and heard the two guys fishing closer to the inlet. I picked up the jerkbait rod and waded straight out. I tried 3 different jerkbaits to no avail. I didn't see a single walleye which was a bad sign because I saw them last year. At some point, the two guys left, but I didn't see or hear them when they did. I got over closer to the inlet and actually saw a walleye. I then noticed a guy walking toward the area where my stuff lay, so I quickly walked back. Turns out it was a creel survey guy. He told me he hadn't talked to anyone who got a fish and said the eye's just got done spawning, and he thought the eye's were going to be in a post-spawn funk. He took the water temp at the shore, and it was 42 degrees. He wished me good luck and took off.

I picked up the Rocket, and I put in the rocks on my very first cast. Luckily I got it unstuck, but the hook was bent. I thought no problem, I'll still be able to hook fish. Wrong! I had several hits but couldn't get a hook into anything. I suppose it could have been bumping suckers as well. Eventually, I went and got the other swimbait rod. I had a few fish just grab the back of the swimbait. Eventually, my feet got too cold, and I headed to the GOMH. I removed my waders, tied a new hook on the Rocket rod, and left right at 3AM.

I arrived at the GOMH at about 3:15, and there were two cars whose people were all fishing on the  SW side. I went to ask if they caught anything;  They said they weren't getting much and had no golden bullheads. Liars, they did get one, which I found out later when more of their friends arrived.

I decided to go to the NE side and started throwing the Rib Shad, which didn't get anything, so I switched to swamp gas Havoc Grass Pig and got this golden bullhead on the first cast.

18.5"

It was a beautiful clear night which I noticed after a brilliant shooting star went across the sky. Loon called, and an owl was hooting in the distance. Eventually, I decided to go to the SE side before somebody else showed up. I was there only briefly when a couple of the other guys left as another group showed up. It started getting light out, and not much was happening. A guy on the other side landed a good-sized golden bullhead. Another couple of people arrived, and one came over to fish by me. He told me that golden was 4 to 5 lbs. It got light out, and I landed a 20" toothy bullhead that hit the Grass Pig. About 20 minutes later, I missed a couple of hits, then had a good toothy bullhead hit right by me and Rocket 3 feet in the air. I landed it.

27" or so

Good thing that another guy was there to take the picture because a selfie of a fish that long doesn't look good. I also got this one on the grass pig. I tried several different jerkbait, only getting one bump that didn't hook up. I also missed several hits on the Grass Pig. I noticed the Rib Shad wasn't swimming well, and I had no hits on it. C.O. Kuske showed up but didn't come to check on me. The guy who fished next to Mike and me yesterday, who I will call Local Walleye Guy, showed up in his boat and picked up 3 people from shore. He went over and parked by the point on the SW side of the GOMH; they were throwing suckers or shiners and getting golden and jumpin bullheads occasionally. Us shore fishers were not getting much. I did get one small jumper on the Grass Pig. I tried the NE side again, but my upper back barked at me, and I had had enough of that. I left around 6:45. I Got home and called the Chiropractor. Fortunately, Dr. Grunst was willing to take me in early because he was booked.  

My Compromise On the GOMH

Lantern Man doesn't want me posting about the Grumpy Old Man Hole (not a big surprise).

 I came up with a compromise.

I also deleted my bullhead posts this year.  As always you can go to the Bass Pundit Fishing Log Blog to find out about all my fishing trips.

Grumpy Old Men & Crappies

Tonight I had my first grumpy old man sightings. I arrived at the GOMH around 3PM, it was calm and sunny, and some guy switched to the North side when I arrived, so I took up the S.W. side. I saw two minnows swimming along the rocks, but that was it as far as action. Grumpy Old Man Willard showed up around 3:30.

Willard doesn't like to have his picture taken.

Willard told me stories I'd never heard before, and he told me about the C.O. before Kuske, who apparently was a hard ass. Willard said he was taken off his duty because he had many death threats against him. True??? Who knows. Eventually, the foul-mouthed Grumpy Old Man Bud showed up.

A couple of boats came and fished, and a family fished on the S.E. side. Nobody caught anything. I saw a couple of boats coming from the river. The clouds moved in around 5PM. When I left at 5:20, a couple of young guys fishing on the North side with bass sized Rapala's came and took my spot.

I went to Sue's Drive-In with my mom for dinner. I got out to a lake that shall remain nameless around 8PM. I was fishing with my pink Cubby Mini-Mite and got a bite. It was a crappie that really wanted it.

It went 9.75," and I put it in the bucket in case I got a few more. I started tipping the Cubby with a minnow, and  I  got another 9.75 incher about 5 minutes later. I missed a bite then I got an 8" which I threw back. It was getting dark, so I went to get might light for the bobber. When I did, the light fell through a hole in the bottom of the pouch it was in and dropped into the lake. Fortunately, I had another light that was still in its package. Eventually, I switched to Custom Jig and Spins Glow Demon. While I was trying to spot the bobber light on the bottom of the lake, a crappie took down my bobber. I was lucky to catch another 8". That was the last bite I got, so I threw back the two I had in the pail. It was dead calm tonight, and I saw many fish out on the lake that were up by the surface spooking while it was still light out. A beaver was chewing on a tree to my North, about 80 yards that I could see and hear. A small beaver swam around me a few times, occasionally slapping the water with its tail. After dark, the loons were calling, and I heard an owl or two. It was a really lovely night to be out. I left around 10:20PM.

DNF

Did not fish today.  I went up to Fleet Farm to pick up a few things (Lunker Hunt Frogs). Stopped by the GOMH on the way back at around 7PM.  A couple of guys were there fishing, they told me they had just gotten there and hadn't gotten anything.  Ended up going to the Loony Bend.