Last Day of a Lost Season

There are things that I can be positive about this season, namely coach Zim, Defensive improvement, and Teddy.  But all those pail in comparison to the tragedy that was the fall of A.P..

In case you didn't know Adrian Peterson was my favorite player to watch in all of the NFL.  What he did to his kid sucks.  His punishment has sucked just about as much to me as a fan.  I don't think what he did to his kid was right or fair.  I don't think how the NFL handled it was right or fair either.  Two wrongs don't make a right.  Adrian should have been fined for the games he didn't play then been reinstated after the court ruled.  Instead Goodell decided to make an example out of Adrian, just as he did of Ray Rice.  I don't think Ray Rice was treated justly either.  I get it, both men made a mistake.  I think both men owned up to it, and were making amends.  Ray Rice's career as football player maybe over and Adrian's as a Viking maybe over.  Like I said, it's a tragedy.  

New Unnamed Area Lake

10.75" T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

2:00-7:00PM
34 degrees some sleet and snow mild North wind
30' or so feet down over 50' or so feet of water

When I arrived there was a guy leaving who was fishing with his kids right by the access.  He was only there for maybe 20 minutes and the kids wanted to go.  He didn't really have any info for me.  He usually fishes on Platte for pike.  He was the only person on the lake and I don't think there was a permanent house on the whole lake.  I went and fished in his holes and a couple of H.S. kids showed up.  They had been getting crappie and they headed north.  I worked the area around the point to the north of the access.  I didn't find any life.  After an hour of that I took the Vexilar and went trolling over the deep water.  I marked a fish, so I went and got my stuff.  When I got there the fish was gone.  I trolled around and marked another fish, so I started drilling holes.  It was about 3:30PM or so before I was fishing.  I put T.H.E. Jig down and had two fish move in immediately.  I caught a 9" which I released.  Then I got the 10.75" which I decided to keep.  That was the biggest fish I got.  I caught 10 fish total, 3 went back.  I think 3 of them went 10" at least.  I got the last three on the Glow Demon and a minnow.  I'll be back.

My last fish of the night:

10" on Glow Demon and a minnow

10 Crappies

Winner Winner For Christmas Dinner

Thank You Gamma!

I went with 3lb in their blue ice line, which is a co-poly.

Update:  Turns out they don't have 3lb line, so I went with 2lb.

Same Lake Different Results

8.5" on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

2:30-6:30PM
Colder today 21 degrees, Windy out of the North, cloudy, it snowed for a bit

I drilled 4 sets of holes on a line from East to West and started approximately where I ended last night at the eastern most holes.  I couldn't see where any of yesterday's holes were.  I got 4 quick fish on the Demon and a minnow.  The fish were smaller than what I got yesterday.  After the first 4 the crappies got fussy.  I finally got T.H.E. Jig and a Waxie down and got 3 on that.  I wish I had drilled more holes when I first started because when I went to drill again I couldn't get the throttle to work, so I couldn't drill any more holes.  I ended up getting two more after dark on the Demon and a minnow.  The fish just weren't as aggressive as yesterday and I marked far less of them.

9 Crappies 7-9.25"

Unnamed Area Lake

11.25" on T.H.E. Jig and Waxies

2:45-5:45PM
33 degrees Light rain and sleet Windy out of the N NW
20-25' over 31' of water

A little better size than Bulldog.  Got several in the 9.5" range and the 11.25" which was the biggest.  The rain and wind made hole hopping difficult.  I caught my first 14 on T.H.E. Jig's with waxies and the last 7 on a Glow Demon with a minnow.   I plan to go back.

21 Crappies

Wet Sloppy Mess

8.5" Bulldog Lake

2:00-8:45PM
40 degrees foggy light wind

All the snow on the ice melted leaving lots of water on the ice.  I'm glad I had an ice cleat for one boot.  I started off on Platte out of Jenny's.  I couldn't find the point and headed off the lake at 3:30.  I was set up on Bulldog by 4:15pm.  I started getting crappies right away on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie.  I managed to get 7 of them and then the bite shut down.  The foggy and  wet conditions made hole hopping difficult because I couldn't see the holes until I was almost on top of them.  I think the fish went down to the bottom as I didn't mark anything up high once it got dark.  At least it was warm out.

4 Species at Rock Lake

1:30-6:30PM
32 degrees Cloudy wind 5-10mph out of the SW

Got the auger working today.  The issue was that I didn't have enough gas in the tank yesterday.  I planned to drill holes and then look with the Aqua View.  After about the 5th hole it ran out of power.  I didn't see any fish.  The first fish I got into were perch.  They were in almost every hole, so they wasted my time.  At about 4:15 I got to what was going to be my last hole, before I headed to Bulldog.  Low and behold I found some sunfish, so I drilled more holes.

It was getting dark and I forgot I had my sunglasses on.  I wondered why the LED's didn't seem to be putting out the amount of light they did last night .  My bobber with the Glow Demon and Minnow went down and I got a 22" pike on that.

Finally I realized I had my sunglasses on.  I caught one dink crappie.

That was my last fish of the night.

6 Perch
5 Sunfish
1 Pike
1 Crappie

Sullivan Sucked

9.5" on a Glow Demon with Minnow

3:45-7:30pm
30 degrees cloudy 5mph wind out of the SW

I made several wrong calls today.  I went straight out from the West Public Access to where there was only 1 house.  There were 4 or 5 houses about 250 yards to the South.  I started out going to the houses, but decided to go back to the one house area.  I left the hand augers in the car and didn't put more gas in the auger.  It's a pretty good hike out to the spots so I wasn't going to go back and get that stuff.  I had trouble keeping the auger running and it took probably 10 minutes to get a hole drilled.  I was in 40' of water.  I fished with a Grass Pig first.  I didn't see anything so I switched up to a Glow Demon.  I got my only fish on that.  I went to drill another hole to the NE of where I was.  I got it about a 1/3 of the way drilled.  When the guy in the fish house came out and offered to drill holes for me.  I only had him drill 3 holes and only knew the depth at the one where my Trap was sitting in 40'.  Turns out the other holes were in 37' feet.  I got 1 more bite out of the original spot but lost it while taking the transducer out of the hole.  I ended up drilling 2 more holes at around 6:30pm, but they were dead.  I finally left at 7:30pm

I think I'm gonna try Rock tomorrow.

MN Bass Catch & Release Season May 9-22, 2015

We got her done, finally.  From the MN DNR.

Bulldog Again

Dreary Day On Bulldog, But The Hoar Frost Looked Nice In The Trees.  

4:00-7:30PM
28 degrees Cloudy 5MPH wind out of the SW

8.5" 1st Drop

Dad didn't do Ruby's Pantry, so I was able to go fishing.  I decided to hit bulldog again.  I stopped at Bear Trax to get my propane tank filled.  Turned out it was already full.  I don't know what was up with it quitting on me the last time I was out;  It worked perfectly for me tonight.  There was nobody fishing Bulldog.  I went back to my spot.  I drilled a transducer hole in the middle with my 4" auger.  I got 5 quick 8" crappies on the orange/chart T.H.E. Jig with a waxie.  I switched rods to use a black/white T.H.E. Jig and I got some smaller crappies on that.  The bite died so I went and drilled a hole to the North East hoping to find deeper water.  It turned out to be a foot shallower.  I caught several smaller 6-7" fish there on the b/w.

I went back to my holes and got one more on the o/c and then my line got caught in the reel and I broke it trying to unwind it.  I realized I didn't have any scissors to retie, so the rest of the night I used the b/w.  The action slowed down as it got dark, but I still got an occasional fish.  I went to the N hole and got a couple there.  I went back to my holes and got a couple more.  I went and drilled a hole to the South.  I got my biggest fish of the night there.

9.25"

I got maybe 7 fish out of that hole.  I decided to leave at 7:30.  All my fish were caught from 13-18' deep over 27-29' of water.

I still wasn't as efficient as I would like, but I'm getting better.  The LED lights I got at Mills for a $1.99 a piece lit up the house well enough for me to see and the hook on them fit on my cross beams just perfectly.  Not having a scissors or pliers with me was a stupid oversight.  Won't happen again.

23 Crappies Total

Tomorrow I think I'm going to check Sullivan first and depending on what I see there may stay or head to Rock.  I think I'm going to take the Power Auger tomorrow as well as the Aqua View and get minnows as well.

Upgraded My Vexilar Carrying Case

From This:

To This:

I bought the Vexilar Pro Pack 2 Carrying Case as an early Christmas Present to myself.  Now I will easily be able to control the transducer cord and have a spot that my 9/19 transducer fits inside which are things I was always fighting with on the old case..  It also has a movable rod holder and a space to fit a small tackle box.  I think I'm going to check on Ebay for buying a battery meter which has a spot to be mounted on the upper left.

I Got Out!

Bulldog Special On the 1st Drop

3:35-5:15PM
Cloudy 10mph Breeze out of the SW 25 or so degrees.

How deep they were 25'-15' over 29'

Well I got out to Bulldog Lake today.  I am definitely not in the kind of shape I was in the last time I ice fished.  I left the power auger at home and it was all I could do to drill 2 holes in 11" of ice.  Fortunately fish were under the first hole I drilled.  It took me a few seconds to get the Vexilar reading the bottom;  I had to wipe off the bottom and then it worked.  I put T.H.E. Jig down the hole and quickly caught my first crappie,  a 7" Bulldog Lake Special. I caught a total of 10, the biggest of which was 8.75" between orange/chart T.H.E. Jig and a small orange/glow Fat Boy.  I used a wax worm on both, but caught a couple with no meat.  They were pretty aggressive when I first got there, but then got finicky after I lost several of them on the way up.  I ran out of propane in my heater after about 20 minutes.  All I had for light was my head lamp.  I definitely was not the most efficient fisherman in my first trip out on the ice in 8 years.  Those mistakes will be corrected the next time I go out which will probably not be until Thurs.  I may or may not go to Bulldog again.

Give This Man the Ball!

Joe Banyard

I'm sorry, but 2.8 yards per carry with 19 carries isn't cutting it Asiata.  Especially when his average went down later in the game when it should have been going up.  Meanwhile this guy Joe Banyard has flashed every time he's given the chance.  I figure we are losing an average of 2 yards per carry if not more.  I was dumbfounded when Norv kept rushing Asiata when both Tate and Banyard have clearly shown they will give us better production.

Let Banyard Loose!!!  

I Had A Dream...

...this morning that I was out fishing at Lake Sylvia in my Fish Trap using my Vexilar.  I didn't get the fish I was marking to bite before I woke up.

So today I pulled the Trap out of where I'd been keeping it and opened it up for the first time in several years.  Fortunately no mice got into it that I could tell.  It is basically ready to go; The power auger not so much.  I put gas in the auger and much to my amazement it started, at least in fits and starts.  But there is a fuel leak somewhere and it never ran to the point of being able to turn the auger.  Dad will have to take a look at it.   Hopefully it's just the fuel line.  I always have the hand augers.  Hopefully, the blades are still sharp.

I've got the Vexilar and Aqua View ready to go.  My ice reels and line need some attention.  I could be fishing as soon as soon as Wednesday.   I've kind of got an urge to go and try Mille Lacs, not that I've ever had much success there.

Updated 12-7-14 at 2AM: Got reels and line done.

This Next Week May Very Well Be The One...

When I get my ice fishing stuff together and go ice fishing seriously for the first time since 2006.  The weather is supposed to be nice.  I guess we'll see.

Excellent Point Vern!

No changes in the harvest rules are planned. With just three creel survey workers, it seems that the launches aren’t interviewed very often, many launches won’t let the DNR on their property and the survey is voluntary. My thought is: if these resorts, guides and launches are profiting from their customers harvesting fish owned by us, citizens of Minnesota, they should be required to accurately report their catches. If this information isn’t in the DNR Creel surveys, how can they keep saying the harvest is safe? 

Vern Wagner made this point on Facebook while talking about fishing on Mille Lacs Lake.  Without a doubt the launches and guides should be keeping a record of every walleye, pike, muskie, and smallmouth they catch, it's approximate length, and whether or not it was kept.