Victory Achieved Devin's 2020 Birthday Bulhead

1st Bullhead of the Day onMay 20th is Dedicated to my niece Devin.  Happy Birthday, Young Woman!

2020 Opener Recap

25.5" X-Rap Shad Shallow (Pink)

I don't think I have ever done a postmortem on a Fishing Opener.  I don't think I've ever used the word postmortem in a sentence before either.  Well, by golly I'm killing two birds with one stone today.

 My 2020 Fishing Opener was discombobulated right from the start.  I was getting my lines set up at 5-minutes to midnight on Eddy's Jetty when I got a surprise visit from Casino Security informing me that Eddy's was closed.  I kind of figured that out when there wasn't a car in the parking lot.  Thankfully, he didn't kick me out right away.  I got to fish unit 2:00AM when he came by again and told the 5 of us that were fishing there that we had to leave.  I managed to get 4 eyes landed while losing two lures.  The first was an Ultimate Jerk Shad that broke off at the spool when I backlashed precipitated by my line guides freezing up.  The second was an X-Rap Shad Shallow because I didn't check my line for frays after the backlash.  So I lost my first bite of the night.

I made the best of getting booted from Eddy's and tried a spot I was aware of but never fished, the rock point at Mac's Twin Bay.  It wasn't what I expected, but there was a spot for me to cast from and I caught the pig there, so two thumbs up.  I also had a big walleye break me off and saw a mid-30-inch toothy critter swim by.

The GOMH gave up a couple toothy critters to me and a couple of jumpers to Delroy's Crew.  I caught a small bass at Bulldog.

I got a surprise phone call in the morning letting me know the Trophy was ready for me to pick up.   I waited until 4PM to pick it up, which was a mistake because it was sleeting out pretty good at that point. I wasn't gung ho about getting soaked so we didn't put her in the water.

I didn't get back to fishing until 1:30AM Sunday Morning.  I went to Eddy's and they didn't have any no trespassing signs up so I fished at the Jetty.  The wind really kicked in shortly after I arrived.  I fished for an hour and a half getting two bites catching one.  I was going to hit the GOMH but went home ate some pizza and went to bed instead.

The rest of my time spent fishing resulted in no fish being landed and me not being able to fish at the Jetty because they had closed it off with police tape.  I did have a small walleye follow at Mac's and lost a toothy at the GOMH at sunrise.

Not the greatest Opener in the world, but I have had worse.  I should have gone to pick up the Trophy right away because Saturday, was the day to get it done.  The fish were on the chew.  The snow and cold and wind killed the bite for me on Sunday.

2020 Opener Outlook

Weather:  The only thing for certain is that it is going to be cool/cold.  They took the rain off of the Saturday forecast today.

Current Plan: Still Eddy's Jetty at midnight.  I may or may not take the Slop Slip out.

Friday I plan to spend several hours on tackle prep.  I need to get my crap together.

Slop Slip First Trip (A Bit of a Trainwreck)

4:00-6:00PM Rock Lake RPRO
58-℉, PC, 0-6mph NE
Water level low.

I got the lettering put on the Slop Slip, and because the winds were light, I thought I would give her a trial run. It could have gone better. I elected to go with the 55lb of thrust Min Kota. I think that is overkill, and it doesn't tighten itself to the boat easily. I found that out when I pushed the boat into the water, and it fell in the lake. Good thing I had the batter terminals attached. I fished it right out, and it worked fine. On the way to the RPRO, I didn't have the troller adjusted right with it being too low in the water. I ran into the log on the bottom at full speed. I was lucky nothing broke.    I then didn't follow my plan of making my way to the beaver dam but drifted/fished my way there. The first thing that happened was a fish swirled on my orange Rocket Bobber; That happened at least a half dozen times.    Shortly after that, I caught the 13 inches. The water level is low. I didn't see much baitfish activity and kept having to pick off weeds. I landed one bass on THE JIg, One on a craw tube, and one on the Poison. I also got a pike on the Poison. Missed a bunch of bites. I never found any concentration of pannies and lost the one for sure sunfish I did have on. The water was pretty clear. It would be really nice if the water level came up 6-inches. Because I was struggling to find the pannies, I turned in at 6PM.

Angie Thompson Is Starting A Fishing Business Podcast

Angie Thompson was the late Jerry McKinnis, right-hand woman.

Check it out:
https://www.fishingbusinessschool.com/fishing-business-podcast?fbclid=IwAR3SMfSbjyYRRLWmuIN_-Ym6KfjoBGALKYDq4IUEYJw40TiPNvFnqNVtnsM

Dock In At the Lake Place

I got up to the Lake Place a little after  4PM and we were done by 5PM.  Steve did most of the work.  We put the Slop Slip n the Expedition.  I had a stowaway crawl onto my hand as I was driving home. There was a mouse in the boat when we put it in the truck.  I pulled the boat out and left the Expedition doors open when I got home, so hopefully it found a new abode.

April Was A Brutal Month For Catching Fish for the BP

On April 17th I wrote a blog post entitled April Has Been Brutal So Far.  When I wrote it I was thoroughly convinced I would have things turned around in a big way by the end of the month. Due to my motor issues which developed on the 23rd that rally never materialized. The panfish never moved in en masse to where I could get them and I was no longer able to go to the fish.  That was a tough month.  I'm glad it's over. 

I have no idea when I will be able to use the Trophy. I think I'm probably going to have to write off the month of May as far as that goes.  I will be putting the Slop Slip to use and will continue hitting the GOMH at prime times.  I don't know if getting a hundred fish day is a realistic expectation now or not.  I am sure going to give hitting that goal this month my best shot.