Cyb Catches A Huge Gator On The Schooley

 The wind noise is kind of annoying, but staying until the end is worth it. MT channels Taku Ito complaining about hooking into big fish. 

Nice Catch, Mike

Top 3 Fishing Memories of 2019

1. Todd's 5 Pounda

2. Plopper Fishin' Platte With Cyberfish

3. My 6 Pounda

Goal Reached: Fishing With Thompson

Got out fishing with Cyb Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Fishing Goals For 2017

New and of Note for 2017- I am attempting to intentionally fish with more people this year hence the added fishing buddies category.  I want to catch at least 1,000 bass this year;  I believe that is doable since I should have the Trophy in the water all season.

Fishing Buddies:
1. Fish with Dad at least 5 times.
2. Fish with Mike Thompson
3. Fish with Jim Bonin
4. Fish with  Mike "Spike" Miller
5. Fish with Jeff and Renee
6. Fish with Todd and the girls several times
7. Take Peter W. out in the Trophy at least once.
8. Take Matt W. out in the Trophy at least once.
9. Fish with Dave Lindmark
10. Fish with Christopher Glaze
Dream Fishing Buddies:
1. Fish with Josh Douglas
2. Fish with Al Lindner

Bass Snatcher Goals:
1.  Get "Wood" in at least one tournament. (1st-3rd Place Finish or Lunker)
2. Win my 1st tournament. (My best finish to date is 2nd Place.)
3. Get "Lunker" in a tournament.   (Preferably one over 5-8 to win the revolving big bass pot that I'm now entered in thanks to somebody finally winning it last year.  With 3 big bass lakes on the schedule there is a shot.)
4. Get paired with Chuck Fields.  (He usually only fishes a couple of tournaments a year so chances of it ever happening are not very good.)
5. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year.  (Something I haven't done since 2011)
6. Catch a limit at every tournament of the year.  (I've done this twice, but in 2012 I only fished 4 out of the 6 tournaments due to a bad back.)
7. Pre-fish with at least 3 boaters.
8. List the Rods I'm bringing for each tournament before the tournament.

Technique & Tackle Goals:
1. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaway/contest.
2. Catch fish on a Lucky Craft Gunfish 117
3. Catch a fish on % of Mystery Tackle Box Lures
    3a. 1st Box 100% (5 out of 5)
    3b. 2nd Box 60% (3 out of 5)
    3c. 3rd Box 110 % (6 out of 6)
4. Catch a fish on the Rapala BX Waking Minnow
5. Catch a bass on the Salmo Bass Bug
6. Get my brother Todd set up with a Frog rod.
7.  Officially Open the Tackle Warehouse this year. (I never did that in 2016)

Blogging:
1. Blog about anytime I reach a goal.
2. Record all fishing trips at Fish Swami
3. Fish at least 150 days and blog about them
4. Do a better job of blogging when the Elites come for the AOY this year on Mille Lacs.

Fish Goals:
1. Catch Devin's birthday bullhead on May 20th.
2. Average 5 fish caught per hour. (4.08 in 2016, 3.62 in 2015, 3.55 in 2014, 4.41 in 2013, 4.31 in 2012, 2.77 in 2011)
3. Catch 3,000 Fish

Crappie:
1. Catch a new personal best. (Currently 14.25")
2. Catch* over 300 this year. (Caught 306 in 2016)

Dogfish:
1. Win my 3rd Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship
2. Catch a MN State Record fish. (11-4  or 35" x 20")
3. Catch a new personal best.

Pike:
1. Catch* over 200 this year. (Caught 488 in 2016)
2. Catch a 38" or over/personal best.

Bass: 
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Largemouth
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth
3. Catch* over 1,000 bass this year. (Caught 764 in 2016)
4. Catch* at least 25 smallies.  (I caught 24 last year)

Walleye:
1. Catch at least 30. (Caught 42 in 2016)
2. Catch 30" or new personal best. (28.5 is current PB)

* Catch is anything I deem it to be including follows by pike or smallmouth (while pre-fishing), a pike missing my lure, fish seen on the Aqua View, and fish that get off before I have them in hand that I can positively identify.

A goal that I reached is in bold.

#TBT My 1st Tournament Out of the Trophy???

It's amazing how doing Throwback Thursdays can jog one's memories. I had been trying to remember for the longest time, exactly when I first came into possession of my boat, formerly Cyberfish's boat, the Trophy. I know from doing # TBTs that I had it for the Spring of 2005 when this picture was taken. However, I was trying to remember if I had it in 2004. But then I was tracking down my various #TBT for Facebook today when I remembered fishing at the Excel Bass Tournament on July 17th of 2004 on the Whitefish Chain. I'm now absolutely positive I fished that tournament out of the Trophy. Was it the first tournament I fished out of the Trophy? I'm not 100% positive on that, as I might have fished a Team Bass tournament out of it on July 10th, and there was a Fishers of Men Club Tournament around that time as well. But I do remember fishing the Excel Tournament out of the Trophy; I am sure of it.

Interestingly, I didn't fish out of the Trophy for a memorable tournament on Koronis Lake on July 31st with Team Bass, where my 6-fish limit weighed 20.44 lbs. I know for a fact that I fished that out of MT's old tin boat, the same one I fished the first two Excel Bass Tournaments out of that year. No wonder I had such a hard time remembering when I got to use the Trophy. I only had it sometimes, depending on the needs of GEM Camps. I wish I had started the blog earlier in 2004.

GOMH Birds and Beaver

So I got out to the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight.  I wish Mike Thompson could have been there with his camera.  He could have gotten some great shots.  As it is you will have to put up with mine.  In the first picture that is a great blue heron flying above that tree (Click All the Pictures to Enlarge).

The view into Sullivan

 It's about 4 to 5 times more open than last Sunday on the Sullivan side.

The view into Platte

 About 3 times more open than last Sunday.

The beaver swam under me.

I also saw an owl and 4 deer over towards the Platte Lake Access.  At this point I'm predicting the lakes to be open in two weeks on the 30th of April.  We've got a few more cool days than it is suppose to start warming up a little.

MT's Got Skills

click to enlarge

This incredible shot was taken this morning on Lake Waconia by Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson.

And here's another one

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And here's another one

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You can see more of then here.

Fishers Of Men Club Fall Outing Pictures Sept 28&29

This 17 incher was caught on Mule Lake with a bluegilll colored Strike King Pure Poison with green pumpkin Craw Fatty Trailer on Friday.

This 28.5" Pike was caught on Saturday on the same Pure Poison at Town Line Lake.  It was my first fish of the day and I was lucky I caught it because in totally inhaled the thing and I didn't have a leader on it. I put a leader on it and caught a few more small pike.  I also managed to catch 3 decent bass.  I caught my third bass on the last cast of the day.  It bit just as Mike Thompson laid the hammer down as we were going in.  It turned out that fish along with my 3 best pike won me FallEE WallEE for the 3rd straight year.

Mike Thompson got a 19" bass on Town Line Lake

Cyberfish Makes the USA Ice Team

Congratulations to Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson in making the USA Ice Fishing Team this past weekend at Big Eau Pleine Reservior  in WI.  Here is a story from Yahoo News.

Here are the final standings:

"Shake" and "Bake" Takes the Cake

 
Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson aka "Shake" and his partner Jack Halverson aka "Bake" won the Ultimate Panfish League Tournament on Clearwater Lake in Wright County and this gave them Team Championship for the year..

Good Job Boys!!!

Fall Outing Last Year!

Amazing this had not made it up here by now. This is video of me and Cyberfish catching some nice fish on the 2nd day of the Fall Outing. The biggest was 36" and more than enough to put me on top for FallEE WallEE.

FOM Club E&W Sylvia Bass Tounament July 9th

I couldn't resist the call of the lake that taught me to fish, so I signed up to fish the Fishers of Men Fishing Club (Twin Cities) Bass Tournament on East & West Sylvia in Wright County. My partner for the day would be Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson. I found out at the landing on tournament morning that Cyb hadn't paid his Club dues, so would be ineligible in the Club Tournament. Cyberfish didn't really care and was there to fish for fun anyway.

Tournament Rules: 3 biggest bass measured by half inches, with most total length winning. The Fishers of Men Club does "paper tournaments" so all fish are immediately released.

Conditions: Light Rain for the first 20 minutes or so with a pretty good breeze all day starting from the S SE switching to the S SW. It obviously was overcast early turning mostly cloudy around 10:30PM. It was a warm morning in the 70's and it got up to about 80 and it was pretty humid. The water on these lakes is very clear and the water was about as high as I've ever seen.

With the forecast calling for that South wind to be blowing by the time the tournament was underway I decided to start on a shallow rock reef on the back side of the island in West Sylvia. We ended up fishing West Sylvia all day. Mike caught a small bass right away, maybe on his first cast, on a slug. I think he got another small one and then I got a small one on a Herb's Dilly buzzbait. Mike caught 1 or 2 more smaller fish before we made a 2nd pass. The second pass was pretty much fruitless so we started drifting across the weed flat. Mike picked up a 15 on the slug. I was throwing a white Death Shimmer 2 spinnerbait and getting a few hits but nothing was hooking up. I know at least one of those bites was from a small pike as it came all the way to the boat. We drifted to a bullrush point and fished down the West side of that. I got a small pike on the Death Shimmer. Eventually we got into some pads and I got a 12.75" Larry on a bubblegum Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig. We ended up fishing West along the shoreline where there were docks and some wood in the water. It looked awesome but all I got was a Sylvia Special (12") next to a dock. We rounded "Dink Point" and I got a 15.5" on the Grass Pig where there was trees overhanging and into the water. As you work the shoreline to the North a small point comes out before the lake opens to the main/biggest bay on West Sylvia. With the South wind this point was getting hit pretty good with the wind. I cast a black/blue Crawtube along the dropoff on the South side of the point (it drops pretty quick and I think there is a little zone of weeds there). I got hit and brought up a 15". I immediately checked the boat back into the wind to keep from blowing over the point as I thought there was a real possibility the fish might be stacked up here. Mike asked me what I was using and I showed him I was fishing a weighted Texas Rig, so he switched up to a green pumpkin jig. I think I just got done telling Mike all I needed was 1 really good fish and I would win the tournament, when Mike swung on that fish. Here it is:

It wasn't the fattest fish in the world, but it was 19" long which is an extremely good fish for Sylvia. I think I pulled a 12.75" on the Crawtube and Mike had a fish rip off the jig skirt and trailer on the hookset. That was all we would get so we headed North to the shoreline where my family's lake place used to be. Basically we worked an inside turn and then off the end of the point which was windblown. I caught a sunfish on the Death Shimmer 2 spinnerbait and had another bump or two. Eventually we worked ourselves in around the point where it was calm and there is a bunch of pads. This is an area I call the "Back Bay" as there is a man made boat channel that was on the back side of our old lake place. It was interesting to see that there is no longer an open boat lane and the Back Bay is overgrown with pads as nobody keeps a boat back there anymore. While fishing the mouth of the Back Bay I got a small bass on the Horny Toad and had another really good swirl close to the boat, but it didn't get the Toad. We worked a little ways into the Back Bay before it got too weed choked, but nothing was in there.

Next we headed to the NE corner of West Sylvia. It was interesting to see that a reedbed there had shrunk in size but cattails had grown close to shore. We fished the wind blown reeds/cattails and I missed a good hit on the Grass Pig, but it got into the reeds immediately. We got to "My Island" which used to feature an open spot behind reeds and rice. The rice is almost all gone and it's just reeds and cattails. I got a bite there from what was most likely a sunfish on a bed (I saw the sunny on the bed as we passed by). I pulled a Sylvia Special on a craw tube off the end of My Island point. We then fished into Turtle Bay. I told Mike that sometimes as you get here is "peanuts"/Sylvia Specials but sometimes there can be good fish too. We did get several peanuts, me on the Horny Toad, but I also did get a 15.5" on the Toad. It used to be that by late June Turtle Bay would be to weed choked so you couldn't fish into it very far, but now there are two docks with boats at the far back of the bay and there is a pretty good boat channel there. Combine that with the high water and I figured fish could be anywhere in the bay. The slop looked beautiful, but all we got were peanuts close to the boat channels, couldn't get anything deeper into the pads. As we worked our way back out it was dead and I got a bit frustrated as this water tends to be pretty good as you come back out of the Bay on the North side. We were almost out of the slop when I got a Sylvia Special out of the Cattails up by shore on the Grass Pig. We went out and worked a cabbage bed that was as in the wind as you can get and we didn't get a bite. We worked down "McGregor's" shore to the 2 docks. I missed a small bass in between 2 docks.

Next we moved to the "Sunkin Island" but we didn't get anything there, so we headed to "Lighthouse Point" with would be another wind blown point with a good drop off and weeds. I'm not sure I even had the trolling motor in the water yet and Mike was hooked up with a big fish and we knew it was a big bass because it jumped. He got it in and it was this nice 19.5" fish.

Needless to say we worked the point pretty good after that and we caught some fish but they were all Sylvia specials.

Next we moved into Flannery's Bay to the hump that I never knew existed until I got my Lakemaster Map. I pulled this 14.25" from there on a Crawtube, but that is all we would get.


Next we worked an inside turn and weedline in Flannery's and I picked up a few more fish on the Crawtube. I also missed several bites. There was about an hour left so we headed back to fish slop/pads in the Public Access Bay. By this time it was partly cloudy so there was quite a bit of sun. Right away I scored a 15.25" on the black Horny Toad. I caught several more Sylvia Specials including this one.

The tournament ended at 2PM. Mike's 53.5" destroyed everybody, but as that he was ineligible my 46" won the tournament. It was typical Sylvia in that everybody reported catching quite a few fish, but everything was small.

Analysis: What can I say but I love Sylvia/Twin and I know spots that have the potential to kick out better than your cookie cutter Sylvia Specials. I am a little surprised that I never made it to the channel between the lakes, but with the way the slop was going in Turtle Bay, I made the call to hit Lighthouse Point first and after that I didn't want to make the run across the big water in that wind. If you want to catch bigger than average fish in Sylvia, you might want to consider using a green/pumpkin bass jig.

Ha!!!!

Looks like Cyberfish got himself in a little trouble. Wonder why he didn' blog about this? Or maybe he just didn't get to it yet.

Hat Tip: Greg Clusiau of Life and Times in the Great Outdoors.

Update: The Story at Fish Chaser...

Baron Von Crappie Strikes

That's right MT of MT Bucket Blog aka Cyberfish, aka Baron Von Crappie placed 2nd with 2nd Big Fish at the 20th Annual BJ's Bait & Tackle Crappie Contest on Clearwater Lake.

BVC has a full write up at his blog...

Hilarious!

Casey of Casey's Catch of the Day blog went float tube fishing with MT of MT Bucket blog and Casey got this great shot of ole Cyberfish.

Cyberfish: Panfish Stud!

However, what is with that reel?

Hmmmm

Apparently Cyberfish of MT Bucket Blog was so worried I was going to steal the picture of this fish, that he marked it so everyone would know where it came from. Good Call!!!

More of Cyberfish's pictures of that ice outing here...

Toad

For some reason the last picture on this Flowing Waters blog posting reminds me of Cyberfish of MT Bucket blog. I think there is a bit of a physical resemblence between the two.

MT Bucket Ice Bluegill Derby

Stealing a page from Bass Pundit, Cyberfish at MT Bucket Blog is hosting MT's 2010 Monster Bluegill On Ice Derby. Unlike a Bass Pundit Derby, Cyberfish is actually offering a prize for the winner, but to qualify you have to jump through a few hoops while the BP Derby's have been 100% honor system.

Of coarse the big problem with Cyberfish's Derby is that the only bluegill ice fisherman better than Cyberfish is Da Man, Dave Genz himself.

Shake and Bake Win Again.

Mike & Jack once again prove why they are the hottest fishermen on ice, winning yet another Ultimate Panfish League Ice Fishing Tournament.

Cyberfish has a report with pictures @ MT Bucket. Mr. Humble does not reveal he won.