18th Blogoversary Day For Bass Pundit

The picture was taken on August 30th, 2011, at Erskine Lake by Pete. The story of that day is here. 

 

15 Top Fishing Memories of 2021

 

1. Winning my first Baxter Bass Snatcher Tournament Ever. 

2. Belle getting her first ever fish on a frog.

3. Frog Fishing With Mal for the first time. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to land a fish. She had plenty of opportunities.

Sullivan Lake 4lber

Platte Lake 4lber

Sullivan Lake 4lber

Platte Lake 4.16lb

Sullivan Lake 3.88lbs 

4. Getting Steve on multiple pigs this year.

5. Fishing with Kane and getting him on some frog fish.

6. Sumo the Stowaway gets me a sumo bass.

7. Three trips with Lois and Chuck.

8. Getting skunked at Leech Lake, listening to Kid Rock Cowboy as we headed back West riding out the rollers, and the drive home with Darrien commiserating about the lousy conditions. 

9. Catching that sumo gill on Sullivan

10. Pete's 21-inch jumpin' bullhead at the Grumpy Old Man Hole and me laying the hammer down on three golden bullheads that night.

11. Some big pike this Fall and losing a big one that jumped out of the net twice on Opener morning.

12. That short, but hot Fall bite on the LiveTarget Wake Gill

13. Ice Fishing in the New Trap and laying the smackdown on the panfish on Rock Lake

14. Spending a morning in the boat with Lowell Borgan on Whitefish Lake

(5.46lbs)

15. Big Momma of the year at the Cookie Jar on June 7th, on Mad Maxx (Bluegrass)

Bonus Memory:

16. Big Doggo on the same night Steve dropped something huge in the rice. This was my 2nd bowin of the day. I caught one in the morning in a boat lane at the SPRO.

What The GOMH Looked Like Today

 

Haven't fished yet, but seriously getting the itch too. Pete was up last week doing some fishing on Mille Lacs with other vets.

No MN Lakes Ice Free Yet

They changed up the interface and way it looks over at the DNR's MN ice out tracking page.  No surprise that lakes haven't started opening up yet.  I'm doubtful it will even begin happing by the end of next week.  It's ideal sap collecting weather for the syrup makers though.  Pete's coming up this weekend and we're gonna do some ice fishing after the Classic wraps up on Sunday.

Went Fishing With Pete, I Got Skunked

Looking SW

4:00-6:30PM Sullivan Lake West Access
Conditions: 48-40℉, Mostly cloudy, Wind SSW, Fished from 7' to 42'

We were not fishing very close to that point at all

Pete decided to stay another night and go fishing, lucky me.  So I didn't go to the Grumpy Old Man Hole like I planned.  Dad using the Kia had something to do with that as well.  I ended up choosing to go to the West access on Sullivan.  I didn't put a whole lot of thought in to what we were trying to accomplish.  It would have been nice had Pete remembered to grab his jacket.  I gave him my hoodie and fleese sweatshirt, thus leaving me with two base layers and my Clam Jacket.  There was enough of a wind that I ended up getting pretty chilled.

There was a guy with a four wheeler fishing the area I wanted to go to.  I didn't think to go and talk with the guy and amazingly enough Pete didn't either.  We started out fishing open holes we found.  Pete started getting a few perch and he kept a couple that he found acceptable size.  He moved holes and an eagle came and stole the biggest one.  I couldn't hook a perch for some reason.  I wasn't detecting any bites.

As the sun started going down I took notice of the beautiful sky.  I went out and drilled some holes over 40' of water.  I marked some suspended fish, but once again couldn't feel if they were biting.  They just weren't aggressive and didn't stay long.  Pete couldn't get the suspended fish either.  The the guy with the 4 wheeler left and Pete went over in that area and marked a ton of fish.  Couldn't get them either.  The batteries on my GPS had quit and I forgot that I had the battery back up in my coat, duh!

I was cold and it was pretty dark so we left.

Skunk

It Was the Fuel Line, Stupid

The New Fuel Line

In May 2013, the motor on the Trophy started giving me problems. When I would open it up to full throttle, it would start to sputter like it wasn't getting gas.  We tried switching the fuel lines, and the problems persisted.  I only got the boat out a few times that year because the fishing was so phenomenal at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  In 2014 the fishing at the GOMH was pretty darn good, and I didn't put the boat in the water once.  In 2015 with low water fishing at the GOMH declined precipitously.  However, instead of turning to the Trophy, I fished out of the Slop Slip and never got the Trophy wet.

I finally put the Trophy in the water again this year, and it was still giving me the same problems.  We put on different connector ends on the fuel line, the problem was not fixed.  It didn't really matter that much because I had the boat parked at the lake place.  I was pretty much content to fish where the trolling motor would take me fishing no farther than a quarter of a mile from the lake place.

When Pete was here last month, we ended up fishing out to about a mile away.  It was getting dark, so we started the gas motor, and on the way back, Pete got the motor to run at full throttle by holding the fuel line tight against the motor.  He suggested I buy a brand new fuel line and see if that didn't fix the issue.  When we switched fuel lines back in 2013, they were both who knows how old at that point.  I finally got around to buying a new fuel line last week.  Yep, the fuel line was the problem.  I'm so glad to have my motor back up and working correctly.

BP 4 Pete 2

This morning Pete and I went out and fished from about 6 to 8AM.  Pete got his spinnerbait back at the Culvert and missed a pike.  I might have missed a fish.  Then we went to the inlet.  Pete caught a nice 18" bass on a spinnerbait and got one more.  I got 2 bass and 2 pike in the culvert area on a Crawtube.

Pete had a major meltdown over his gear giving him issues.  He finished it off by breaking the top guide on his rod and chucking the rod into the lake.  He was able to retrieve the rod.

BP 5 Pete 4

Tonight we went out from 8PM to 9:30PM.  At the Culvert Pete got the first fish.

Pete lost the spinnerbait.

Later on I got a pike and a nice bass on the Strike King Pure Poison

17"

That was it for the Culvert.

Next we went to the inlet where I got 2 bass and missed another out from the culvert with a Crawtube and Pete got 1.  Pete got 2 off of the access and I got 1 and missed 1 in the reeds with the Grass Pig.

Pete 3 BP 0

Tonight Pete and I didn't get out until after 9PM.  I figured we were just going to try and recover a lost spinnerbait for Pete at the Culvert.  But Pete managed 3 quick fish on a different spinnerbait..  And luckily I spotted where his lost spinnerbait was so he could put on his waders and get it, otherwise Pete had no clue where it was at.  So it was a successful trip for Pete anyway

BP 2 Pete 1

Tonight we were out from 8PM to 9:30PM.  Didn't get anything at the Culvert or at the Platte Lake Access.

We both got a small bass at the West Sullivan Access

I got this small pike at the inlet on a Grass Pig

Pete had a pike bite him off.

Pete 2 BP 1

Tonight we got out a bit later than planned fishing from 8:30PM to 9:30PM.  We fished at the culvert again and on the South end same as last night.

Pete caught 2 bass including his biggest one yet.

I got 1

14"

Then we headed to the South end of Sullivan.  Here is a picture I took last night of Pete wading.  (Couldn't find it last night because it was in a new folder.)

BP 4 Pete 3

Pete and I went out shore fishing again from 8PM until 9:45PM.  We went by the GOMH and didn't stop even though Willard was there.  Platte Lake Access was being fished, so we went to the River Culverts.  Pete got the first couple of bass on the Yum Wooly Bug.

I then caught a 16" on the Wooly Bug on a weighted swimbait hook.

Pete caught his last bass on the WB and I got a 15.5".  Pete hung the WB up in the weeds and I had to break it off.  Pete then got his waders and retrieved his Rapala from last night.  I got a chunky 19" on the Wooly Bug.

Right after that I lost the grip pin off the swimbait hook, so we were SOL on the weedless bottom bumping lures.

We went to the outlet on the South end of Sullivan and I amazingly caught a walleye on the Pure Poison w/ Craw Fatty.

Pete waded around but didn't get anything.