Had to Have It!

Today, I went up to Brainerd to pick up a few things at Fleet Farm that were on sale.  I also stopped at the new Dick's Sporting Goods Store to check it out.  This Dick's doesn't have the biggest fishing section I've ever been in, but it did have a decent enough selection of bass lures.  When I saw the Plopper Trailer I just had to get me a pack.  The ones I've seen online usually have one Plopper and one rattle but as you can see it was the two Plopper pack.  In case you haven't figured it out these are made to be put on a double frog hook to make a frog into a Plopper.  I suspect it won't be the most weedless thing in the world, but will probably work great in reed beds. We'll see.  I put one on a Snagproof and one is going on a Spro.

SnagProof Kicker Frog minus the legs 

Operation Mystery Tackle Box Is Underway

12.5" Z-Man Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig/Crusteaz 

8:30-9:45PM Platte River Culvert, GOMH NE
Conditions: 60℉, Partly Cloudy, NW Wind

14.5" Jenko Premium Spinnerbait

So tonight the aim was to catch fish on as many of the lures I got in my three Mystery Tackle Box's this winter as I could.  I started out fishing the River2Sea Double Plopper at the Platte River Culvert and had something small hit it but not hook up.  The same thing happened when I went to the GOMH.  I got the first bullhead of the night on the Z-Man Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig with Z-Man Crusteaz trailer.  Then I put on the Jenko Premium Spinnerbait and got the biggest fish of the trip on that.

14.5" Jenko Spinnerbait

   I then put on the LiveTarget Hunt For Center Crawfish Crankbait and got a bullhead on that after switching from the 6'4" Avid X Rod to the 6'8" Avid Rod.

13.5" LiveTarget HFC Craw Crank

Last bullhead of the night came on the Savage Gear Armor Tube Worm.

11.5" Armor Tube Worm

I originally had it on the hook Texas rigged, but switched to wacky after missing a coupe of bites.  I got the fish, but lost the worm.  I then tried a Netbait Baby Mad Paca and missed a couple of bites on it before the skeeters became to much.

So basically I got 4/6 of Box #3 taken care of,  1/5 of Box #1, and 0/5 of Box #2

  4 Jumpers (4.96lbs)

Mystery Tackle Box NOT Disappointed, Finally!

LiveTarget HFC Crawfish Crank:  Should be a real winner at the Grumpy Old Man Hole provided a pike doesn't steal it.

River2Sea Double Plopper:  I am aware the reviews on this bait have pretty uniformly registered disappointment.  I still wanted one anyway, but sure as heck wasn't going to pay to buy one for myself.  Now I have one for myself.  MTB came through with a topwater bait for me.

Z-Man Project Z-Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig and Crusteaz: This mini jig-n-pig combo is sure to be a fish catcher until a pike steals the two jigs from me.

Netbait Mad Paca: Brush Hog style creature baits are something I have never fished.  I guess you have to buy them to fish them and I never bought any.  If they live up to the hype, I'm pretty sure I'm  going through this bag fairly quickly; not because Netbait are a fragile plastic, but because this style of bait catches 'em so well.  If these prove to be a winner, and I have no reason to believe they won't be, I may add this creature bait to my bag of tricks.

Jenko Fishing Premium Spinnerbait: A very nice looking white spinnerbait made with quality components.  Absolutely will catch me some fish.

I am giving this box an A+

If all of the boxes were this good I would wholeheartedly recommend Mystery Tackle Box, unfortunately I don't believe they were.  If my opinion changes after fishing the baits I have received you can bet I will revisit my opinion in another blog.  Until then, good night and good fishing!  

10/17/16 Was A Long Day On the Water

18.5" River2Sea Bubble Walker

7:00AM-6:30PM GOMH, Rock Lake, N side of Don's Bay, the reeds and docks across the way.
Conditions: 45-58 degrees, Mostly sunny to mostly cloudy, Calm to light wind NNW NNE, Water Temp 50-53 degrees.

This turned in to my longest day on the water in who knows how long.  I was totally worn out and didn't get on the water again until 4 days later.  This blog is being written 11 days later.

I started at the GOMH and didn't catch anything.  I then went to Rock Lake and didn't get anything there either.

I then got in the Trophy and tried out front and at West point, not getting a thing.  I then ran to the North end of the reeds across the way.  There was a seagull and some baitfish activity on the flat.  I started throwing a River2Sea Rover, a walking topwater across the weed flat.  I had one fish blow up on that but not get it.

Conditions seemed just ideal for topwater, so I switched to a Vixen, then the small Whopper Plopper, and then to a River2Sea Bubble Walker.  The Bubble Walker was what they wanted.

14" River2Sea Bubble Walker

That was the first fish I ever caught on the lure.  I then had a 16.5" not get the lure, but I was patient and just let the bait sit still for about 45 seconds.  I then worked the lure for a couple seconds, then killed it again letting it sit for about 15 seconds.  When I started up again the fish blasted it.

16.5" Bubble Walker

You can see I was working about the length of a cast from shore, casting parallel to shore, sometimes shallower, sometimes out more.  The 18.5" was my fourth fish on the Walker at that point with a couple of more misses.

18.5" Bubble Walker

 I got over by the start of the reeds on the North end of Don's Bay when I got this long, but skinny pike.

27.5" Bubble Walker

I worked the flat back an forth for a number of hours getting enough hits to keep things interesting.  I missed my fair share, that's for sure.

16.5" Bubble Walker

For a little while it looked like it was going to rain and a light wind came up.  I switched to Pop Max and immediately got nailed by a typical fish.

15.75" Pop Max

I then got a small pike and then missed 3 or 4 straight hits.  I then let myself get pulled off of the juice.  Instead of going back to the juice I decided to fish the reeds across the way.  Stuff was getting blown up well inside the reed bed so I worked my way in fishing a Pad Crasher.

16.25" Pad Crasher

I caught a couple and missed a couple doing that.  It was now cooling off and I was getting tired.  I elected to try "The Dock" and was rewarded with a good bass on the Hack Attack Jig.

17.75" Hack Jig w/Chigger Craw breen

That worked out so well I tried the next dock down and got an even bigger fish.

18" Hack Jig w/Chigger Craw

I then hit the two docks and our dock on my way in.  I didn't get anything on the docks, but missed two fish in the pads in front of our place.  I was beat.  On the way home I bumped a deer and sent it rolling into the ditch.  It got back up and kept on running.  It was the darndest thing.  No damage to the Kia Soul, thankfully.

11 bass on the Bubble Walker
2 Pike on the Bubble Walker
16 bass total and 3 pike
I missed at least 12 hits

I've been fishing a lot again this month.  All my trips are blogged over at the Fishing Log Blog.