Top 3 Fishing Memories of 2019

1. Todd's 5 Pounda

2. Plopper Fishin' Platte With Cyberfish

3. My 6 Pounda

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 

Not The Morning I Expected, But It's All Good (PB SMB)

20.5" Whopper Plopper (Bone)

4:30-6:30AM GOMH NE SE
7:00-9:00AM Mille Lacs Eddy's Jetty N

After last night's trip to the Grumpy Old Man Hole, I was quite confident when I headed out this morning.  I was a little stunned when forty minutes into fishing the NE side I hadn't even had a sniff and a panfish fisherman showed up and took the SW side.  I switched to the SE side where I have to cast to my right/backhand to get under the bridge.  Also, the casting angles aren't nearly as good because of the way the vegetation and rocks are.  I had one toothy swipe at my Chigger Craw.  After about 20 minutes nothing was happening so I went back to the NE side.  I saw a 17" toothy and sub 10" jumper.  I threw a Spro Frog in the rice, not even a hit, and nothing under the bridge either.  I packed up to leave at 6:30 having not caught anything.

I pointed the KIA towards Mille Lacs, hoping that the rumors I'd been hearing about the smallies going on topwater would work out for me.  With smallmouth, I never know if they are going to be at my main shore fishing spot or not.  I found out on my first cast.

12.5" Whopper Plopper

Yeah, it was a small fish, but it hit topwater and got the skunk off.  About 15 minutes later I got another one.

14.5" Whopper Plopper

About 15 minutes later I got the big one.  I was really hoping it was gonna go 21 inches.  I couldn't decide what I wanted to do to land it as it was to the North of the harbor mouth.  I was unable to steer it into the harbor, so I ended up shimming down a large semi slippery slab where I was able to grab the fish.

 I couldn't see the screen to know I had taken a bad picture and the camera went on the fritz.  A lady and her husband were down front and offered to take a picture for me.  I got the camera to work right again and got the one good pic and one's better than none.  I had to hold the fish upright for about a minute before it swam off.

Clouds moved in and I think I got one hit on the loon colored Plopper that didn't hook up.  At 9AM it started thundering and threatening rain so I left.

Fishing Goals for 2016

Ten years ago, I wrote my fishing goals for the 2006 here on my blog.   I crashed my truck that summer into a deer totaling it which sent me into a depression that ended my participation in the Team Bass Club. We also moved out of the lake place that spring and into where I live now, which threw me off ice fishing until last winter. I never wrote another list of goals again until now.

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.)

Technique & Tackle Goals:
1. Catch some fish on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper. (This will be my 3rd year with this bait, and I haven't caught a fish on it yet. I'm not sure if I even threw it last year.)
2. Catch fish on my wake baits: Lucky Craft, Livetarget, and Rapala. (I hardly ever tried the Lucky Craft, and I got the Livetarget and Rapala's late last fall)
3. Throw a football head jig at the GOMH. (It will work, no doubt about it.)
4. Get out in the Trophy. (It's been 3 years since I've had it in the water.)
5. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaway/contest.
6. Catch fish on a Lucky Craft Gunfish 117 (Lures I just won on eBay)

Fish Goals:
Crappie:
1. Catch a 14" or bigger. (This has been my goal for a long time, predating the blog.)
2. Catch* over 300 this year. (Very doable at this point.  I'm at 199 right now)

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

Pike:
1. Catch* over 150 this year. (I caught 205 last year.)
2. Catch a 38" or over.

Bass: 
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Largemouth
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth
3. Catch* over 500 bass this year. (I caught only 450 last year.)
4. Catch* at least 5 smallies. (I caught 10 last year)

Blogging:
1. Blog about anytime I reach a goal.
2. Blog the BASS Elite AOY on Mille Lacs Lake.

* 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.