First Fishing Trip of 2019(3/29/19)

I went and got my fishing license today and then went and threw a few casts at the GOMH from 4 to 4:30PM.  Not only was it my first fishing trip of the year, but also the first time using the selfie stick with the iPhone while out and about.  It didn't exactly go smoothly, but I got a couple pics I was happy with.  The water is really clear right now and right at the level I like with it slowly rising.  Provided we get an inch or two of rain in April I don't think we will have low water issues for the GOMH prime month of May.

I spent most of the evening beginning to get my tackle organized for the year.  I've still quite a bit to do yet.  It's a long time before the Fishing Opener gets here. Plenty of time to get my act together.

And So It Begins!!! (3/28/19)(Updated: GOMH Pic's)

The DNR has recorded our first ice-free lake of the year, Lake Pepin.  I suspect next week there will be an avalanche of them.  I believe Platte Lake will now be ice-free in two weeks on either April 10th or 11th. I will be dropping a line in very soon, just got to go and get that fishing license.

Updated:

We are just about a full month ahead of where we were last year.

I Can See The Driveway!(3/23/19)

I can drive all the way out without touching snow, so I'm calling it today.

Looks like steady as she goes as far as the weather.  I now think we have a shot at ice off by April 15th on Platte.

I Heard A Red Wing Blackbird...(3/21/19)

... must be Spring.

There were also swans flying to the West over Sullivan.  With the way the forecast looks, I'm highly sure I'll be catching fish within a month.

2019 When Will I See The Driveway? #2

The melt for this year is proceeding in an acceptable manner unlike for those poor souls in Nebraska.  I suspect the Driveway will be ice-free by Sunday or Monday.

 

That Day Is Inching Closer(3/19/19)

It's a given that every day that goes by at this time of year is a day closer to when I will be able to start catching fish on the long rods.  But not every day at this time of year brings that closer if we get significant snow and cold.  The long term forecast has none of that.  I now think ice out on Platte will be sometime in the mid to low 20's of April.  I usually catch my first open water fish within a day or two of that day, sometimes before sometimes after.  There is no open water in MN yet.  I expect that changes sometime late next week. Here is what the Grumpy Old Man Hole looked like today:

2019 When Will I See The Driveway? (Bonus GOMH)

I would say by the end of next weekend.  Goodbye snow and ice.  Look like we are in for a water war.  Here is the condition of the driveway right now.

Looking at the turn around spot coming up the driveway

Looking up the driveway

Yeah, baby Spring s in sight!

And there was some open water at the GOMH yesterday as well.

Ott Defoe Is The 2019 Bassmaster Classic Champion!!!

Congratulations to Ott Defoe for winning the Big One, the Bassmaster Classic.  He was the favorite to win going in and managed to pull out the win on the strength of two really good days under tough fishing conditions.  Ott has been on my radar since the early days of his career at FLW.  A family friend that was a marketing partner with FLW told me Ott was one of her favorites and I have kept an eye on him ever since.  Ott is a now with Major League Fishing so this will be his last Classic in a while, maybe ever, but I kind of doubt that.

Great Job Ott!!!

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2019

I'm giving this years prediction a day late thanks to Facebook not showing Bass Pundit linked posts in my Memories for the time being.  Hopefully, that isn't a permanent change that Facebook made.

Anyway, I'm not liking the way this Spring has started, because it hasn't.  Temps have been below normal for a month with frequent nuisance snows and more of the same is on the way.  Because of that fact it going to take a significant swing in the weather for us to have ice off in April up here.  I wouldn't bet on it.  I think ice out will be later than last year and I could easily see it breaking the May 8th record set back in 2013.  My prediction is that we do indeed set a new record this year with ice going off Platte Lake on May 9th.  I really hope I'm wrong and it goes off at least a week earlier than that.

 

Fishing Goals for 2019

Fishing Buddies:  Once again last year the fishing buddies category was pretty much a flop as far as goals being achieved.  Seeing that I suck at inviting people to go fishing maybe expanding the list of people I want to fish with in 2019 isn't the smartest goal making strategy, but that is what I am doing.   I've got to do better this year!

1. Fish with Dad
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, Isabelle, and Mallory
7. Fish with Peter W.
8. Fish with Matt W.
9. Fish with Dave Lindmark
10. Fish with Steve and Devin
11. Take Corey Hicks frog fishing.
12. Fish with Kane Phongsavat
13. Fish with Rick Nichols
14. Fish with Pete
Dream Fishing Buddies:
1. Fish with Josh Douglas
2. Fish with Al Lindner
3. Fish With Nattie Up North

Bass Snatcher Goals: New for 2019 Goals is the Co-Angler Challenge, which was something the club started at the 3rd Tournament of 2018.

Bass Snatcher Goals:
1.  Get "Wood" in at least one tournament. (1st-3rd Place Finish or Lunker or Co-Angler Challenge)
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.)
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.  I may look into bribing Dennis)
5. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year.  
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.
9.  Win the Co-Angler Challenge at least twice
10. Make the Challenge Cup Team

Technique & Tackle Goals:
1. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaways/contests. (BBC Fantasy in May)
2. Catch a fish on % of Mystery Tackle Box Lures (Hold over from 2017)
    2a. 1st Box 100% (5 Lures, 2 Lures to go)
    2b. 2nd Box 60% (3 out of 5, only more lure and I've got this one)
3. Catch a fish on % of Lucky Tackle Box Lures (Hold over from 2017/18)
   3a. 1st Box 100%  (6 Lures, 3 Lures left to go.)
   3b. 2nd Box 100% (6 Lures)
   3c.  3rd Box 75% (4 Lures)
4. Catch a bass on the Salmo Bass Bug (Hold over from 2017)
5.  Officially Open the Tackle Warehouse this year.
6. Experiment with the Neko rig to see if it something for me.
7. Experiment with the Ned Rig to see if it's something for me. (Hold over from 2018)
8. Get the trolling motor fixed or replaced

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

Fish Goals:
1. Catch* 3,000 Fish (3,021 caught in 2018)
2. Average 5 fish caught per hour. (4.07 in 2018, 3.99 in 2017, 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. Have a 100 fish day.

Crappie:
1. Catch a new personal best. (Currently 14.25")
2. Catch* over 100 this year. (Caught 306 in 2018) (I almost put the goal down to 50 crappies due to the fact that I'm not getting out ice fishing anytime soon and the uncertainty of when the ice will get off the lakes.  I could see a situation developing where I catch very few this year.)

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 1,000 this year. (Caught 804 in 2018)
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 1,500 bass this year. (Caught 1,281 in 2018)
4. Catch* at least 25 smallies.  (I caught 0 last year)
5. Catch a 25lb 6 Fish Bag
6. Have a 50 bass day

Walleye:
1. Catch at least 50. (Caught 279 in 2018)
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 viewed on the Aqua View, and fish that get off before I have them in hand that I can positively identify.  And fish caught by people I am guiding or boater during pre-fish.

A goal that I reached is in bold.

Will I Ice Fish Again This Winter?

Seeing as how I have only blogged once so far this month I thought I should get a thought out on what I've been pondering as far as ice fishing this year.  I haven't gone ice fishing yet this year thanks in no small part to the cold and snowy weather we have had.  I've only seriously considered going out one time in early February and didn't do it.  Since then it has been nothing but cold and snow.  With all the snow we have right now my interest level is at zero.  If we didn't have the snow my interest level would be at a 6 or so.  I do have a bit of cabin fever.  The next couple of days are going to be OK before we go back into the deep freeze again.  I will just have to see what the weather brings in March before I answer the question.  Please God, no more snow and a gradual snow melt would be much appreciated. 

Bass Snatchers Schedule for 2019

As I thought the tournament schedule got tweaked when we finalized it. Here are my thoughts.

Whitefish Chain: This will be the fourth time the Snatchers visit the Whitefish Chain since I joined the Club and the 2nd time it kicks off the tournament season.  Whitefish Chain, a lot of water with a lot of bass.  As of yet, I haven't been able to pre-fish The Chain with my boater.  Hopefully, that changes for this one.  It will be interesting to see what role smallmouth play.

Lake Alexander:  This will be the 2nd time I've fished a Snatcher tournament on Alexander. Club records suggest fishing should be pretty good. Also another lake with smallies.

Farm Island Lake: This will be the 4th Snatcher Tournament and 5th Tournament I've fished on Farm Island. (The Challenge Cup was held here last Fall).  Hopefully, the frog bite is on and my boater wants to fish it.

Rabbit Lakes:  Also the 4th time the Snatchers will be holding a tournament on these lakes since I joined the club.  I also have fished a Snatchers Mini-Bucks and Excel Bass Tournament on these lakes.  I'm a little bored with this choice.  Who knows maybe I'll get lucky and land one of those elusive Rabbit Lakes Smallmouth.

Gull River:  The Snatchers haven't fished here in a very long time.  I'm shocked it made the final cut.  This tournament is going to be a total wild card.  Hopefully, I'll draw a boater with some experience because I am clueless on this one.  I don't know what the Gull River consists of or where it is exactly.  I know in the past it was known for big fish, but not a lot of them.

Leech Lake:  I am always up for Leech. (Also the 4th time I will be fishing a Snatcher Tournament)   

Long Term Outlook Feb 11th

 

Winter is not planning on loosening its grip.

Nattie Up North An Introduction

I found out about Nattie through her being hired by Major League Fishing to work on their Bass Pro Tour Broadcast Team. So naturally, I checked out some of her YouTube videos and came to discover she is a Minnesocold Girl.  I think Major League made a really good hire.  Her enthusiasm for fishing is infectious, has the gift of gab, and she had a million dollar smile.  It will be interesting to see how they use her.  I hope it works out.

She did start a blog in 2017, but it looks like she has given up on that after 4 very promising posts.

Here are a couple of her Youtube videos:


 
Someone is getting added to my list of Dream Fishing Buddies in 2019.

2018 Fishing Goals Achieved (And Not)

Goals achieved in bold green
Goals not achieved in red
Partly achieved in purple
Commentary in blue

Fishing Buddies: Once again in 2018 I did poorly in reaching my fishing buddies goals. However, I did spend more time fishing with my younger brothers and had multiple pre-fishing trips with fellow Snatchers and Pete came up a few different times, so I wasn't fishing by myself all the time.  

1. Fish with Dad multiple times.(Due to dad's sore shoulders he wasn't up for fishing this year.)
2. Take Mike Thompson out frog fishing. (Didn't get out frog fishing with Cyb, but we did fish together once at Eddy's Jetty.)
3. Fish with Jim Bonin
4. Fish with  Mike "Spike" Miller
5. Fish with Jeff and Renee at least once
6. Fish with Todd, Isabelle, and Mallory multiple times
7. Take Peter W. out of the Trophy at least once.
8. Take Matt W. out of the Trophy at least once.
9. Fish with Dave Lindmark
10. Fish with Steve and Devin multiple times.
11. Take Corey Hicks frog fishing.
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) (I was the initial Co-Angler Challenge Winner, so that kind of counts.)
2. Win my 1st tournament. (My best finish to date is 2nd Place.)
3. Get "Lunker" in a tournament. (I got Big Bass at the Mini-Bucks Tournament)
4. Get paired with Chuck Fields. 
5. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year.  (Something I haven't done since 2011)(Finished in 9th Place)
6. Catch a limit at every tournament of the year.
7. Pre-fish with at least 3 boaters. (Did with 4 of my boaters this year)
8. List the Rods I'm bringing for each tournament before the tournament.

Technique & Tackle Goals:
0. Blog about the November and December Lucky Tackle Box's
1. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaways/contests.
Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool
Lew's Custom Speed Stick
2. Catch a fish on % of Mystery Tackle Box Lures (Hold over from 2017)
    2a. 1st Box 100% (5 Lures, 2 Lures to go)
    2b. 2nd Box 60% (3 out of 5, only more lure and I've got this one)
3. Catch a fish on % of Lucky Tackle Box Lures
   3a. 1st Box 100%  (6 Lures, 3 Lures left to go.)
   3b. 2nd Box 100% (6 Lures)
   3c.  3rd Box 75% (4 Lures)
4. Catch a bass on the Salmo Bass Bug (Hold over from 2017)
5. Get my brother Steve and niece Devin properly outfitted.
6.  Officially Open the Tackle Warehouse this year. (4/26)
7. Catch a fish on the Sprinker Frog
8. Experiment with the Neko rig to see if it something for me.
9. Experiment with the Ned Rig to see if it's something for me. (Used it a little too disappointing results)

Blogging:
1. Blog about anytime I reach a goal. (I missed a few yet again)
2. Record all fishing trips at Fish Swami (I think I got all of them)
3. Fish at least 150 days and blog about them (193 Days Fished in 2018)

Fish Goals:
1. Get Devin and Steve into some bullheads
2. Average 5 fish caught per hour. (3.99 in 2017, 4.08 in 2016, 3.62 in 2015, 3.55 in 2014, 4.41 in 2013, 4.31 in 2012, 2.77 in 2011) (A poor Fall into Winter Bite killed off any chance of me getting to 5 fish per hour)
3. Catch* 3,000 Fish (Fell just a little bit short)
4. Put together a small monetary incentive deal with the nieces this summer. (I decided not to do this.)

Crappie:
1. Catch a new personal best. (Currently 14.25")
2. Catch* over 300 this year. (Caught 515 in 2017) (306, so I got there just barely)
3. Get Steve into some silver bullheads.
4. Get Devin into some silver bullheads. (Silver bullheads were a tough get with the late ice out.  I didn't get many of them myself)

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 500 this year. (Caught 798 in 2017) (Caught 804)
2. Catch a 38" or over/personal best.
3. Get Steve into some toothy bullheads (Steve caught a few including his personal best)
4. Get Devin into some toothy bullheads (I think Dev caught a couple off the dock, but I'm not 100% sure on that)

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 1,238 in 2017) (Caught 1,281)
4. Catch* at least 25 smallies.  (I caught 26 last year) (Not a single smallie caught)
5. Catch a 25lb 6 Fish Bag
6. Get Steve into some jumpin' bullheads.
7. Get Devin into some jumpin' bullheads.

Walleye:
1. Catch at least 30. (Caught 40 in 2017) (Caught 279)
2. Catch 30" or new personal best. (28.5 is current PB)
3. Get Steve into his first ever MN state fish.

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

Snatchers Meeting Today

The first Snatcher Meeting of the year takes place at 1PM today.  We will be doing the first round of lakes and dates.  Some lakes I wouldn't mind seeing on this year's schedule to fish are Woman Lake, Serpent Lake, Farm Island, Leech, Pokegama, and Alexander.  Will update this post later today.

Update:   Here's what we came up with.  I strongly expect some of the lakes will get changed next month.

June 1st: Whitefish Chain
June 29th: Alexander
July 13th: Le Homme Dieu
July 27th: Big Winni
Aug 17th: Gull River
Sept 28th: Leech Lake

My Top 13 Fishing Highlights of 2018

2018 was the year of Devin and Steve.  Steve and family moved into the lake place in the Fall of 2017 remodeled the place and about a year later moved on to a new adventure in Chicago.  Fishing with Dev and Steve were at the top of my highlights for the year.

#1 Highlight: Catching Bull Bluegills Off the Dock With Devin 

#2 Highlight: Getting Steve His First Ever MN State Fish at Mille Lacs Lake

#3 Highlight: Teaching Devin about Ice Fishing

#4 Highlight: Bass Devin Caught Off the Dock While We Were Eating Dinner

#5 Highlight: Steve's Big Pike

#6 Highlight Fishing With The Brothers.  Steve, Todd and I fished together on a few trips in the Trophy.  And there were quite a few trips with just me and Stever or me and Todd. 

#7 Highlight: Steve's Big Doggo

#8 Highlight: Fishing the Melon Patch.  Many a melon was snatched and quite a few got away as well (Only linking twice doesn't begin to tell the story).

#9 Highlight: The 17" Hole and Big Rice Point.   Another productive area that provided a number of memorable trips as well as my biggest bass of the year.

#10 Highlight: Fishing and Pre-Fishing the Snatcher Minnewawa Tournament with Keith Tuma and his daughter Breanne.

#11 Highlight: Being the 1st Ever Bass Snatcher Co-Angler Challenge Winner at Lake Edward.

#12 Highlight:  The Hot Fall Bite Off  Of Eddy's Jetty In October and November.  It's a shame winter came early this year.

#13 Highlight (Because I "Make My Own Luck") Catching Big Bass at the Mission Lakes Mini-Bucks.

You can read about pretty much every trip I took in 2018 at the Fishing Log Blog.

Who's Guy Was Kirk?

A lot of unhappy fans here in Vikings country right now.  The peanut gallery is calling for General Manager Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer's head.  I believe those are foolish opinions, as the Vikings team culture is very good.  Sure, an 8.5-win team is a disappointment, but with the offensive line as currently constructed, that is what we were.  And what we were was a missed field goal in Lambert away from making the playoffs in which the team didn't stand much of a chance anyway.

Anyway, let's go back to what I was writing this blog about.  I believe the Kirk Cousins hire was a decision made at the very top of the organization.  I believe Kirk Cousins was the Wilf's guy, first and foremost. Blame Ziggy if you think bringing Cousins in was a mistake.