One More Week Of April

 After the warm end of March, April just couldn't get its act together weather-wise to make for good fishing.  It was just about ready to start popping one week ago, and then that major cool-down happened. It looks like things are gonna change this week. I thought for sure we would be full-on post-spawn by Opener on the 15th, but the Full moon is tomorrow, and there is very few bass in shallow right now. It looks like the fish are set up to go gangbusters in May. Sucks that Opener doesn't happen this year until the month will be half gone. 

Got the Garmin 7sv on the Trophy Today

I finally got my act together, got the Garmin 7sv mounted on my carrier, and discovered that the Brocraft Transducer Arm and Scotty Mounts are compatible. If I had known that, I would have had the Garmin 7 ready right after I got the transducer arm a couple of weeks ago.  Now I've got to learn side imaging. Clear View is pretty self-explanatory.  
 

 Yep, my team had a solid Day 1. I can see Cox getting and Clark getting better on Day 2. I think Felix and Zaldain are the wild cards I need to be worried about. Zaldaingerous is a fitting nickname for that guy. 

My Lake Fork Fantasy Bass Fishing Squads

 

Drain The Lake Roster

Day 1 weigh-in is going on right now.  Feeling good about my main squad. If Felix has a solid Day 2, I may be headed somewhere. Drain the Lake not so much.

Rock Dock In (4/20/21)

 The Rock Dock was in today. I think it may have been in the lake yesterday, but I absent-mindedly forgot to check yesterday. I had two bites tonight but didn't hook either one.  There was quite a bit of baitfish activity on the surface. I didn't get a fish at the GOMH either.  

The Cool Weather Snag Continues

 

For the next three days, we will be 10plus degrees under the average for high temps. Some bullheads had moved up on Saturday and Sunday apparently (Silver numbers were same ole same old). Will they stay? I am going to test that out this Monday morning.  I didn't get the Garmin side-imager in the boat this weekend. The second Covid shot messed with my energy levels. I've felt anywhere from 10% to 100% with most of the time being 60% and under. Hopefully, I'll be over the after-effects by Thursday when it warms up. 

We Have Hit A Snag In the Weather Dept.

 Looks like we are in for a slightly below-average stretch in the weather for the foreseeable future. As of today, the average high temp should be 54℉. We are still more than a month away from Opener, which isn't until May 15th this year. I am catching fish and am OK with struggling for a couple of weeks. I didn't start really getting fish last year until the 27th, though I did have a couple of double-digit days previous to that on April 19th (14 fish) and April 21st (11 fish). By this upcoming weekend, I hope to have my Garmin Side-Imager in the water. That could possibly be a gamechanger for me in locating schools of crappie. I should probably start looking at Youtube videos to get me started on the learning curve. Better fishing lays ahead. I am confident of that.

Congrats to David Pecháček BFL Champion

 

David Pecháček is a young guy from MN that moved to Florida to pursue his bass fishing dreams. This weekend he won the Gator Division Phenoix Big 5 BFL on Lake Okeechobee.

Congrats Dave on the big win!

Josh Douglas And Pat Schlapper Giving SCHEELS Online Seminar On Tues. April 13th at 7PM

 

They will be giving good info and giving away prizes. Sign up here.

Top Review Geek

 

Top Review Geek is a website with the beginning fisherman and hunter in mind. From my short review of the site; It has a wealth of information available.

My Sabine River Fantasy Team

 

Some Silver On the 7th

 

12" THE Jig/Minnow (G/Pink)

Had my crap in order tonight, and Bear Trax got minnows. I got a couple silvers to pull my bobber under.

1st Bullhead of 2021 Is A Golden

 

After a few misfires, I finally landed something at the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight. Very first cast and this golden beauty was all over the Swim Shad. I also got a jumper as it was getting dark on THE Jig. First time ever the first bullhead of the year for me is a golden bullhead. 

Trophy In The Water Today

4/2, 1st Open Water Fish of 21 Comes From Rock!

13" THE Jig (Glow/Pink)

License On the Trophy today

Went down front after working on the boat.

 I fished 3 different times today. First was at the GOMH on my way to the Lake Place. Didn't get anything and had my hat blown off. I got the boat ready to go in the water tomorrow. I stopped at Rock Lake to see if the Rock Dock was in; it wasn't. I only had a few minutes before I had to get the car home. On my very last cast a bass took the jig and made 2021 fishing history being my first landed fish out of open water in 2021. Turns out when I got home that the rents decided not to go to Good Friday. I ate pancakes for dinner then headed back out after 7:00PM. I stopped at Bulldog, Rock, and GOMH. Nobody else out fishing surprisingly enough. It had calmed down enough that I was able to hear swans taking off on the other side of Rock Lake. I didn't get a bite, but I did get some clipping done at the GOMH.  

Trophy Prep Today

 Went and got Steve his birthday present, his 2021 Fishing Licence. Then I got to work vacuuming out the boat. Steve got stuff out of the way and by the time I was done with the near side, it was ready to be pulled out so we did that. I finished up at about 6:45PM. I didn't bring any fishing equipment with me and was driving the Expedition so I just ran by Bulldog and the GOMH to see if anyone was fishing. No one was. By the time mom and dad got home, it was getting dark and I wasn't interested in fishing. Hope to have the Trophy in the lake tomorrow.

Platte/Tackle Warehouse Open(3/29/21)

It got to the mid 70's today.

2:30 Today Public Access

Whitecaps were blowing across the lake as far as the eye could see to the North. There was an ice sheet out front of the access, but I'm pretty sure it got blown across the bay by the day's end. I didn't get out to check the access in the evening because of colonoscopy prep. I did confirm Jenny's was ice-free. Long was 50-60% ice-free. Bulldog and Rock were maybe 20% open. No clue about Sullivan   

In the afternoon I got the Trophy prepped to be vacuumed out and then opened the Tackle Warehouse when I came back home to start the colonoscopy prep. I should have gotten to lake place earlier today. Oh well. 
 

My Day & Tonight's GOMH Report

 

 I went up to Baxter today to pick up my new Garmin Striker 7SV. It just so happened that Frabill Minnow Buckets were on sale, so I picked up a new one. I also got a Kalin's Tickle Tail and B-Fish-N swimbait to try out. Watched a video yesterday of a guy whacking eyes on the Tickle Tail. It is supposed to be a cold water smasher, as is the B-Fish-N. For some reason, I had never tried a B-Fish-N lure even though they have a cult following among walleye fisherman. Talked with Snatcher Chuck on my way home. The rents went up to the Brothers for dinner. I got into the Garmin unit and read the instruction that I needed an SD card to download the latest software. So I wasted a bunch of time trying to figure out a way to do that. Turns out those instructions are obsolete; it doesn't take SD cards. I found that out after I got back.

I got to the GOMH a bit later than I wanted with all the screwing around. Fatso was up in the tree again. It looked like things were open to the south shore of the Big Island. It was getting dark, and I wanted to hit the NE side, so I made what was going to be my last cast on the SW side.  As I was bringing my bobber slowly in, I thought to myself, I've got fish in this exact situation before. About 5-seconds later, the bobber went under. I set the hook, and my line broke. It could have been because I didn't re-tie from the other night, but I think it was probably a toothy. I then fished another 20-minutes or so on the SW side with the lighted bobber, nothing. I thought I saw an eyeball swimming along the SE side when I was headed in. I fished until about 8:20PM. A nice bright full moon showed up around 8PM.

GOMH Tonight(3/27/21)

 Open water was all the way up the west side of the small island and the Intersection on Sullivan was all the way open. There was light rain from early in the morning until about 5PM today and it only got to about 40-degrees. Didn't get a bite.

GOMH Tonight(3/26/21)

 

About 50% to the Small Island

Fatso In the Tree

I lost a bullhead tonight. Chances of catching a fish by April Fools are looking up. I would say 60%.