Our neighborhood camping trip was this weekend and I was hoping to do some float tubing on the lake at our campground, but circumstances prevented me from doing any. Instead, I was limited to only an hour of shore fishing just before we left.

My wife dropped me off at the fishing pier while she and he kids went to the man-made lake on the grounds. Halfway down the walkway to the pier, there was an opening in the railing on each side to go out to the shore. I had intended to do some wading, so I took the right opening which had less brush to walk through. There were some tall reeds growing on the shore and some weeds just passed them. I was hoping to walk around the reeds and cast a scum frog into the weeds.

As I waded out into the lake with my swim shoes, the sand gave way significantly. With each step, I sank at least to my ankles, and it kept getting deeper. I had only gotten halfway passed the reeds when in one of my steps, I couldn’t pull my foot out without losing my swim shoe. It took me a good minute to figure out how to pull my foot out. So I opted to go back to shore.

I then saw a trail going into the reeds. I thought maybe it would lead to a clearing where I could cast into the weed bed. No such luck. It dead-ended into a clearing with 8 ft tall reeds in front of me.

I worked my way back out back to the shore and tried casting a green watermelon jig and pig while wading in about 5 feet. That’s all I could go out without encountering the quick sand. I only threw the lure a few times when I decided I wasn’t getting out to where the fish were. So I decided to go to the pier.

Just as I was walking back to shore, a family of 5 walked onto the pier. With two guys already casting, the pier was a bit too cramped to cast, so I surveyed the shore again. To the left of the pier, the shore looked even more promising than where I was on the right. There was a weed bed much closer to the pier and the bed had all kinds of stumps and branches sticking out of it. I had disregarded it earlier because the opening in the railing was dense with vegetation. I opted to try anyway.

It turned out to look worse than it was and I was able to get out to the shore without much effort. I put on my scum frog and waded out. The lake bottom was much firmer here, probably because the roots of the weed bed formed a firmer base.

I cast the scum frog for about 15 minutes without a bite. During that time, a boat trolled by the outside edge of the weed bed and the lady at the back of the boat caught a little bass. So I knew fish were around.

I cast a few more times before walking back to shore to change lures. I put on a yellow bellied Zoom horny toad which I’ve had for about a year, but never tried. I also put a bubble gum and white pearl super fluke in my pocket so I wouldn’t have to walk back again to switch lures.

I walked out a bit further this time to cast beyond the weed line. I wasn’t getting any action on the horny toad so I wanted to change lures again, but reeled in too far. Instead of pulling the line out, I decided to cast one more time and reel in to the right length. A few feet in, I thought I felt a couple of ticks, so I paused and set the hook. But then the line didn’t move. I couldn’t budge it. I didn’t know if I could walk all the way out to the weed line, so I pulled hard to get the line loose. I pulled in a mass of weeds. But as I was about to pull it off, I saw a fish hiding in it.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 11.5″
Lure used: yellow/green horny toad

Just a little guy.

For the remaining 20 minutes I had, I switched to both a bubble gum fluke and white pearl fluke and back to the horny toad, but didn’t get another hit.

When I started fishing this afternoon, I thought the time would be a waste. But I learned the right place to shore fish on this lake and I learned that the horny toad can catch fish. So it wasn’t a total loss. But I will be back some day with a float tube.

Related posts:

1. Neighborhood Outing
2. Frustrations Abound
3. Two Days, Two New Lakes
4. New Lake, New Freedom
5. First Open Water Outing of 2010

Float Tube-tastic
Jig and Pig Magic
Slump Squashed
A Plethora of Firsts
Fish Porn Galore

But ultimately, I kept with the theme of my previous posts.

Date: 7/31/2010
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Body of water: Tiger Cat Flowage
Location: Hayward, MN
Weather Conditions: clear

After a good morning and afternoon of fishing, I didn’t know how it could get better, but it did. While we were out on the boat with my dad and cousin, my brother remarked that he wanted to make sure we got out on our float tubes. He was itching to get back into the channel to the next lake where he suspected there were some monster bass. He also didn’t want to have lugged it all the way from Colorado and not use it.

When things slowed down in the bay around the point, we decided to head in. My brother immediately got to work on his float tube. My brother gave me a float tube kit that included fins and a pump two years ago at Christmas. I had never taken it out because I had two mental barriers that prevented me from using it. First, I’m not a very good swimmer, so the prospect of a leaking float tube in the middle of a lake (slim of a chance that that might be) frightened me. I also thought that the time it took to get it all together wasn’t worth the effort. I was looking forward to my brother coming home to show me the ropes and break me of the mental blocks as I knew I would love it once I tried it once.

The latter barrier was quickly overcome by the fact that my brother had his float tube inflated and put together in about five minutes. Mine took a few seconds longer just because I didn’t know what I was doing. He showed me where the valve was and although I was using an electric pump, he finished hand pumping his tube before mine was even half inflated. Once I was done, he told me to inflate it some more. I kept the electric pump going, but it wasn’t pumping up to my brother’s standard. He ended up using his hand pump to finish the job.

Once ready, we carried our tubes down to the lake and before I even got into the water, my brother was in his tube about 50 ft out. I was hoping he would walk me through how to get into the damn thing, or at least how to attach and use the fins, but I was left to figure it out myself. I did hear him say I should use one of the canoe cushions to get myself out of the water more, which I did. And I did manage to get my fins on, although, they were boot fins and I couldn’t tighten them completely onto my feet. When I finally got everything set and got a few pictures, I yelled to my brother to ask him how to get out to him. He just said, “just kick really hard to me.” Having never scuba dived and never used fins before, that was easier said than done. I assumed I would be traveling more backwards than forwards and fortunately, I was correct when I pointed my back to him before I started kicking.

I finally manged to get out to where he was already fishing when I heard someone yell, “BEAR!” I thought it was a joke. I didn’t think there were any bears in our area. But then I turned and saw everyone looking at the far shore. Sure enough, there was a bear checking out what was in the water.

After the bear wandered off, I turned to my brother and asked him a few questions about how to steer the floating chair. He told me to kick circles with my left foot to turn left and kick circles with my right foot to turn right. Through experimentation, I found it was easier for me to turn with my opposite foot. Having figured that out, I complained to him about my fins and he was able to adjust them for me. They still weren’t completely tight, but they were much better. He recommended I get a pair of his scuba fins for future outings. I’ll do that eventually, but I was glad to have a pair of boot fins I can use when the water gets colder and I’ll need to be in waders while in the water.

For the next hour, we made our way West toward the channel like we did earlier that morning. It was weird trying to navigate while casting, but I managed to get the hang of it. I started my casts with my usual white pearl super fluke, but it was a bit harder to do the twitch retrieve effectively being so close to the water’s surface. I decided that it was time to try using a jig and pig. How to use the jig and pig was the second thing I was determined to learn from my brother while he was here. I clipped on a watermelon jig with watermelon chunk and started casting. I fished the shore bouncing my jig and pig on the bottom while my brother worked the weeds with his plastic craw further out.

It took us about an hour to get to the entrance of the channel. My brother had a couple of ticks that he couldn’t hook while I had no action at all. At one point, he remarked how he loved fishing like this. It was very peaceful with just the sounds of casts and plinks into the water. He definitely knew how to enjoy life and now I was getting a taste of it.

I entered the channel first and finally got a hit. I was able to set the hook and yelled, “I got one!” My brother said, “reel it in slow so I can get an action shot,” but within seconds of him finishing that sentence, the fish was at my knees. It turned out, however, that that was enough time for him to get the shot to the right. He then took a picture of my first fish in a float tube and first fish on a jig and pig. It was only 12″, but I was still a happy camper. But things were about to get better.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 12″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

I started working the right side of the channel while my brother worked the left. Moving further into the channel, I got another hit in some lily pads that I couldn’t set the hook on. My brother asked if it was a weed, but I was sure it wasn’t. It was definitely moving. A few casts later, I cast into another set of lily pads and got a strong hit. I tried to set the hook, but was too late.

Then my brother gave me the advice I was looking for. He said he oftentimes lets the fish take it and swim off. Sometimes he even watches as the line runs left or right. That made me realize that the fish are after a meal. They are going to eat it and run, so I don’t need to be so quick on the draw (or the set as the case may be).

Not more than a cast or two later, I was able to land another bucketmouth. It was another 12-incher. I was going to ask my brother to take a picture, but he was locked in his own battle, so I took it myself. When he got a hold of his, we got a picture of both fish with my camera. The pic of mine didn’t turn out because the shutter didn’t fully open, but you see the shot I took on my own below.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 12″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

Armed with my brother’s advice, the next 45 minutes or so was an absolute blast. Every 3rd or 4th cast, I would feel some ticks and I would be patient and wait for it to make its run before setting the hook. I was able to battle most of them, but lost a couple, including one when I got it near my tube. I did, however, end up landing 3 more fish. The only disappointing part was that they were all in the 11-13″ range, but still nothing to complain about.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 11″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 11″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 13″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

The sun was now behind the trees so we started to make our way back to the cabin. By the time we got out of the channel, it was after dusk, so we started to do less lallygagging. My brother was kicking steadily to the point he was pretty much trolling with a swim bait. I would toss out my jig and pig and hop it across the bottom as I “trolled” only bringing it in when I felt it get heavy with weeds.

As we rounded the corner, I got a bite. It was a small tick and I fully expected another 12 incher because it didn’t fight very hard. But when I got it to the tube, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw the biggest fish of the weekend. I let out a “whoa!” which got my brother’s attention. But I had reeled it in too far and was trying to pull the hook out of a line that was bending the tip of my pole. I struggled with it for several minutes while my brother snapped some pictures. He then pointed out that it was a rookie mistake, but I snapped back, “I’m in a float tube!” He just laughed.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 16″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

I finally got the line loose but still couldn’t get the hook out of the lunker’s mouth because part of it’s skin was wrapped around the barb. Then suddenly, it thrashed and fell back in the water. I panicked and quickly grabbed my pole to make sure the line stayed tight. I was able to pull it back in when my brother said, “good thing it was hooked well.” This time, he got a hold of the fish and got the hook out for me. He pointed out that if you pull the bottom lip downward, the fish won’t struggle. A good tip for the future.

My brother then headed for the dock while I took my time casting a few more times before heading to shore. I manged to land one more 12 incher before having to go in. And with that being the end of the day, my slump of the last month had decidedly been squashed.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 12″
Lure used: green pumpkin jig and pig

So now that I’ve been out on a float tube once, I’m anxious to get out again. Just like the first time wading brought a new sense of freedom, float tubing has opened up a whole new world. I felt pretty safe and comfortable in it, but if I go out alone, I’ll probably wear the auto-inflating life jacket I bought for the occasion, just for added security.

I can’t wait to hit the lily pads at Lake Demontreville and I even want to hit the lily pads right off the boat landing of Bald Eagle Lake. We always catch a bass or two waiting to get off the water, so I’m sure I’ll land a few if I spend some time there. Who knows, maybe this fall, I’ll even be brave enough to toss out a bucktail or two and see if I can handle a muskie in the thing.

Related posts:

1. Afternoon Success
2. Immediate Success
3. Morning Success
4. Success with a New Technique
5. Oh, Brother!

In my last post, you read that we had quit our morning fishing to have lunch and to get our bass boat in the water. The closest boat launch is really close to the cabin, but it puts into another lake in our chain of lakes, so we have to drive the boat through the channel to get back to our dock. I’m usually the one to drive the boat, but since my brother doesn’t get to do it much, I let him pilot the boat back. My dad and California cousin rode with him.

When they arrived at the dock, we got all our gear together and motored about halfway down our side of the shore headed East. I was casting a white pearl super fluke, my dad was using a white spinnerbait, my cousin had a chartreuse spinnerbait, and my brother threw his plastic craw. My dad was the first to get a strike. It turned out to be a small Northern. About 10-15 minutes later, my cousin pulled one in. It was also a small Northern. This was his first time fishing in about 20 years, so I was glad to see him finally get a fish. We tossed them both back because dad said the minimum length for Northern in our lake was 24″. We were still stumped as to where the Northern came from. Never had we seen them before in our lake.

I was next to score. I landed a 13″ bucketmouth. My brother kept getting hits, but couldn’t pull them in. I think he was getting frustrated that he had yet to catch a fish and I had landed 6 already since the weekend started.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 13″
Lure used: white pearl super fluke

The frustration was short lived, though, because he would land the next two. The first was a 12″ largemouth, but the second was over 14″. A keeper and the biggest yet of the weekend.

At this point, there was a pontoon approaching us from the West and a guy in a paddle boat approaching us from the East. We decided to head across the lake to a small bay where I knew there was a downed branch. It had been a few years, so I wasn’t sure if it was still there.

The first thing I noticed is that there was a new dock on the point. And lots of lily pads. We were about 30 ft from shore and we had lily pads on both sides of us. But none of us were catching anything.

My brother then asked my dad and cousin if they wanted to switch things up. He gave my cousin a swim bait and gave my dad a texas rigged black worm with swim tail and red bullet weight. I put on my scum frog. Shortly thereafter, my dad pulled in a 15″ largemouth. That turned out to be the last fish of the outing, but not the last of the day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post that turned out to be the best outing of the weekend.

Related posts:

1. Morning Success
2. Immediate Success
3. Awesome Evening Success
4. Memorial Weekend, Day 3, Afternoon
5. Frustrations Abound

After my initial success from the night before, I had high hopes the next morning. I woke up at 7:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to get up. My brother repaired my scum frog before we went to bed, so I cast with that for about a half hour with no bite when my brother came down to the dock. We decided to take my dad’s canoe out on the lake.

I sat in front and stuck with the scum frog. My first cast to try to get under an overhanging tree branch met with the tree branches before it nicked the water. My brother laughed, but turned into a “whoa” when a fish tried to nab the frog. Before bringing in the canoe to retrieve my frog, he tossed his plastic craw into the spot to try to catch the offender. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t interested in my brother’s craw. We got my frog free and continued down the shore.

My brother remarked that he thought it was too late in the morning for the scum frog. I (obviously) begged to differ. But he said he would switch to a popper if I caught anything. Not more than a few casts later, the surface exploded around my frog. I paused, then set the hook and pulled in a muskie. My brother couldn’t believe it. It turned out to be 23″.

Unfortunately, with the way it got hooked and with all the thrashing, the girl was pretty wounded by the time I was able to get it back in the water. I tried to revive her for a good 20 minutes, but she couldn’t swim away, so I decided to keep it. When my dad saw it later, he said it was a Northern. I looked again and he was right. I didn’t even think there was a single Northern in our lake, so my brother and I just assumed it was a muskie.

Species: Northern Pike
Size: 23″
Lure used: chartreuse scum frog

By the time I got to fishing again, my brother had gone to a popper and back to his plastic craw. The wind had picked up, so I put away my scum frog and put on a white pearl super fluke. About a dozen casts later, I caught a nice 13″ largemouth bass. My brother has teased me over the years for being a one lure wonder, but when I caught a fish before he did, he said, “I can’t believe that thing works.”

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 13″
Lure used: white pearl super fluke

We worked the shore West a bit more, but headed back toward our dock because our California cousin wanted to come out as well. We were working the East shore and got some bites, but nothing we could boat when he showed up on the dock. My brother decided to work on getting our bass boat ready and let our cousin and I go out on the canoe. My son wanted to join us so he sat in the middle.

We were out for about a half hour before my son wanted to go back. But during that time, I landed a small muskie (a real muskie this time) on my super fluke. My cousin threw a white spinnerbait, chartreuse spinnerbait, and orange/brown spinnerbait with no luck.

Species: Muskie
Size: 18″
Lure used: white pearl super fluke

My brother needed help with our bass boat, so we quit for the morning. It was a good start to the Saturday. There was plenty of more fishing to do and we did a lot of it. Afternoon and evening stories coming soon. Stay tuned. It will be worth the wait.

Related posts:

1. Immediate Success
2. Afternoon Success
3. Awesome Evening Success
4. Memorial Weekend 2010, Day 1
5. Bounty Hunting

As I mentioned in my last post, my brother is in town. He’s here because my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Canada, and cousin from California are visiting. As part of the visit, we all went to my dad’s cabin in Northwest Wisconsin.

The family got there first and when I arrived, the first thing I noticed was that lily pads had grown not more than 10 feet from the dock. I haven’t been to the cabin in the middle of summer for several years, so this was a nice surprise.

Shortly after we got there, my brother went down to the dock to see what he could stir up. He dropped a little plastic craw in a hole about 12 feet from the dock and got a swirl, then another. But before he could entice a third, he had to go cook dinner.

I pulled out a bubble gum fluke, sent it flying over the target area, and reeled it back through. Nothing bit. I did this a couple of more times with no success. I then decided to try a bigger hole further out. Still nothing.

Given the swirl earlier, I decided to try a topwater scum frog. On the third or fourth cast, I watched as a splash engulfed my frog. I waited the obligatory two seconds and set the hook. It fought until I pulled it through some weeds, then stopped. I was afraid I had lost it. All I pulled out of the water was a pile of weeds. But I never let tension off the line, just in case. Sure enough, after sifting through the greenery, I found a 12″ largemouth bass.

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 12″
Lure used: chartreuse scum frog

My dad came running down with a tape measure because it turns out we can only keep bass 14″ or more from this lake. So I tossed it back.

The girl messed up my frog so that the hooks were exposed. Guilty of not really paying attention to the frog all these years I’ve owned it, I had no idea how to fix it. I spent a good 5 minutes fiddling with it and finally decided I needed just to cast it even if it wasn’t weedless any more.

On the very next cast, SPLASH! Again, I was able to control my excitement, waited 2 seconds and set the hook. Again, it stopped fighting when I hit weeds and again I pulled in a pile of greenery. This time I found a 14″ bass under the mess. A keeper!

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 14″
Lure used: chartreuse scum frog

My cousin from California hadn’t fished in over 20 years, so I asked him if he wanted to try. I gave him my rod and gave him a quick lesson on how to cast and how to retrieve the frog. I tossed a bubble gum fluke on my other rod. Unfortunately, nothing struck either of us before we had to go in for dinner.

After dinner, my brother threw a chartreuse spinnerbait while I tried a topwater prop frog for about 15 minutes, but nothing else bit.

It was still a good start to the weekend and a sign of things to come.

Related posts:

1. Morning Success
2. Afternoon Success
3. Awesome Evening Success
4. Memorial Weekend 2010, Day 2
5. Success with a New Technique

We decided to meet at Hidden Falls Park in St. Paul at 8:30am, but when I got there, the park was blocked off with barricades. It turns out there was a 5K run going on and they weren’t letting any vehicles in to the park. I called Dan and after some discussion, we decided to hit a city lake instead. We settled on Lake Nokomis.

We got to the lake a little after 9:30am after a bit of a hunt to find Dan a 24 hour fishing license. We tried the pier first. The water was pretty stained with only a foot or two of visibility, so I threw a bubble gum super fluke and Dan picked an orange/brown spinnerbait. With no nibbles after about 15 minutes, we decided to proceed down the shore to one of the sandy beaches.

We waded in to our knees and started casting again. Not long after, we saw a fish jump between us and the pier. Dan said it was a bass. I quickly cast my fluke toward the spot, but several casts yielded nothing. I decided to switch to a Texas rigged worm while Dan switched to a blue jig and pig. I felt some resistance reeling, but when I tried to set the hook, I got nothing.

Some more time passed and we saw another bass jump not far from the first one. Our new lures weren’t producing, so we switched again. This time, we tried topwaters since the fish seemed to be feeding on something on the surface. I opted for a chartreuse scum frog. Dan picked a surface popper. Neither of those produced either. I then switched to a propeller frog and Dan went with and under surface lure I can’t remember. We still didn’t get a bite, but another bass down the shore decided something just above the surface looked appetizing and jumped to grab it. Dan just looked at each other, flabbergasted.

We walked down the shore a little and decided to switch to something smaller. Dan picked a chartreuse beetle spinner and I went with a jighead with dirty yellow grub trailer. On one of my first few casts, I finally hooked one! It turned out to be an 8″ largemouth. It shook itself off before I could get a picture to prove that I didn’t get skunked. The beetle spinner Dan was using was a little too light to cast, so he switched to a heavier pink headed clear body with speckles. He and I kept feeling some tugs about 10 ft in front of us and we decided there was a weedline out there we couldn’t see. I stuck with my jig and Dan eventually switched to a pink jighead with yellow grub body. In our last stitch effort, Dan put on a white pearl super fluke while I tried a chartreuse double blade spinnerbait. But we didn’t have any more action for the rest of the morning before we had to leave.

The good news is that there was fish all around us. The bad news is that we couldn’t figure out what they would bite. So to all you bass experts out there, what would you have tried?

[Author's note: the picture above was taken from the Minneapolis Park and Rec web site. I was too busy chatting with Dan to remember to take any pictures.]

Related posts:

1. Morning Success
2. Neighborhood Outing
3. Lessons Learned in a Short Outing
4. Immediate Success
5. New Lake, New Freedom

My phone rang at 7am Sunday morning.

“Hello, ” I said groggily, knowing full well who was on the other end.

“Let’s go!”

It was Mark. Saturday, after our outing, I asked him if he was going out Sunday. He said to have my phone close by. Frankly, I didn’t think he would go that morning. Saturday night I had gotten all my stuff ready to go out to the 22 acre lake I’ve been wanting to hit lately.

“Give me 15 minutes.”

Fifteen minutes later, I walked out my front door to Mark and his boat parked in front of my driveway. We headed to Bald Eagle, but the parking lot was all full. Mark theorized there was a muskie tournament on the lake for muskie opener weekend. So we headed to White Bear Lake instead. There were plenty of spots open there.

For the three hours we were on the water, we hit 6 spots:

Spot #1:
Mark called this Mahtomedi Bar. It was a bar that ran across the lake East to West on the Southern end of the lake. We tried lindy rigging for walleye, but weren’t getting anything. After 30-40 minutes, we decided to start casting.

Spot #2:
We headed West to the docks and Mark started casting with a chartreuse/white spinnerbait and I picked up a bubble gum super fluke. On my third or fourth cast, my line became very hard to reel in. I set the hook and… Fish on! After reeling a few feet, it jumped. It was a bass. In the net, I thought it was about 16″, but it only measured in at 14″. Not a pig, but a really nice fish.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 14″
Lure used: Bubble gum super fluke

A few casts later, I felt some ticks, but I didn’t feel any weight on the line. When fishing with texas rigged super flukes, always wait for the weight. I tried to keep my cool and kept retrieving as I normally would. Then I felt another tick-tick tick, but still no weight. A few more feet of retrieve and finally I felt some substance. I set the hook and pulled in a 21″ northern. I decided to keep it for pickling.

Species: Northern Pike
Size: 21″
Lure used: Bubble gum super fluke

My fluke was pretty damaged, so I got a new one and set it up. A few more casts and I had another fish on. This time it was a 22″ northern. I kept that one as well. Three fish in a span of about 15 minutes!

Species: Northern Pike
Size: 22″
Lure used: Bubble gum super fluke

The new fluke was beat up again, but before I could get a new one on, I realized I had committed a cardinal sin for anglers. I ran out of bubble gum flukes! I couldn’t believe it. (Well, actually, I could because I hadn’t been having much luck with them lately, so I didn’t feel the need to keep a supply on hand. Silly me.) I put on a baby bass color instead, but after a dozen casts and no action, Mark said I should switch to the pearl white package I had brought along. I agreed.

White pearl on and not more than a few casts later, I got ticked again. But this time, the fish never grabbed on, so I couldn’t set the hook. However, I was to hook a small bass that shook himself off when he got near the boat.

Mark wasn’t getting any action, so I offered him a fluke. He said no. I was surprised Mark was so one dimensional that day. He usually switches up if nothing is happening for him. But it would pay off.

It started to slow down for me, but then started to pick up for Mark. He caught a northern about the size of my two. And shortly after, a nice bass at least the size of mine. Then it got quiet for both us. So Mark decided it was time to try a new spot.

Spot #3:
We motored across the lake to try the docks on that side. I got a couple of ticks, but nothing bit hard enough to try a hook set. Mark was quiet as well. We weren’t there very long before we moved on.

Spot #4:
We headed back across lake a bit further North than our other catches. On the way I looked at my damaged bubble gum flukes and found one with the nose fairly in tact. I was able to rehook it to use at our new destination.

The weeds were really dense and thick here. You could see the difference in color of the water from all the weeds far out into the lake. Again we hit the docks. I landed an 11″ largemouth and Mark landed another northern. But there was nothing else.

Spot #5:
A while later we motored to a point that was under water a few years ago, but was now exposed due to the low water levels. There were a couple of buoys warning boaters of shallow water. Mark got a phone call, but I was casting. We had just passed the second buoy when I cast into the shallows and felt something heavy on my line. I set the hook and it wasn’t just heavy. It was HEAVY. I heard Mark tell the person on the line that I just got one on and he got off the phone. I was holding the line high as it was going over the back of the boat and over Mark’s head. I must have let off the pressure just a bit as I tried to move it to the side of the boat and all of a sudden the weight lightened up. I knew immediately what happened. I reeled in and just had weeds on my fluke. The nose was all torn as if it had been pulled down on the hook.

Mark believed it was a muskie. I tended to agree with him. Whatever it was, it was BIG. It had to be 60″ plus! I’m just kidding of course, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a muskie near 40″. But we’ll never know.

I then had to switch back to a white pearl fluke.

Spot #6:
It was getting late, but we headed over to another shallow point. We went over to the North side and could see a steep drop off under the water from the sandy shore. As we were casting, Mark saw a large bass cruising along the bottom part of the ledge exactly where you’d expect to find a fish. He pointed it out to me and I saw it just as it was passing me. I threw my fluke ahead of it hoping to get a strike. Nothing. Mark then saw another bass off his end of the boat.

This was a rare opportunity to try something to see if it worked since you don’t usually know if there are even fish around what you throw, let alone if they are interested. I put on a blue jig and pig and threw it parallel to the ledge and also across it toward a dock. I tried bouncing it up and down near the bottom as well as using it as a swim jig. Neither techniques produced a strike. Mark didn’t get a hit on his spinnerbait either, but he saw two more bass.

After about twenty minutes, we decided to call it a day. And a good day at that.

Related posts:

1. Walleye Frenzy
2. Slow Night
3. Expect the Unexpected
4. Morning Success
5. Neighborhood Outing

Date: 5/16/2010
Time: 6:00-9:30am
Body of water: Lake Vadnais
Location: Shoreview, MN
Weather Conditions: sunny

If I didn’t get out fishing on the biggest fishing weekend of the year for Minnesota, I couldn’t very well call myself a fishing blogger in Minnesota. So I got up at 5:45am Sunday morning and headed out to Lake Vadnais. It looked promising because the map at the Minnesota DNR web site showed some drop offs not far from shore.

When I got there a little after 6am, there were already half a dozen cars on the South side of a rest area-like turnaround that is built on a small peninsula. I parked on the North side and walked up the road a little ways to cast off shore. I was amazed at how clear the water was. Probably the clearest water I’ve seen in the metro area. It’s actually not surprising because the lake is used as a reservoir for drinking water.

I sent casts with a bubble gum fluke straight out, but also threw some under some trees that hung out over the water. I didn’t get any hits, so I figured all those guys on the South shore must know something, so I headed over to them.

I found a spot between two anglers and changed my lure to a Daredevil. All the fisherman there had huge reels that looked like saltwater rods and reels. Some of the rods were as long as 12 feet. They were just being propped up on shore with the lines were going straight out. These guys all had domestic trucks, SUVs, or a 70s era tank of a car, so I felt a bit out of place coming in with my Japanese import and casting instead of sitting in a lawn chair watching a propped up rod.

I tried a few casts, but it was kind of close quarters and the gentlemen didn’t seem to appreciate my casting. So I headed further South down the shore past all the claimed spots. I tried the Daredevil, orange/brown spinnerbait, and bubble gum fluke for a while, but wasn’t having any success, so I moved back to the North side of the point.

There, I cast out the fluke a few more times before switching to a texas rigged worm. The worm was one I had rigged in my tackle box for a while, so I decided to put on a fresh watermelon colored Slurpie worm. I was hopping it on the bottom practicing my technique more than anything because I had never really fished with a plastic worm on the bottom before. Since the water was so clear, I could watch the worm come back to see what it was doing.

On about the third or fourth cast, I felt some weeds, but it tugged a little differently. I tugged back harder than usual and a swirl appeared on the surface of the water. From down the shore, I heard someone yell, “woo!” He knew I had a fish on before I did because it wasn’t until there was some major surface splashing that I realized I really had a fish on. It didn’t fight that hard, so I thought it would be a smaller fish. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I first saw it. It was a pig! It turned out to be a 16″ largemouth bass with an 11″ girth. I asked the “woo” guy to take my picture and let the girl go.

The worm didn’t produce for the next hour, so I also tried a rebel crawfish and blue/silver spoon to see if I could stir anything up. But I didn’t get any more action for the rest of the time I was there.

While I was at that spot, I couldn’t believe the turnover of fisherman coming through. A pair of guys threw out minnows under bobbers for about a half hour, and a father and his kid only tried for about a half hour or so, too. The “woo” guy was probably there for an hour and a half. He probably only stayed because I caught my fish just a few minutes after he got there. One guy came by, had a huge ball bobber attached to his line about 6 ft up. His first cast got stuck in a tree and then he packed up an left. I think he was embarrassed because I later found him on the South side of the point.

Mark later told me that the guys on the South side were fishing for lunker walleyes. Apparently, they set up a lindey rig and throw it out as far as they can go. I did notice they were getting some pretty long casts. About twice as far out as mine. There is a drop off out there and they just toss it out with an open bail and wait. They have a little piece of tin foil on the line near the tip of the pole that is attached such that it goes out with the line. They then wait up to 60 seconds and then set the hook. I guess they’ve pulled some monsters out of that lake. Some guys sit out there all day. Mark says it’s worth it, so they must be pretty big.

Related posts:

1. Morning Success
2. Afternoon Success
3. New Lake
4. Awesome Evening Success
5. Immediate Success

Date: 4/23/2010
Time: 7:45am – 1:00pm
Body of water: Lake near Finlayson, MN
Location: Finlayson, MN
Weather Conditions: overcast

Last weekend, when I went fishing with Mark, he mentioned that he was taking today off. After watching the weather during the week, I decided I needed a break from work, so I took the day off as well. After some discussion, we decided to hit a lake about an hour and a half North near Finlayson, MN that two of his brothers have cabins on. So he knew the lake well. We left at 5:45am and were on the water by 7:45. It felt way too early at 5:15 when i got out of bed, but I felt much better once we were on the water.

Things started out kind of slow. We hit several of Mark’s spots, but didn’t get so much as a nibble. We ended up in the Southeast corner and found a ton of fish on the fish finder. Shortly before 9am, Mark landed a nice 11″ crappie. We thought we were golden. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The large school he kept seeing coming in and out of his graph wasn’t interested in hitting any of the minnows we offered. The water was really calm, so we opted to move on and come back later when the sun had warmed up the water a bit.

We motored across the lake to the Eastern shore, hitting water less than 3 feet deep. On one cast, my bobber started to go under. I tightened my line as the bobber sank slowly. Once it went totally under, I waited another second or so before setting the hook. We didn’t know what it was, but it felt strong. Mark got the first glimpse and thought it was a large crappie. A second later, I got a flash of its side and it looked like a different species, but it looked big. It made a run under the boat, but I managed to pull it back and into Mark’s net. It was a nice sized bass. Bigger than any I’ve caught in a long time. It had been hooked past the barb, but within a quarter inch of the edge of the lip, so it was a good thing I waited that extra second before setting the hook. It ended up measuring out at 16″. That made my day.

We continued down the shore and hit a few more of Mark’s spots. At one point, my bobber went under again slowly, but I missed it. It happened again on the very next cast. Mark wasn’t convinced it was a fish, but rather just weeds pulling the bobber down as we drifted. I didn’t believe him, but after this occurred a bunch more times, I had to concede he was probably right.

At about 11am, we finally ended up back at the spot where Mark caught his crappie a few hours earlier. The wind had picked up and there was a nice chop on the water, which is what Mark really likes for crappie. He continued to see fish on his fish finder, but they still weren’t ineterested. We spent another hour or so on that spot, but there wasn’t so much as a tick.

Frustrated, we rounded back around the South shore back to where I caught my bass. Mark had a nice hit right in that area, but that just served to keep us there longer than we needed to be. Not unlike a slot machine almost paying off. A dozen or so more casts from each of us yielded nothing.

The five hour trip wasn’t a total waste with the two fish we caught, but we certainly would have liked more. All around the lake there were prime spots to cast for bass. The fact that I couldn’t target them with bass lures was killing me. April is always a tough time in Minnesota due to the seasonal restrictions. But any fishing is better than no fishing. And as they say, “a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.”

Related posts:

1. First Open Water Outing of 2010
2. Another Good Morning of Ice Fishing
3. Year of the Tiger Fishing: Day 1
4. Walleye Frenzy
5. Fishing (not singing) in the Rain

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 10″, 10″, 7″, 10″
Lure used: minnow with hot pink jighead set at 6 1/2 feet below slip bobber

Date: 4/18/2010
Time: 2:30 – 5:30pm
Body of water: Local metro lake
Location: Twin Cities, North suburbs
Weather Conditions: sunny

I was working in my garage on one of my projects leftover from last week, my back to the street, when I heard, “ready to go?” from someone behind me. It was Mark. He was headed out to a local lake and was stopping by to invite me along. I couldn’t leave right at that moment, but told him I would see what was going on that afternoon and maybe catch up to him later. Fortunately for me, there was nothing pressing and I was on the water with Mark less than an hour later.

This time of year in Minnesota, the DNR closes seasons for all sport fish except rough fish and panfish to allow them to finish their spawn. That being the case, Mark and I were after crappie. I didn’t have a panfish setup, but Mark had plenty of rods for me to use. Each setup had a slip bobber, drop shot sinkers, and jigheads ready for adding minnows.

The first few minutes brought me back to my childhood sitting in a boat watching a bobber for hours. I was reminded of how hard it was to keep the line taught for when the bobber went under. But this was not my parents’ still fishing experience.

Mark was not as patient as my parents. If there was no action within a minute of a cast, he was reeling in and casting again. And after about 10-15 minutes, if we didn’t get any bites, we headed to a new spot. The word of the day was “weeds.” Mark had me looking for weeds where the crappie are held. We probably covered 6 spots in about an hour and a half fishing the edge of weed beds.

We started near the Northern shore of the lake with everybody else, but later moved down the Western shore. With no luck, we returned back to a spot near the Northern shore that he and our neighbor Rob had caught their limit in crappie last weekend.

Without so much as a nibble all day, we finally got some action. I landed two 10″ bass in quick succession. Minutes later, I got a nice 10″ crappie that I dropped in the live well. We were excited that we thought we had found the hole. I got lots of bites, but none I could land. The fish were really touchy. The bobber would go slowly under, but I could never set the hook. Many times I couldn’t tell if it was a fish or weeds. I would try to set the hook anyway and would either miss the fish, or pull in some cabbage.

We were definitely in the right area as I counted 11 boats within a football field’s distance of us. But we didn’t see anyone else pulling any fish in.

We fished for another hour where Mark caught some small sunnies and I landed two more bass of 7″ and 10″. Mark switched to a small spinner a half hour before we packed it in and landed a nice 16″ Northern Pike.

Overall, it wasn’t the outing we were hoping for, but landing 5 fish for the day wasn’t half bad. It was nice finally being out on the water again and being able to wet a line. The best part is that I was able to bring home a fish for dinner.

Related posts:

1. Better Than Work
2. Neighborhood Outing
3. Winter Open Water Fishing II
4. Winter Open Water Fishing
5. Walleye Frenzy