Journal of a Minnesota Angler

This past weekend was our annual neighborhood camping trip. In previous years, boats were towed along, but this year, Mark was towing a camper and Steve was towing a trailer, so no boats could come. However, I brought my float tube and was able to get a few hours on the nearby lake by myself.

Do to various goings on, I didn’t get on the lake until about 3:30. It had been sunny most of the day, so my plan was to look for fish in the lily pad field not far from the fishing pier. I put in and headed South toward the lily pads.

As I was paddling out, I noticed wood structure North of the fishing pier that I was sure was holding fish. Unfortunately, there was a boat off the fishing pier a few hundred feet. Going between the boat and the pier was too tight for my comfort and going around the boat would have taken too long, so I made a note of it to possibly head that way later.

I started with a brownish jig and pig combination, but there were a lot of weeds in front of the lily pads and it was getting more hung up than I was satisfied with. I decided to go topwater into the lily pads. A few casts with a frog yielded nothing.

I noticed a water path into the lily pad field toward shore which would give me access to some open water back there, so I made my way into the path. Once I through it, I realized I was only in about two feet of water (or less). It was a bit difficult to paddle around, so I gave up on that area and paddled back out.

My patience was getting the better of me as I didn’t want to go back to camp with a skunk, so I changed up to a bubble gum fluke. As usual, that was difficult to present while sitting so close to the water, so I switched again.

This time I went to the KVD coffee worm that worked for me on my father-in-law’s lake. I concentrated on the cabbage a few hundred feet away from shore that had tips showing above the water. A few casts in and I got my first tug. It was a nice start at 14.5″.

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 14.5″
Lure used: Strike King KVD Big Tex Ocho worm in coffee scent, texas-rigged

The bucketmouth ripped the top part of the worm off the hook and I only had one coffee worm left, so I decided to conserve my resources. Typically, I snip the tip off the worm, but I discovered I left my clippers at home, so I bit the tip off instead. If you’ve never tasted a salted plastic worm, don’t. The combination of (super) salty and plastic may taste good to fish, but not to humans. Or, this human at least.

On my next cast, the worm felt heavy on the retrieve, so I tried to set the hook, but nothing was on the other end. I found my worm all twisted, so I knew it was a fish.

The same thing went on 40 minutes or so. Almost every cast was getting hit, but I wasn’t pulling in anything, just a twisted worm. On one strike, I yanked so hard I actually got a backlash on my spinning reel. I didn’t know that was even possible.

 

The only thing I caught in that time was a small 10″ bucketmouth. I consoled myself that all these short strikes were all small guys like that one.

By now I was quite a ways from the fishing pier and near another lily pad field. I wanted to throw some casts into it, but found again that it was pretty shallow in there. I did, however, see a fallen log under water. I tried some casts around and parallel to it, but didn’t get any takers.

By now, it was getting to be about 5pm, so I needed to head toward shore. I was debating whether to “troll” back with a spoon to try to get a northern, or try a speed craw instead. I opted for the speed craw.

After a few minutes of nothing, this didn’t seem to be the right bait. At least with the KVD worm I was getting interest.

Last week, I watched a video where a pro was saying that if you’re getting short strikes, try a different color. That can trigger more aggressive strikes. I decided to go back to a worm and pulled out a Big Bite Baits trick stick in crawfish orange swirl (very similar to green watermelon).

On the first cast, I got hit hard, but missed the hook set. A few casts later, I got hit again. This time I was able to land it.

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 13.5″
Lure used: Big Bite Baits trick stick in crawfish orange swirl, texas rigged

The fish tore up the worm in the middle where the hook goes. This was my only greenish trick stick worm that I brought, so I ripped the worm in half and texas rigged the tail end. It was only about 2 1/2 inches long, barely longer than the offset EWG hook.

After casting it out and bottom twitching it a bit with no reaction, I thought maybe I left too rough of an edge at the tear end. I started to retrieve it when I felt three ticks. I set the hook. Fish on!

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 14″
Lure used: Big Bite Baits trick stick in crawfish orange swirl, texas rigged

I guess the rough edge wasn’t a problem after all.

Another couple casts and I got another hit.

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 13″
Lure used: Big Bite Baits trick stick in crawfish orange swirl, texas rigged

I knew it was getting late, but I was having so much I didn’t want to go in. I turned my tube toward the fishing pier and dropped a cast right in front of the lily pad field.

BANG! This time I got hit so hard, it pulled my drag. I was sure this was a bigger one the way it fought. The battle raged on for a few minutes before the girl finally tired.

Species: Largemouth bass
Size: 14″
Lure used: Big Bite Baits trick stick in crawfish orange swirl, texas rigged

Not what I expected, but fun nonetheless.

Before I could get my next cast out, I got a call from Mrs. MNAngler that camp needed some stuff from my car for dinner. Reluctantly, I had to paddle in and head back.

When I catch 4 fish in less than 30 minutes, it makes for a lot of fun. Even though the fish weren’t big, they were fighters and that makes it even more fun. The way the action was going, I probably could have stayed out there for at least another hour, maybe more. But it was fun while it lasted.

This outing taught me that a small change in lure can make a big difference. I never took much stock in lure colors. The shape was what I thought was the ticket. I’ll never go crazy buying 20 different colors of a lure, but now I know I’ll have to have a few colors on hand in each outing.