Bass Opener - 2013 P. 1

What a long winter.  Prior to this past weekend, the last time I wet a line in open water was Thanksgiving Day of last year - and that is way too long for this guy to go.  Definitely my fault, but, it was for good reason.  However, school is now out and bass fishing season is in, opening week has come to an end and here is my report:

052513

I dropped the boat in on Friday when we got to the lake and cruised around a little bit to check things out and noticed right away that the water temp was 55-56 degrees, which would put most fish in a prespawn mode. 

My Dad and I went out on Saturday morning and I decided to fish some flooded timber on the way out to the main lake as the canal and flats area where my boat is moored would should be one of the areas they will be spawning.  I worked the area over with a 1/2oz Northstar Custom Baits Flip n Swim Black series jig and felt a thump but was too late on the hookset and too far past that spot to try another pitch so I told Dad where to throw, no bite. 

We went into the river briefly and I was thinking about heading up the Snake and into some of the backwaters but decided not to with as swift as the current was and a logjam in the middle of the bridge.  We spent most of Saturday eliminating water.  Dad got one crappie and I got skunked.

052613

I went out solo and noticed that the water temp had risen a couple of degrees.  I fished the same flooded timber as I had the day before with the same results - if nothing else, it helped knock the rust off my pitching technique.  I decided to skip the rest of the water that Dad and I fished on Saturday and ventured downstream and into some backwaters and probed the area with the same Flip n Swim jig I had tied Saturday and a Northstar Custom Baits spinnerbait in New Gill color.



I fished my way down the flooded side of the slough and didn’t get anything.  No bites, no taps, no bumps or thumps.  At this point, I was getting fairly discouraged. I started working my way down the opposite shoreline with the spinnerbait and a quarter of the way down the line my bait darted violently to the side and then went quiet again.  Then it hit like a ton a bricks and my line started moving back and forth quickly.  It was a pike, but, at least it was a fish.  There was life in this water after all!  I started lifting him in the boat and the hook came out.  Easy release, no pike smell on my hands, and no human smell on the pike.  It was a win-win.

I had a couple more hits going down the bank but no hook ups.  I decided to idle into another backwater.  This one had a lot more wood so I decided to fish the side with the current, figuring that any bass would be hanging out in the timber and grass patches waiting for an easy meal.  I had several hits in this area on the spinnerbait, some bass and some pike but they almost always came off.  I had no stingers or anything that would make a useful trailer hook along, so I tied on a regular Flip n Swim in New Gill with a single grub for a trailer.  I had a few missed hits on that and then, finally, a solid hook up.  He was sitting right at the base of a fallen tree.  Not huge, but, it's a start.

This is getting pretty long so I'm going to wrap this first post for up now.  I'll detail the rest of the week in my next post.

The Ice Post

Exactly one week from now I will be getting ready to throw my first open water casts this year.  Sadly, by this time last year, I'd already bagged my first bass for the year.  This weather, I tell ya!

I was thinking, now that the semester is finally over, I'd better get the update on my ice season typed and posted before my open water season gets underway.

I managed to make some headway on my goals for this year - I hit the ice on Jane, Bone, and Chisago.  Two new lakes left to go so if things lock up quickly this coming winter, I should knock this one off my goals list for 2013.  I plan on fishing Turtle near my home, which I never did make the time to try this winter.  As for my fifth lake, I'm not sure yet.  Big Marine, Coon, and Kroon are all on my list so we'll see how things go when the time rolls around.

On to the fishing.

Lake Jane:

In January, I hit Lake Jane out by Lake Elmo with my uncle and father in law.  We decided to set up just off the main hole in about 16'.  We saw some marks on the flasher, but with the exception of two very small pike, we didn't see the action we were looking for.  Which is ok, we didn't really know what to expect anyway as none of us had fished there before.

Bone Lake:

Toward the end of January, I decided to scout Bone Lake near Scandia with a good friend of mine.  When we got there, we still weren't sure how the ice was due to the warm(ish) winter so we decided to park at the launch and walk out, and take it from me, it's a heck of a walk from the ramp to get anywhere on that lake!

First we tried around the point on the north end of the lake and came up with (very) small perch so we moved deeper and started to get into some small bluegill - but nothing solid.  We didn't manage to get into the crappie until the next trip we took out. 

At that point, we knew that the ice was 20" in most places so we drove out.  Every time I drive out on the ice, I feel like it's my first time.  Absolutely nerve-wrecking.  I decided to skip the spots that we had tried before altogether and setup near a break from shallow water to the main basin.  I don't know how many crappie we caught, but I do know that they were only biting on light colored jigs and were moving up and down that break.  There wasn't any size to them to speak of, but we had fun.  I did bring my father in law out at the end of February when the guys from Missouri came up and the action was pretty much the same thing.

Icefishapalooza:

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but every year a group of guys come up from Missouri to ice fish.  Old Navy buddies of my uncle's.  We usually fish for three days.  The first day we decided to give White Bear Lake another shot.  We have a bad history on this lake.  Just plain bad.  We drove out from Bellaire and weren't really sure where to go and since my uncle was running late I got to choose the spot.  Now, they don't like to move around at all so I decided to try and find the most likely place I could.  I opted for a small, steady point breaking into deeper water.  We popped our holes, got setup, and dropped our baits in.  The fish weren't huge, but the action was steady.  I was using a Bro's Bloodworm and Gill Pills, any natural looking color would work as there really wasn't a stand out.  I did have one nice pike that broke off at the hole when I tried to perform a move that I can only  described as an ice flip.  The lesson for the day:  4lbs mono ≠ 40lbs braid.  No idea how big it really was and the speculation only makes me want to kick myself that much harder.

For day two, we opted to head out to Kroon Lake near Chisago.  We had another 8" of snow to deal with overnight and when we stopped at Frankie's to figure out what was what, one of the guys we walked to got stuck in one of the drifts on Kroon and no one had plowed yet so we decided to fish Chisago instead as there was a plowed road that Frankie's maintains.  On our way to the spot that Frankie's had suggested we started seeing thin ice signs and opted not to go any further as at that point we had lost the road.  I chose a spot just off the main basin where a little point came out, we set up on one of the inside turns.

Wow.  As it turned out, that decision made up for three seasons of bad fishing, right there.  We were catching a mixed bag of bluegill and crappie and they were good sized too, almost all of them came from vertical jigs but I did manage several with the red Bro's Bloodworm.  They were moving back and forth between the shallow and deep water because we would catch them in our house and then my father in law would get into them in his, so you knew when you could get up and stretch a little. 

At one point, after releasing a bluegill, I saw a mark on my graph that was hovering just outside my zoom range so I dropped my bait down and watched the mark charge, felt the thunk, and set the hook.  My drag immediately started to peel off my reel and I had the attention of everyone in the house.  With everyone reminding me, I remembered what happened the day before and resolved to stay calm and let him tire himself out.  By the time he gave up, I was able to ease him through the hole and this was the result:

He had a pretty gnarly cut in his upper lip and I'm guessing that he was caught on a tip up at some point.  He wasn't a giant but it was fun to redeem myself for the one that I lost the day before.  Here's a pic of one of the crappie that we caught from that day as well (as measured with whatever we had on hand at the time):

We did find a tape measure and it came in at a little over 10", again, not a giant but these guys kept us busy all day and we all had a true sense of "do we have to??" when it came time to pack up and go home.

Needless to say, we spent day three on Chisago as well.  The weather was a little brighter than it was on day two so we didn't catch nearly as many crappie, but the bluegill were still willing participants in Icefishapalooza!

That's my ice season in a nutshell, for now, it's time to finish gearing up for bass opener next weekend as spending Memorial Day week at the lake is always my favorite vacation! 

2013. Moving Forward.

It is a new year and I hope that yours has been good so far.  I'm skipping the year-in-review post this year because, frankly,  there really isn't a lot to review.  I was out for a few trips but not enough to really make any headway in my experiences.  Two notable exceptions are the trip I took to Canada and my last open water trip (in the boat) of the year.  Otherwise I had many other things happening that elbowed fishing to the back burner.

This year should be a little bit different.  Having a seasonal camp spot again should help with getting out a little more often this year, so considering that, here are my goals for this year.

• Find a better balance between family/work/fishing. 
• Identify three different bass patterns on the Pokegama chain.
• Work on getting familiar and comfortable using different presentations.  I relied on the swim jig a little too much the past couple years and I think that hindered my success a bit. 
• Fish five new lakes during ice season.
• Find some more shore fishing opportunities in the north metro that haven't been beaten to death by others (that being said, Centerville and Pelltier are out).
• Get the project boat up and running again.  It may not look pretty to begin with, but for right now it only needs to float and run.

 Only time can tell how things will turn out, and finding new shore fishing locales will be a challenge, but I think all of these are certainly possible. 

The nice thing is my first ice trip should be next weekend, so I'll have a start on checking one off the list!

2012 Elite Series Techniques

If you live in the northern portion of the country, odds are that you are looking out the window longingly awaiting warmer temperatures and open water.  This time of year, my priorities tend to shift to things non-fishy so I don't visit as many fishing sites, even though now is probably the best time to do so. 

Anyway, being on winter break, I have some time before heading off to work and was looking at Bassmasters website and happened across a video link entitled 2012 Elite Series Techniques.

I enjoyed it, it's about 45 minutes long and covers a range of topics.  Cranks (5:40), Frogs (11:45), Swimbaits (19:15), Football Jigs (29:00), Drop Shotting (35:30), and Sight Fishing (40:20).

With these frigid winter days we need something to tide us over until the ice thickens up enough to drill some holes.  That is, unless, you're lucky enough to have some wintertime open water fishing holes up your sleeve!

Project Boat.

I now have a project that will, undoubtedly, last me for the next couple seasons. 

Here's the run down:

She's a 1986 Hydrasport (model unknown) with a 1991 175hp Merc on the back.  I have had experience with this boat in the past so I am fairly comfortable with it now.

Lots of work is in store for her.  New carpet, new seats (which I have), hatches need replacing (will be adding springs of some sort), gelcoat is in dire need of repair, one of the dry storage compartments are cracked, I plan on adding a tackle storage unit in the open section up front.  I'm thinking about a new trolling motor but haven't decided yet - the old one is pretty mangled.  That's not even getting into the trailer...

I am thinking I want the electrical redone, so if anyone knows a local MN guy that can do it - drop me a line.

Here are some before pictures:

Boy, is this going to be fun!

Singled Out

I know I've been slacking and I'm a little late to the party on this one, but MNAngler has issued another challenge in the Avid Angler Challenge series and I've taken up the call.  This one is taking the five lure challenge and whittling it down to only one.

This was a fairly simple decision for me, and for anyone who's followed this blog for any amount of time, you have probably already guessed that I would choose the swim jig, since size, color, and brand are unrestricted I am assuming that I get carte-blanche across the entire swim jig selection.  My trailer would be a four inch grub, probably single tail.

Why:

Well, as I said in the last challenge, I usually fish water that is clear in the spring and turns to a pea soup consistency as the summer progresses.  Natural bluegill and crappie colors usually work well for me throughout the year.  I can drag it, skip it (with a spinning reel, err..  Kinda.), pitch it, and pull it through veggies.

But the real bottom line on this choice is that it fits my style the most closely - right now.  It may be a whole different ball game next year, so, I'm thinking that we'll have to revisit these two lists in a years time and see what's changed and why.

Docked.

It seems that every season starts with a promise-to-self that I will get more time on the water, then, on the winds of change, just like that - Life happens.  To say the least, it has a been a busy, busy summer.   Next summer promises to be just as busy, if not more so.  Although, Momma and I decided to camp again next summer, up on Pokegama just outside Pine City.  I hear that the panfish are plentiful and I certainly look forward to seeing what kind of bass population the river has to offer, DNR's lakefinder has me nervous about that though.  Never the less, who doesn't like learning new water?

That, however, isn't the reason for this post.

I managed to get one last trip out before pulling the boat out.  Really, it was the last good weekend we've had since then too, very little wind - which was good because I didn't have the chance to make the trip out the night before to put the charger on the deep cycle battery, and warm.  Heeding past advice about going directly to the spot you want to fish, I started out at what has become a mainstay in my bass fishing outings.  The difference this time is my favorite area had been overtaken by split pea soup!  The algae was as thick as I've ever seen it on Bald Eagle, stranded by the fact that there was no wind to push it out of my spot.  I did fish it for a short time with a swim jig and decided to pack it in on that spot early - I just wasn't into it.

On to my back up plan.  Docks.  It's milk run time.

By this time the sun was up and over the trees, warming the shorelines.  I had fielded a couple of phone calls that morning and decided I'd best put my head phones in so I didn't have to stop fishing to take a call.  I also decided that, contrary to my own tradition, to put on some tunes, and I do believe it helped set the mood.  I started working my way down the shoreline, past the community shore fishing hole, and on to my target.  By this time I switched to a spinnerbait, not a beetle spin, a God's honest truth spinnerbait!

Anyway, I wasn't yet up to the first dock when I had my first hit.  A little shortie.  Landed and let go.  Recast and hooked again.  Same deal, just a little guy.  One more on the same approach.  It seemed like the little guys were out roaming away from the docks.

The sun continued it's climb and not being able to find an upgrade, I changed my approach up a little bit.  I remembered a video put out by Wired2Fish (embed is below) that showed how to pivot a bait underneath a dock to get a little more distance.  I figured that this was a pretty good time and place to practice that at least.

Enter 1/2oz swim jig.  This is double the weight I'm used to throwing, but after playing with the Northstar Custom Flip N Swim jig, I'm growing accustomed to the added weight - and I have to say that they pitch a heck of a lot better than their smaller 1/4oz brethren.  However, my pitching technique was rusty and I feel that I pulled some of my punches and that hurt the distance I got underneath the dock.  On the other hand, I was getting bit anyway - and with a slightly better quality.

Given this change, I was able to set up a pattern of sun exposed, wood decking, on the shady side of the dock.  Sounds pretty typical of a fall pattern to me.  And they were choking it, the strikes I was getting weren't that silly slap at it and get it in the corner of the mouth kind of strike.  It was the "get in my belly!" kind of strike!  By the end of the day (which really means when my battery was nearly dead) I had landed over 15 fish (lost count).

Now, I know that it is premature to start talking about winterizing the boat, but I think I'll end this season on a good note.  Besides, I have a hankering for strapping on a set of waders and chasing some Rum River smallies before things freeze up.