Pool 2 - Mississippi A Guided Adventure and a New Personal Best

This adventure started out innocently enough:  I met with another local angler, Rich Lindgren, at the Northwest Sportshow this past spring and asked him about navigation on the Mississippi.  Naturally, the lake ice was beginning to get a little softer and knowing that there is a year-round catch and release season on Pool 2 and I was getting antsy to get out.

Well, information is sometimes better processed by seeing and doing rather than hearing, so I asked if he knew an area guide that I could head out with.  Not with an emphasis of finding specific spots, but to learn more about navigating on the river, at least enough to have confidence to head out on my own.  All of my personal experience thus far has been on small rivers like the Sauk and Snake - no big deal.  No barges, minimal deadheads during highwater, and certainly no wing dams!

For a little background, growing up, my family would routinely boat on both the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers - but this was twenty years ago and if you think a 12 year old is going to be paying attention to what wing dams look like then you'd better think again!

Back to the story, he recommended Josh Douglas.  I got in touch with him and we decided on a date just after the start of May, figuring that the worst of the flooding would be behind us (well, that was my idea, anyway.  haha).  When all was said and done, between prolonged high water periods, a ridiculous current, and cold water we waited to head out until just before bass opener.

This was my first guided trip so I was a bit nervous and didn't really know what to expect.

We met up at a gas station close to the launch and were on our way down river shortly after.  Prior to hitting the main channel, we quickly went over wing dams and closing dams and how to spot them in the current and using GPS mapping.  I just recently picked up my first GPS unit this past winter, so that was some good info to have.  Before that, I'd had the Navionics app on my phone which Android would sporadically have arguments with, not to mention that looking at your phone can be a little distracting while you're running - I'm sure my insurance agent would be less than thrilled to hear about that.

We talked a little bit about barge traffic and locking, which made sense since we met one while we were running to our first spot.  Incidentally, I don't remember the wake from a barge being quite that massive.  Of course, back in the day, we would be on plane and I thought catching air off of those was fun.  Fond memories.

We got off the channel and hit our first spot, an area where pre-spawn smallies would be setting up.  Josh asked if I was comfortable dragging a beaver, and up until then my experience had been pitching this texas rigged bait to docks and veggies in the summer (and any other time I was in/on open water).  He gave me a quick run down of what to expect as far as feeling and how to make sure the bait was still on the bottom.  All good stuff.  We started down the bank to a nice looking area, overhanging bushes with a rocky bank.  I was using a G. Loomis/Shimano combo he had set up, which is a sweet little combo.  Good sensitivity as I felt every time the bait would come over a rock. 

It didn't take long to find some takers.  The first fish was a nice 3.48lber, which was a new personal best for me!  

3.48 Smallie - Personal best

We caught a few more in the area before having to move.

Our next spot was an isolated shell bed and getting to it was a chore to say the least.  I always thought the pictures of bass boats shooting massive rooster tails in shallow water was more for show than anything else, but, nope.  It's not!  Once we managed to get to the bed, the fish were less than cooperative so we moved on pretty quickly.

Our next stop was another rock covered bank, similar to the first spot we had fished.  And this...  This turned out to be an exercise in patience.  I landed a couple in quick order and toward the end of rip rap there was a fish that was very adept at picking up the bait and moving it away in about the same amount of time that it took me to reel down and swing.  Including one instance when I swung and cracked Josh upside the head with the rod.  Oops...  (Sorry about that, dude..)

Locked in and not about to quit until that brownie gets stuck.

I also found out how quickly time really goes when you set up to catch one fish, as I have a tendency to be stubborn at times and this was no exception - I was going to stick that buck.  As it turned out, it wasn't to be as we just plain old ran out of time.
 

One of the dudes at our last spot.

At the end of the day, I had learned a ton about the river and I had learned a new technique that I was able to put to use up on the Snake the following week. 

I call that a winner in my book!

If you're interested in getting together with Josh, here is a link to his; Website and Facebook page.

Bass Opener 2014. ...finally.

Wow.  My first post for the year.

I'm blaming the cold for that. 

Lots going on so far this year.  Early this spring, I made a career change that will enable me to pursue my long-term (non-fishing-yet-slyly-related-to-fishing) goals more realistically, depending on your perspective, of course.  Transitioning from working in a very social production environment to an autonomous home office has been daunting, even for an introvert like me, but the dog is happy that I'm here and not somewhere else for ten hours a day.

Excuses out of the way.  I have been able to get out a few times since the ice went out.  I bought a kayak this spring, which will let me get into some lakes that I can't launch the boat at due either to motor restrictions or having a "low maintenance launch."

For Bass Opener this year, my friend Ian and I decided to revisit the same lake that I nabbed my personal best largemouth in last year.  I have to say, at first it was tough.  The wind was gusting out of the south which wasn't too bad because our first spot was on the north end of the lake.  Ian got there a little while after I did and I had only boated one small fish by then directly across from the launch on the east side of the lake.  Once he got caught up we worked our way to the north end and found some fairly consistent action around old lilly pad roots, but the size wasn't what I was looking for.  We had come looking for a big Momma not her rambunctious nephew.

Ian ended up calling it a day early and the fish had stopped cooperating so I paddled to the south end of the lake where things are a little more isolated.  And about 200 yards after I passed the launch, the wind picked up a little more and I started rethinking my move.  I pushed through and made it to the other side of an island of reeds.  The compelling thing about this spot is that the water was 3-4 degrees warmer than the other side of the lake and there were isolated clumps throughout the bay along with pockets of reeds along the shoreline.

If for no other reason than the visual and all the possibility, I was in heaven.

I dropped anchor within casting distance of three separate clumps and started firing away with my usual swim jig.  I didn't have to wait long before connecting with a little chunk.  I caught three more on that same chunk of reeds until they got wise to my ruse, but I had the start to a pattern.

The next area I moved to was a pocket in which I found a single, very small runt mixed in with a bunch of spooky panfish.  I moved again into the next pocket and made a cast, got hit, but failed to hook up.  I anchored again in the middle of the pocket which gave me the ability to fish the entire area.  I started pitching into the little notches and turns and was immediately rewarded with this chunk that went 3lbs 14oz on the scale.

I caught a couple more 2lbers with the same bait before the wind started blowing me around too much to hold position.  But it was fun picking the area apart and really keying on where they were hanging out.  That is part of a technique that I learned on my first trip out on the Miss' in nearly 20 years - but that is a post for another time.

To say that this was my favorite opener to date may not be true, but it was, by far, my most productive.

2013: A Review

I can not believe that 2013 is nearly over and 2014 is less than a day away.  Where did this year go?  At the beginning of this year, I, like many of us, came up with a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish in regards to fishing.  To refresh my memory, here is the list with my results for that goal:

• Find a better balance between family/work/fishing.  
•  While I do my best to keep personal business off of my blog, I found myself single again toward the end of July so as a silver lining I was able to take more time to fish.  Balance achieved.
• Identify three different bass patterns on the Pokegama chain.
• This past summer I had a seasonal spot on Pokegama near Pine City so I was able to spend a lot of weekends trying to figure the lake out.  I didn't accomplish what I had set out to with the time I had there, having only been able to identify a dock pattern and a wood pattern.  All the milfoil that rimmed all of Pokegama made it very difficult to get around and my inexperience with punching heavy cover, or knowing where to start, kept me from making much progress there.
• 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.  
• I did start working on punching during a trip to Chisago and Bald Eagle in late summer and was pretty happy with the results.  I do plan on picking up a rod that is a little better suited to the style at the upcoming Northwest Sportshow.
• Fish five new lakes during ice season.
• During Icefishapalooza, we hit Bone Lake and Chisago.  Chisago was great, Bone lake not so much.  In prepping for Icefishapalooza my Uncle and Father-in-law scouted out Lake Jane which was disappointing to say the least.  With the early ice that we've had this year, I've been getting out the last couple of weekends and have fished a couple of small lakes with a really nice pannie population.  So this goal is complete.
• 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).
• Oh man.  I dropped the ball on this one, bad.  I tried fishing this small spit of water by my place, Golden Lake..  I'm planning to get a kayak this coming season so I will try this one again next year, but I'm skeptical...
• 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.
• No progress at all - I do have some pretty drastic plans in store though.  More on that to come in the future.

Hopefully your year treated you well and the new year is even better!

Here Comes The Ice

It looks like the ice season is on us already, I know a lot of people have been getting out and popping holes and it isn't even December yet! 

I'm getting excited too, I just got the call from my local shop that my auger is ready to pick up after having the gas tank replaced. I find myself needing to take a quick pause and temper that excitement, though. The average ice thickness I've been hearing is 3" in the cities and 4-5" as you go farther north. That's just not enough for me to be comfortable with yet - thankfully I still have plenty to do before I hit the ice. Northstar Angler posted a few weeks ago about hard water prep, and the article can serve as a nice checklist for making sure that you are prepped and ready to go once the ice is at a thickness that's right for you.

As long as we're on the topic of ice thickness, there has been a chart floating around for a while that shows how much ice forms at different average air temperatures.  Remember, though, it is a rough guide - so take it with a grain of salt.  Some folks need to be told, there are all sorts of factors that affect ice development; water current, snow cover, springs, sand and rock bars, and, of course, air temperature.  Here is the chart:
 

The Minnesota DNR also has a lot of good ice safety information, so while you're chaffing in your seat, give it a quick read.  Who knows, you may pick up a new tip that could save your life - or another person's. 

Of course, in the meantime, you can always find one of those rare MN hot pond gems and get your smallie on!

For Life.

So...  Today I'm being a somewhat typical student.  Which means that I'm procrastinating both my homework and household chores via Facebook.  In the midst of slacking off this morning I ran across a video that Abu Garcia had released recently.

Now, understand, I would rather be outside using my reels than inside watching a video about them.  I'm also a student of business and how they evolve and become the companies and brands that we know today.  The video below details the history of Abu Garcia as a company and I thought it was great, capturing a lot of the passion that most of us anglers feel for our sport.

So if you, like me, are slacking off on this rainy Saturday morning...  Take a little time and enjoy:



Oh, and in my defense, I did wash the dishes from breakfast before I watched the video.  So, there is that. 

Happy slacking, fishers!

Pokeagama/Snake Post - And Another For The BP Derby

With the fall semester starting soon, I decided to take my last fishing trip up to the camp for the season last weekend.  Working a compressed work week, I was able to head up Friday morning and was out on the water by noon.  At first I decided to check out a spot near the island in the main lake that was supposed to hold some crappie, something I haven't fished for all year long, but I wasn't able to mark anything on my graph.  The wind had started to pick up a little bit so I decided to move off the main lake and into a protected bay.

Some backstory:  After Memorial Day the milfoil got thick enough that I couldn't get through it with my trolling motor unless there was a boat channel already cleared by a home owner, so I was stuck fishing the outside weed edge for most of the year with mixed and inconsistent results.  At that time, I wasn't very comfortable with punching or pitching into the matted weeds, even though I knew that's where I would have to go.  My best line was in a natural bottle neck for the wind, so unless it was a calm day, the wind would push me too quickly through the weed beds and I lacked the confidence to deal with that.  As a result, this summer will be forever known as the Toothy Critter Summer.

Back to the point.  The milfoil had started to lay down and become passable, allowing me to start fishing the docks that I had wanted to get to all summer.  I started with a swim jig, using the dock to pendulum my bait as far underneath the dock as I could get it, and was rewarded quickly with a short chunk that had clearly been eating well:

I fished a couple more docks in the same line and got the stink eye from one of the home owners.  I put the trolling motor on high and went to a longer dock that I've consistently caught fish off of this summer but the water was down significantly, meaning I got stuck...  I had to raise the outboard completely out of the water, then the wind started to spin me around.  I decided it was enough of that noise and went down to the south end where a couple of creeks feed into the lake.

The weeds were a little more thick here but the wind was cut off, so I was able to work through the area with a Rage Craw.  I didn't pick anything up in the weeds, but there was an old willow tree overhanging the back of the channel and a small laydown next to it.  I pitched my bait along side a few times and then underneath the exposed log, catching a short fish.  I worked my way back toward the channel to the river and missed another dock fish with the swim jig.

I decided that since I hadn't spent much time on the river, to fish it a little more thoroughly.  After all, I would only have one more crack at it on Sunday with a couple of friends since my Saturday would be taken up doing chores.  I targeted the wood near one of my productive backwater areas from earlier in the year with a swim jig.  As it happened with the first dock fish, I didn't have to wait long to be rewarded with this skinny 18"er.  I didn't get a weight on it because the batteries in my scale were close to dead, so I took the length.  This guy brings me up to a four fish bag in BP's Blogger Derby!

Small Water. Big fish.

A good buddy and I decided to hit a small lake, maybe 200 acres, that we had seen on the DNR's website that had a promising net survey, while this was corroborated by an old neighbor of mine that had talked to me about the same lake a couple years back.  It was a hike from the cities, about an hour and half, but based on the survey, we decided it was worth a shot.  If things didn't pan out, I knew a few other lakes we could fish in the area, so it wasn't too big of a worry.

Once we got to the lake, we got his boat out of the trunk (yes, the trunk), and started inflating it.  Turns out those inflatable raft deals aren't too bad, unless you store it in an old golf club bag and the zipper puts holes in it...  Both of us being former Boy Scouts, we had the perfect solution.  Duct tape!  Of course it didn't work, at least not very well or for very long, but it allowed us enough time to get out and do some fishing.  Even if I was a little distracted by the slowly deflating boat gunnel.

We took a quick look at our surroundings and the entire lake was lined with reeds and cattails and I thought "my kinda lake".  Given the cloudless, post-cold front conditions we were fishing in, we agreed to head to the north end of the lake where there was still a little shade on the water and a variety of cover.  My buddy setup with a live bait rig and I was setup with a Northstar Custom Baits Swim Jig.

I made a few casts and got a small pike to take my jig, shredding the trailer in the process.  I replaced it with a little brighter of a blue swim grub and cast again, this time I caught a small bass.  But the guy chocked it and got the hook set in the tongue.  He wasn't bleeding when I got the bait out and he nearly jumped back into the boat when I let him go so I figure he'll be ok.

We tracked down the shoreline some and put the anchor down again and then the boat started rotating on the line due to the wind giving me no shoreline cover to throw to.  I knew that we were still inside the weedline so I made a lazy cast parallel to the shoreline and let my jig sink.  I picked it up and started to reel and it was fish on!  This guy came pretty close to my personal best of 3.5lbs, but not quite, he was only 3.3lbs.

I caught a couple more smaller 2lbs fish before getting bit off by a pike, a little before this, my friend had enough of his live bait rig and I let him tie on my spare swim jig of that color so I had to upsize my bait to the Flip n Swim to keep the same color, except with the bluegill colored trailer.  Boy was that a good decision.

We were getting to the point that the deflating gunnel wasn't going to keep us floating for much longer so we agreed on a "couple more" casts before heading back.  I had repeated the same cast that had netted me the fish pictured above, letting the jig sink on slack line, except shortly after the jig hit bottom, the line started peeling across the water.  I reeled up the slack and leaned back.  After what felt like ten minutes but I'm sure was only one, along with about 10lbs of weeds, I pulled this 4.2lber in.

Needless to say, I am pretty excited about getting back out here.  Soon.