Bass Attack!

18 incher on isolated cover

 Well, the fishing was pretty good, but it got cut short when I was attacked by a fiesty 18 1/2 inch man killer wanting to take me out!  The Trokar hooks had my fifteenth bass of the day hooked clean threw the beak, which isn't a problem unless you are in a float-tube.  The bugger made a b-line to the right float and I knew it was going to happen before it even punctured the sturdy canvas, and inner float.  Pinning the bass against the side of the float.  Unbelievable!  So, I cut my line and force the Trokar through the top of the beak, because I couldn't get it out of the tube.   Then it took awhile to get the hook out to.  So, my best 5 were 19 1/2, 18 1/2, 18, 16 1/2, 16.  The 19 1/2 incher was a pig, as you can see by the belly, and back.  I fished the drop shot, and then switched to something weightless with some size.  The fish would only take one color.

Now that is a 19 1/2 inch belly!

19 1/2 incher!

19 1/2 incher's thick back

18 1/2 inch fish cat killer

Who says drop-shot can't catch hogs!

My Fish Cat ruler isn't long enough...

 I tried out another lake in the float tube, nice afternoon similar pattern to some of the other lakes, shade, weed edges.  The drop-shot was working, after catching a small bass and a nice pumpkin-seed sunfish, I landed this 20 incher from under a tree.  The fish went nuts! Out of the weeds, pull out drag, towards the tube, pull out drag, towards the tube pull out drag....great fight.  You can see that the fish was too long for the Fish cat table, so I got out my retractable ruler that I got from my grandfather.  It unfolds every six inches, nice little tool in this situation.  I tried to get a good pic with it, but this is the best I could do.  The other nice fish came in some nice green grass, and it fought like a champ too.  So, maybe I don't need to go to far to catch quality bass after all.  I caught about 10 bass in all, the only downer for the afternoon was some dude that drove right up by me and started fishing, if I was in a boat I would have left, but seriously, I am in a float tube give me a little space.

I got out my ruler... 20 inches!

You can see some belly...

This one went mid 18 inches.

Hiding in the grass...

Fish on! (Carrot Stix)

18 1/4  drag pulling beast

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 So, once again mid-summer I gave into the drop shot.  It always seems to produce fish, and fortunately today it didn't let me down, I caught 8, with some decent fish.  I had to find the deep green milfoil today,  I caught 3 on one spot, making me think that maybe the fish haven't quite schooled yet, but I they may have, and I just didn't have the benefit of throwing fish in the live-well, to not spook the other fish away.  I didn't catch any fish shallow today, but that is pretty typical for this lake.  I wasn't used to the spinning set-up, but I felt in total control of the fish thanks to the Carrot Stix.  It was able to tame some drag pulling bass, and when you catch them deep it is pretty entertaining to have them spin the Fish cat in circles!    Fun day on the water.

17 or so, but ripped out drag

nice 16'

Fish on, or maybe stuck in the milfoil?

Another Float tube adventure...

Well,  I missed several bass today, and the bite was certainly slow.  The biggest news of the afternoon was missing a big tiger muskie.  I spotted a classic shady deep spot that had some overhanging branches, the second I cast, I knew I had something big on by the way my line was moving, and the sound of my line tightening  I set the hook and it popped!  When 14 lb flourocarbon breaks on a big fish it sounds like a gun shot!  I caught a 30 incher last year on this lake, but this must have been a tank...bummer I even decided to use a 5/0 hook Owner hook, because I was thinking I might hook into one of these toothy critters.  The biggest bass over 16 inches, and I think I caught five.

Afternoon of catch and release on the float tube

17 1/2

I headed out to a local catch and release bass lake, and caught five fish while the wake-boarders, and surfers gave me some rough water in the float tube.  I managed to catch a couple nice ones,  The first one came out of deeper water next to some milfoil, it put some serious bend in the rod, and put up a great fight.  The tray has an eighteen inch ruler and this one was all of 17 and a half.   The other fish was way up in the shade in under some recreational equipment, measured 18 inches, and seriously pulled me around in the tube as it was pulling out drag!  I thought I had a much bigger fish on. These pictures are terrible, but it renewed some faith in the lake for me.

18 incher

Fish Cat float tube!

16 incher

This was my first time trying out a float tube.  I caught four bass all on a frog, but not until around sunset, and all in about 10 minutes.  I missed several fish though, I think it must be tougher to set the hook in a tube, or maybe there is a technique or something.  I had a water temp of eighty-four degrees, and I really think that the milfoil keeps the temp lower than that, thats where the bass were of course.  I thought that I would eventually be able to use the tube on the river, but with all the flooding, I think it may be a while for that...This bass actually moved me around a little in the tube, it is tough to feel like you don't have control of the fish.  I was actually using a heavy seven foot rod, because I anticipated this.  That said, I can't wait to get a huge bronze-back on, and go for a ride down the river!

Cullen Chain Classic

So, there were several good fishing outings during the cabin stay at the Cullen chain near Nisswa.  Drew and I managed two doubles one afternoon.  Jeremy can fish despite having a large pad of gauze on his thumb.  My nephew can put fish in the boat with a seven foot rod too.  Josh puts fish in the boat with whatever method we try.  We also found out that the Carrot-Stick, and Sahara reel, can take the abuse of a fiesty, nearly eight pound Northern pike that sent me around the whole boat twice.  And, there where several nice ones caught in there too.  

Drew with a couple on a spot that produced two doubles.

Jeremy with a couple even with a wounded thumb.

Nice afternoon bass

Bonus Northern 32"on the Carrot stick

Thick 18 incher

19" Beast

Josh with a couple of nice ones on the drop shot.

Some fish on an afternoon drop-shot bite