Almost went home, and then...

19"

Okay, so I only managed 4 small fish fishing a carolina rig in the float tube.  I was ready to go home, and I told myself that I should leave before trying the spot that I caught the 19" last time.  So, I switch it up for some shallow casting.  I caught four fish in the same spot.  Boom 19", he swam out toward me, so I was thinking there must be more fish in there.  Another one, smacked it, 20 1/4. I think this was the biggest fish, and it had a strange warty tongue...  Next cast, big fish again, 20 1/2.   I finally had one miss, so I cast just to the left, and again 19 1/4.  These fish were stacked in one spot.  Man, am I glad I tried that spot before I left!  Catching those four great fish in about 15 minutes time made for a nice outing that would have otherwise went into the books as a slow afternoon.

Belly of 20 1/4"

Side view 20 1/4"

20 1/4 " Warty Tongue?

20 1/2 "

20 1/2 Bellyview

20 1/2 "

20 1/4 "

Wisconsin Bass (Nasty bass wound...)

Shaky Head Fish

Drop-shot Fish

 I had a nice time fishing some mid-lake structure with some spinning tackle, and I did throw a shaky head on a bait-caster too.  I was having a hard time adjusting to controlling the fish with lighter line, and lost a few giants to be honest.  Probably two that would have gone over five...  I really hammered them the first day on this spot.  The water temp. got to 80 degrees and things started to really slow.  I got really worried about the sore on the biggest fish I caught too.  If anyone knows, or has seen this, I don't think it is a good sign for this lake.  This lake has an abundance of bass in the 16" to 16 3/4 inch range, and they are usually really fat too!  I caught one that was 16 (no pic) that was bursting.  I looked into its mouth to see if I might find out why, and sure enough there was a big old crappie tail sticking out.  And, there are also some nice crappie in this lake, some of them seemed a little sickly though.  Not sure if it was the thick water, high temp. or something worse.  I really hope that the fish are okay, it is a great early summer lake!

Nice Crappie on a five-inch dinger!

Biggest fish of the weekend with a nasty sore.

Never seen anything this bad on a fish...

Drop-shot

Got a good one tonight!

I only got three fish tonight in the float tube, but I got another good one.  The most gratifying part about the night, was I had a spot in mind that I was going to, and the first cast at that spot this big girl grabbed it.  She jumped out of the water twice, and then buried herself in the milfoil.  I got a lot of pictures with her to help show her size.  This was the biggest MN bass that I have caught!  I got my PR for MN just this month too.  The milfoil is really taking over this time of year, and I am still learning to fish it.  I was worried I lost the fish when she buried herself but, luckily she wasn't struggling when I went to grab her, I didn't know how big she was until my hand disappeared in her lower jaw.  What a great fish!   I carefully measured this one, my tape said 22", when I closed the mouth and got a strong 21 1/2!  Can't wait to get back on the water! 

Biggie - sized head.

21 1/2 inches!

On some fish you get a raw thumb, my hand got grazed!

In the foil!

Big belly!

Thick back!

19 1/4 looked small after the monster...

I love Minnesota Bass fishing in June!

19 1/4

 I was in the float tube for about 7 hours today!  My wife was out of town, so I took advantage of it.  I went to a familiar lake, and found some cover to toss to.  I actually caught some good ones today, and lost at least one that would have matched the top fish today.  I was tossing a plastic up shallow, and seemed to find pockets of fish. I My top fish today were 21, 19 1/2, 19 1/4, 18 1/4. 18, 18.  I counted twenty fish total, so the quality was definitely there today.  I had to go into the slop and get the big one.  I lost another fish that could have been bigger, she bulled through the weeds to deeper water, changed directions a couple times.  As she was taking a circle around my float tube I saw her and the hook came out.   The 19 1/2 incher actually spun my around in the float tube three times, I thought it was a way bigger fish, and it came out of a spot without any cover.    

19 1/4"

21" chunker

21" Big Head

21" side view

18 "

18" 

18 1/4"

19 1/2"

19 1/2

Nice MN bass bag

18 1/2

Okay, this was my first time fishing MN for bass this season and it was worth it!  It was a great outing even though I only caught nine fish, the quality was outstanding.   I started by fishing slow with plastics, and didn't get away from it.  I didn't catch my first fish for awhile, and then I found the right part of the lake and the fish were on.  I wasn't even the first person to the spot I wanted to go, but I managed to catch my biggest Minnesota bass in a spot that always seems to hold fish.  It was a fat, tall 21 and 1/2 inch beast!  I got quite a few shots of it, and honestly, none of them do this fish justice.  I actually thought that it was a northern, because it was staying down.  I hooked him  pretty deep, but the hook came out easily.  The head was enormous.  There were several vacant beds in the area, and I kind of wonder if she had been scared off by the two guys that were there before me.  They were hovering around the spot for quite a while.  I noticed that they drove up behind me while I was taking pictures too.  I lost several other big fish this morning too.  One of them jumped three feet out of the water, and I am guessing it was around 5 lbs!  That would have helped this mornings bag.  So, the biggest five today were 18 1/2, 19 1/4, 21 1/2 (Swamp Donkey), 19, and 18.  I almost didn't take a picture of the 18 after the big one because I didn't think it was that big.  I reluctantly put it on the Fish Cat measuring basket, and to my surprise it was 18 inches.  The fish really didn't bite after 10:00, and there were a lot of boats on the water.  I must say I am still very pleased with the performance of the Quantum Tour paired with Dobyn's  Savvy Series microguide rod.  It casts a long ways!  Tomorrow, I will try and report on another Metro Bass lake.  I hate to say it, 'cause I don't want to jinx it, but I think tomorrow could be even more fruitful!

19 1/4

same fish 19 1/4 belly

21 1/2 incher choked the Powerhawg!

Belly of the Beast!

Huge Head, 21 1/2 my biggest MN bass!

TALL, THICK  21 1/2 incher!

Side view of the big gal!

18 incher

19 incher

Wisconsin Bass

On the Minnesota Bass Opener, I headed for Wisconsin with my brother Josh.  We stumbled across some nice shallow spots in a couple different lakes that put out a lot of fish.  Nothing too huge, but we put plenty of fish in the boat, still we couldn't get that big picture fish that we were hoping for, so we settled for these two.  I really love fishing shallow water.  You can see in the background that there is a nice spread of emergent vegetation that made for a nice bass playground.  The fish were done spawning, with the water temperature ranging from 60 to 69 degrees, and bass were just hanging out shallow, while there was a break in all the bad weather.  Always more fun to put fish in the boat with someone else to enjoy it with you.

Smallies and Largies

Spinnerbait - Thorne Brothers

So, I was fortunate enough this past weekend to get on some new water, the water temp were warming after the cooler weather, and I did eventually see water in the 60's.  I always seem to fall back into the strategy that worked best the last time I was on the water. Well, the conditions were different this time.  Sun, dirty water, cooler water temps...The plastic bite wasn't the same, and it was too dirty for the swim-bait, I think.  I don't usually share my lures of choice, but in this case I was proud that I found a pattern, and chose a bait that I thought matched the conditions.  I like to use a big blade on a spinner bait in muddy water, because it pushes a lot of water, the reaction bite was more appropriate with the wind, and pre-spawn conditions.  It was hot for a while!  I literally caught 3 fish in three casts once.  They are all chunky pre-spawners not over 16 3/4 inches, but fought hard. I ended up losing both of my spinnerbaits in this color on broken line.  (12 pound mono is not made for swinging 2 + lbers into the boat...I got a little over zealous)  Oh well, I went to Thorne Brothers today and picked up a few more.  The smallies liked it too!!!  I wish I could be on the water this week, as the temps will be calling more fish to move on up.