Erik's fishing rants

Yeah, the normal lake I fish was down to 2 inches thick at the boat ramp last week, Still 16-18 inches in the deep water. Im hoping this weekend there is at least 1 inch I can skip across to the thicker ice.

On the plus side, bank fishing and kayak fishing will be up in a month or so. Granted I cant target bass, pike, or walleye till mid may season open, but I can still go after panfish and perch.

 

Well I just spent my lunch hitting 2 lakes I want to fish this weekend.
The first one, Fish lake, looked good out past the boat ramp, but there were several areas around the board ramp that people and sleds broke through already. So even though I was able to find about 2 inches of ice with my spud bar, Im going to skip this lake.
I then drove over to the stocked trout lake, Holland lake, the kayak launch was thick and still covered with snow. So holland lake will be my trip tomorrow, going for bluegill and crappie there, but I know there are bass, pike, and trout in there so I will try to avoid those fish since they are out of season. I just need to remember where the weed lines are since I have not fished this lake in a year. I know where the trout hang out already, the crappie might be in the same area so I may fish that spot too.

EDIT: I think I might try Schulze lake actually. Its a smaller swimming lake, but its overrun with bluegill, green sunfish, and golden shiners due to kids at the beach feeding them cool ranch doritos all summer, but also has crappie and a good population of bass.

 

Jealous - I have a couple lakes down here by Rochester but nothing like you guys. Kind of wild driving up into Minneapolis and seeing a lake on what seems like every block. Lol

 

I was just thinking similar about wisconsin. Since bass, pike and walleye season is over here I was going to get a WI license and just drive over the boarder for fishing. But when I pulled up the map lakes pretty much stop the second you get across the river (unless you go further north)

 

Totally. That’s why I haven’t gone into Wisconsin yet. I look across the river and it’s pretty desolate. Figure if I drive that way I may as well just fish the Mississippi and call it a day.

 

Last trip of the season for me, got some crappie, and 1 walleye that I didnt want to catch. Most of the fish were pretty small, but that just means more food for that monster pike I saw earlier in the year.

 

Well its a sad day, I killed my first mosquito and finished putting all my ice gear into storage.

But I also removed my soft topper and installed my kayak fishing rack ready for summer!

 

Hard to believe all this gear fits into 3 slim 3600 boxes (same size as 2 normal 3600 boxes) and there is still some space for more things. I need to add some more kastmasters, some more inline spinner rapalas, some more tail spins, and a few more of those rapala ultralight cranks in the bottom box top left.

 

Well I think its time to pull my kayak down, lots of open water around me now and next weekend I should be able to hit the lakes. Bass, pike and walleye is closed till may, but I can do panfish. There is a lake near me that no one fishes, but the DNR maintains it with aerators in the winter so I know its got some big fish in there. They put the aerator on one side of the lake, so its impossible to ice fish the lake in winter as there is open water at the only access. The lake is between a off ramp from the highway and a target store, so everyone thinks its just a drainage pond most of the year.

 

So it looks like I found another license I need to buy. MN throw nets need a license, and can only be used in a few places to get shad for bait. Luckily one of those places is a 2 minute drive from my house. So I got my little 4 foot throw net all ready, just need to wait till July till I can use it though.. I guess there is a shad netting season.

 

Really hoping this weekend holds up for weather. Its been snowing and in the 30s for the past week, but saturday is going to be 71 but lists thunderstorms. Im hoping its just a short storm and I can get the kayak out on the water to at least start mapping the lake.

I also need to get my ice shack back down out of the garage so I can install the USB ports, and put some more mouse repellent inside the top.

 

Got my new musky rod, cant fit it on my rack, its too long (hits the walls before I can put it into the rack) Its a 8f6i st croix MH with a revo toro beast reel. Cant wait to get out and try it out!

 

I got a score to settle with a very large pike that stole some ice fishing gear from me over the winter.

 

Went to fleetfarm on my lunch break, got another giant rapala, this time a chrome one to attract those monster pike. Also found a bunch of lunkerhunt tail spins in the clearance bin. These things are great for just about any kind of fish.

 

Finally got out to do some real fishing today on my lunch break. Hit the gold fish pond down the street for some green sunfish. Got about 10 of them in the 30 minutes I was there. But also found a huge school of giant goldfish, so I might have to bring the kids down this weekend with a loaf of bread.

 

Went out today on my day off to do a little crappie fishing before bass/pike/walleye season opens, caught 7 bass and 2 crappies... since the bass were biting I decided to try out my new rat-l-trap. Nailed a big one with it!

(size 13 shoe for scale)


Its a 4 inch 1oz chrome ones

 

Needed to reorganize my boxes after getting so many lures for my birthday. Now it doesnt fit in my bag anymore Guess I need to find a new bag to fit what I want to bring with. I got a soft plastic box today so those will be properly organized, but I only got 1 and needed 2 of them.

Here is my box lists starting from the top going to the right.
Soft plastics (top of picture)
1 spinner, underspn, spoon, blades, pretty much anything with a blade on it
2 long crankbaits
3 short fat crankbaits
4 top water
5 ultralight crankbaits
6 skirted jigs

Not pictured is my musky boxes that I am still working on. I need to figure out a good way to hold my musky lures.

 

Starting on my kayak trolling motor project again. Today I got the steering mostly setup, just need to figure out if I want it foot controlled or hand controlled.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0_aaNXP8E5Y

 

ok, almost finished and ready for its maiden voyage with a real battery. Hoping I dont sink. I gutted the control head and put the parts into a surface mount outlet box, so that saved me some space and a little bit of weight too.

 

Alright so maiden voyage will probably this weekend once I finish replacing the rear wheel bearing on my wifes lexus.

But I have calculated weights, and I think I will be ok. Kayak has a 275lb limit, battery is around 50lbs, trolling motor is 10lbs, I carry about 5-10 lbs of gear with me. Im 90% sure I am under 200lbs, but I have not weighed myself in a few years. But I am guessing around 175-180, so that should leave me with a 30-35lb buffer, but just to be safe I am going to pull out some of the not needed stuff from my kayak, so the crate with rod mounts is getting ditched, I am leaving my tackle bag and a good chunk of my lures in my truck, I will swap out my fancy folding net for a compact fixed trout net. Going to go from 4 rods down to 2.

If I sink, then I guess I am selling off some stock and buying a new 8f pontoon
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-pond-prowler-8-fishing-boat?rrec=true