My dam in Lisbon ND has been flooded all season so we have been crappie and bluegill fishin in minnesota. Doing very well.

 

Today we will go again and i am going to for the first time ever bring some canned corn and use that and see if i get any action, if not than back to wax worms and crapppie minnows

I was wondering what was up with you @throttleplate.

I was technically fishing for bass, but I didn't get anything but brim.

 

Bluegill with a side of garbage.

 

Pulled this fat guy off a stump.

 

 

 

 

The crappie fishing at our favorite lake in minnesota has been way off from the previious 5 years makes this a very unusual year.

 Wife and i put alot of effort in on friday just to catch 3 crappie and 10 blugills, we caught 10x that but so many small we had to throw back, i caught the 2 biggest gills on 2 pieces of corn on a small ice fishing jig. So i proved to myself corn works but its probably the last time i use it.

This weekend I was catching bluegill with my kids and the thought crossed my mind that these were bait sizes fish. We were putting them in a bucket for the kids to play with so I had a few and they were still biting. All very small. 

I decided to go grab a rod and tie on a catfish/bass hybrid Carolina rig. I almost grabbed one with 12 lb mono but then decided at the last moment to use one with braid since I'd be throwing heavy stuff and didn't want to break off. So a MH veritas with 40 lb braid is what we did. I put a live bluegill on, tossed it out, opened the bail and laid the rod down to go catch more bluegill. About 20 or 30 min go by and I finally see the line go tight and look like I've got some action. I pick it up and turn the handle and the rod bends over. 

Then mayhem ensues. Close to 10 minutes of fighting, with the Fuego reel having the limits of it's drag tested and stretched. My kids were there for it all, hollering and freaking out almost as much as I was. 

I've got a video but don't know how to post it. Here are the photos. Estimated 40 lbs, could barely lift it and couldn't get my scale to attach because I was totally unprepared for this. It was closer to 50" long based on where it landed on my stomach. It was larger than my 3 year old for sure, and similar on weight if not heavier. 

A very memorable day that me and the boys won't soon forget! 

Wow! What a beast @FishTax! I bet that was fun. I love that the kids saw it.

@FishTax what a beast!!! That's so cool! 

That's a dandy flathead @FishTax congrats!!! Awesome you caught it with the kids!!! 

 

I had a good trip today. I went 3 for 4 on the muskies. I've been doing a little trolling with those crappie rigs in open water. 1-1.5 mph seems to be the ticket. 36", 40", and 45.5" today, also lost a mid 40's. 40 and 45.5 pictured below.

40"

45.5"

Both nice thick fish for this time of year.

44 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

That's a dandy flathead @FishTax congrats!!! Awesome you caught it with the kids!!! 

 

I had a good trip today. I went 3 for 4 on the muskies. I've been doing a little trolling with those crappie rigs in open water. 1-1.5 mph seems to be the ticket. 36", 40", and 45.5" today, also lost a mid 40's. 40 and 45.5 pictured below.

40"

45.5"

Both nice thick fish for this time of year.

Really Nice

And both are Killer Photo's !

Congrats

A-Jay

 

I seriously considered putting these in the oil.

 

 

We don't get fog much here, beautiful.

Decided to do some bluegill fishing last night. I was pretty awesome.  It felt like I caught some sort of fish on every cast. All the bluegill I caught were really good size. 

 

 

Went bass fishing tonight (separate report incoming) and twice got fooled on what I thought were bass chasing shad.  Two separate rock piles I had marked ages ago when they were dry both had fish and shad all over them.  After throwing all manner of hard baits with nothing to show for it i grabbed the spinning rod with a jig head minnow and was rewarded with… a 13” crappie.  Like the last time I fished this lake, there are a LOT of nice crappie in it.  This will be the lake I take friends to that don’t fish and just throw a minnow under a bobber for them.  Since that rock piles was covered in crappie, I went to one 75 yards away and found fish chasing shad.  On FFS you could watch them come off the bottom, up 15’ to grab a snack, and then ease back down.  Some were just cruising open water at 15’ or so.  I thought for sure smallies, and after some chasing finally hooked up…. To a 5# hybrid.  Great fight on a 7’2” ML spinning rod.  The fish was about 22” or so but was 5# exact on the scale.

 

Later on I found more fish that could have been bass but after the first episode I figured they were probably crappie but I needed to catch one to be sure.  Yep, I’m sure.  At least now I’ve got a half dozen places on the lake that hold 12-13” crappie in schools.  

 

Not a bad Saturday!!!

 

 

@TnRiver46 I can tell the 2nd one is a brookie, but is the 3rd one as well? Cool color on it. 

Yes two brook one brown 

Pretty fast action for Haddock out from NH to the ledge. I got a good cusk and a beautiful cod that was released (photo). Also got into some whiting that were very delicious. I kind of played around with some different baits, a pink powerbait steelhead worm was getting the whiting bites. Some very nice haddock were caught, along with keepers and many shorts. 

Fishing at the break of dawn in 5' or water near some standing timber and weed beds...huge fish swiped at the black buzz-bait and missed(!)

 

I thought it was a pike...had seen one the day before hanging around that weed bed.

 

I kept chugging along, throwing the buzz-bait...and WHAM, fish on!!

 

Nope, not a Northern Pike....

 

An eleven pound, eight ounce catfish(!)  HA!  Heck of a fight...he was grouchy!

 

I've caught catfish on cranks and spinner baits...never thought I would land a big cat on top water!

 

Twas a busy boat today by muskie standards. I ended up going 6 for 7. No bigs but they were chasing. Best of the day was the 40" below. The others were 33-34-35-35.5 and 36. Four on a crank, and two, plus the lost fish on the crappie rig. I also raised another dozen or so. Most were 30 somethings, but I did have a mid 40's come in and go round the 8 a couple times. Fun day.

A few fish from the family fishing trip, they were not super active but I caught 3 crappie biggest around 13 inches or so and 3 tiny bass largest might have been 14 inches if lucky. Caught on a hair jig a 1/4 keitech super football jig head with a small hula grub trailer and the last bait was a 3 inch easy shiner with no tail caught the biggest crappie lol. I don’t usually give up on plastics when they loose there appendages I just get more motivated to catch a fish on one that is missing something.

I caught a few with the family on my wife’s birthday yesterday, I took the past 2 days off work to spend time with my family and my wife. I also wanted to regain some sanity from being at my job so much. Just some crappie, one bluegill and I caught some tiny bass all on a tiny crank bait. My wife got her fish for here birthday dinner.

I was aiming for bass, but a nice 3lb walleye was a nice surprise. I kept this one and took him to the guy at church, a few more of these and we'll have a good meal come bible study one wednesday evening.

 

Didn't get anything on grubs, water was up.

@Bazoo: If I remember correctly, you haven't traveled much, so you might not know that walleye and bass are reversed when it comes to north and south. I've seen the skiiiinnnny walleyes that you and @TnRiver46 catch. I've caught thousands of thick walleyes up north. Your bass grow bigger than ours on average, but our average walleyes are thicker than yours.

25 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Bazoo: If I remember correctly, you haven't traveled much, so you might not know that walleye and bass are reversed when it comes to north and south. I've seen the skiiiinnnny walleyes that you and @TnRiver46 catch. I've caught thousands of thick walleyes up north. Your bass grow bigger than ours on average, but our average walleyes are thicker than yours.

I didn't know that, thanks. I guess the farther north you get, the more walleye you catch when targeting bass. Man it'd be rough to accidentally lip one of them critters.

38 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

I guess the farther north you get, the more walleye you catch when targeting bass.

 

Yeah, they often comingle with bass. You'll catch a walleye, then a bass, then a walleye, then a bass, then....

 

They're also darker than southern walleye, being black and gold. 

 

And I'd only lip one if I wanted a leaky thumb.

 

Almost 67lb she caught that, I didnt have her luck, We are going out in couple months so I can try my chance.