FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
Excuse Me?
One of the baits we are using is the Whopper Plopper by River2Sea. It catches fish and we all decided to buy some before we headed up here. Shoedog and Clyde have caught bass in Arkansas on it and I have caught a couple in Texas on the medium. So our buddy John was at the store and picked out a couple, including one that caught a big muskie yesterday. He picked out a couple of colors that he thought we good and took them to the counter.
The clerk looks at him and said, “You have a monkey butt.” John goes, “Excuse me?” The clerk repeats, “You got Monkey butt.” John goes, “Huh?” Then the clerk goes, “That is the color, Munkey Butt.” As that Redneck comedian says, “Now that is funny right there!”
But do check them out if you have not seen them yet. Designed by Larry Dahlberg, who I contend is the best all around fisherman on the planet, it comes in 3 sizes and it catches fish. Occasionally a new bait comes along that really works, and the Whopper Plopper is that bait. So check them out. If you like explosive strikes you will love them right out of the box.
http://www.river2seausa.com/48-topwater
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Almost all my life I have had the get up gene as far as fishing goes. It is now 5 a.m. and I am up making coffee, writing this, and getting ready to make lunch, pack the cooler etc. for what will be a long day as we drive up to Sioux Narrows for the long ride to Bear Bay. Clyde must have heard me, I try to be quiet, and his response – Are you insane! It was not a question, and back to bed he went.
But wait, here they come. For the first time this trip folks are moving around as early as me. I am shocked. But the annual pilgrimage to Bear Bay is on tap and it is hard not to get excited with the though of over 100 smallmouth, many in the 3 – 4lb range with a few bigger ones tossed in. So we shall see, I will fill you in tonight.
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Paul and his son Jake were guiding yesterday and had a good day. Walleyes were on tap and they found them in 9′ on the outside edge of the deeper weedlines. The water temp is rising rapidly and the fish are in various stages of transition. The pike are way done as they are really early spawners, the walleye are done and are moving deeper every day, and the muskies are getting ready to spawn, which is why we are seeing so many. The bass are in various stages depending on the lake and area. Clyde and John saw 19 muskies the other day, which is a whole bunch of muskies. The opener is in a week and those guys are absolutely going to knock the crap out of them.
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Bear Bay
Before I get to today’s fishing we need to talk about something. Today John had a smallmouth thrashing around in the boat, his popper pulled out and hit him like a shot right in the face. It is a good reminder of how things like that can happen, and what you can do about it.
Bear Bay is a 30 minute run from the nearest ramp and this thing was buried.
Well here he is, Munkey Butt as he will always be known from now on, with a Pop R in his face. We told him not to eat his bait but he wouldn’t listen.
Clyde buried a hook in his hand a couple of years ago and I used the line out method and popped it right out. The hook in John was not all the way through and the line out method worked like a charm. So instead of a 30 minute boat ride, a 20 minute car ride, and a $500 ER bill he was back to fishing. The only thing that was really hurt was his pride, and I am not sure even that was to bad other than the guff he took from us. So if you want to see how we get them out go to my video page and watch Hook Out. It works. Now back to the fishing.
There may be some places in this world with better smallmouth fishing but Bear Bay, off Yellow Girl Bay, way up on Lake of the Woods, is right up there. The 4 years we have come here we always make it up there, and it always is an adventure.
LOW is almost at mid summer level, which is low. To get into Bear Bay you go through 2 channels and 2 small lakes and we barely made it all the way. But we made it, and it was game on.
Shoedog starts it off.
We started with jerkbait and buzzbait and were catching a few when we talked to John and Clyde a little later and they were using small topwater minnows, so we started using topwater and it was catch, catch, catch. They could not have been more right on the bank if they crawled out. Toss it to the bank, twitch it once, and they smoked it.
Now that is a smallmouth.
A nice jerkbait fish. They were eating it but once we went to topwater we pretty much stayed with it.
No wonder my hands are sore.
We also fished some for pike and caught a few, and I missed the first big one I have had on. Clyde and John did some fly rodding and kept catching smallmouth. To tell you how good a fishing hole it is, they stayed in the main bay for 9 hours and caught them the whole time.
I mean it is just hard to explain how awesome it is to catch big smallmouth until you can barely look at another one.
I was using a Chug Bug for a while but went to small light balsa minnow on a light spinning rod and had a great time. Back to my Cocoons, but they are an absolute mandatory. You could see many of them and it was so fun to twitch it at just the right minute and have them exploded on it.
They were just sucking that topwater down.
Somebody took a big bite of out this guy.
Until we went in we only say one boat all day. LOW is a freakin’ monster. Grouse drumming, Golden and Bald Eagles, flocks of geese overhead, this is the great outdoors. It gives me a renewed appreciation for Mother Nature, God, The Grand Poba, whoever you believe is responsible for this world. I am lucky to get to do this, lucky to be alive, and lucky to have a wife who puts up with this passion that burns inside me.
Clyde sent me a couple of his pictures. Hope they are not sideways, If they are pick up your computer and turn it sideways, it will all work out.
Clyde with a good one.
John did his part.
Clyde with another of those muskies that won’t leave us alone.
It is 10:30 as I finish this. I am blind tired and happy. And nothing like venison loin on the grill that Clyde cooked. Paul who owns the resort guided today on an area of LOW we know fairly well and they caught 50 pike. His customer was reeling in a 23″ pike when a monster pike came out of nowhere and latched on. That is the second time we have heard that this week. So as I close, visions of monster pike will fill my dreams, and I will wake up ready to go. My hands will never be the same, but I will still hold on to that rod for dear life. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
(And a word to my coastal boys – There has already been a case of vibro on the coast. Be sure to wear waders if you have an open wound. That stuff is ugly.)
(Please keep excusing the lack of editing, but it just ain’t happening!)
