MT Bucket

Ultimate Panfish League tourney on Peltier lake

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:02:00 +0000

We had another successful UPL tourney with 20 teams showing up to chase slabs and bulls. The bite was pretty tough, with more subtle action on smaller lures paying off. The best bait for us was a ratso plastic. I tried a lindy fatboy with a micro nuggie, also tried red spikes. Jack outfished me pretty bad in the morning, til I finally switched to the ratso, then I got some decent fish too. Jack got the biggest fish early, with a .9# bluegill!

Contest Results here

ready to fish

weigh in time

Nice new leaderboard!

weigh that big gill

another good catch

Bob weighs in

Our catch, over 8 pounds of tasty panfish

The ice fishing season started for me

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:16:00 +0000

With the cold air comes ice, lots of it. what is a fish geek to do? well go fishing, thats what! Saturday brought me to the CKoutdoors get together. We got there in the morning and got into a few nice crappies. I used t.h.e. jig in 100 oz size to get a few. I also used a JRs tungsten jig with red larvae. I tried a dropshot with a plain hook, but the line kept freezing to the ice, so I couldnt get that slow drop I was looking for. But mainly it was good getting to know some other anglers, and cookin up some good food. Sunday had a few of us from the get together hit a small lake looking for big gills. they were pretty tight liped this day, the few we did get were real nice though, a couple over 10 inches were caught. I went out to the deepest hole and found lots of crappies on the edges that were much more willing to bite. I caught around 30, but no huge mules, but some were caught up to almost 14 inches! I used a lindy fatboy with red larvae for my fish, I don't know what the big fish bit on.

A nice pair of slabs to start the season!

speck!

pickling sized pike, fun on micro tackle for sure!

jigging up some slabs

another crappie

we got a few gills too

lunch time!

it was this big!

hammer handle

fat crappie on the power noodle

golden crappie

gill action

Tiger on a fly!

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Jim Bonin (fishface) caught this the other day while fly fishing for bass on the river. He was pulling in a bass, when Mr. musky decided to have a bass supper! He fought with the beast for a while until it devoured the unfortunate bass, then it munched on his black woolybugger fly for dessert!

Another big sunfish weekend

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:40:00 +0000

I got another weekend of bluegill action with CK and Andy "the wookie", they were still biting good, with lots of big fish coming to the boat. Same depths, around 24 ft, slider floats cast out from the boat gets the most fish. I got a few jigging with my Power noodle jig rod, that was fun!.
I got fish on many different baits, including Keiths hair jigs, Stub grubs, diamond jigs, flutter bugs, etc. I liked to put a couple of waxworms on to get them to bite better.

The Wookie gets a big sunfish

CK with the big one for the day!

Uh oh, ice is starting to form, may be the last week of giant gill action for the season?

More nice gills

and slabs

Got this beaut on my tiny Powernoodle rod

Nice colors

doubles

fat fish

the release!

Float tubing action

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:33:00 +0000

I got out for a little Panfish outing in the metro area Sunday afternoon. Bob Bohland from the Thorne Brothers site wanted to try some tubin, so he stopped by and we loaded up the tubes in his pickup and we headed for a small lake loaded with hungry panfish.
They were not hard to find, Bob took to my tube like a duck to water. He was rearing on fish before i even had my waders on! We caught around 100 crappies and bluegills in 3 hours of fishing. They were very hungry, even hitting Bob's float on the surface!
I brought my sonar out in case they were deep, I didn't need it though. there was a bug hatch and the warm weather had the fish feeding in the shallows. They bit good, I got some on t.h.e. Jig, and on a 1/32 ounce crappie tom jig with a black and yellow stub grub. Bob got his on some jigs he made. I was wishing i had my fly rod and some poppers . weird, just like summer fishing in november. I will take it!

A decent bass toward the end of the day

Bob fished like a pro on his first tubing experience!

The biggest gill of the night for me, just over 9 inches

another good one

they can't all be big! a lot of them were not!

Halloween Big bluegill frenzy!

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:39:00 +0000

What a better way to spend halloween weekend than in search of some pumpkin sized bluegills!
I met up with a couple of other spooky looking Dudes, Crappie Keith, and Buckshot Greg, and we hit the water. We went over to the deepest area in the lake, around 24-28 feet. We soon graphed fish around 2 feet off the bottom.
Greg got his fish on a northland Hexi fly, CK did well on his T.h.e. Jig.
I got many of my biggest gills on a flutter bug jig tipped with three waxworms under a thill center slider float set about 2-3 ft off the bottom.
I also got lots of fish vertical jigging with my new Thorne Brothers quiver stick, which was a blast! I even got a pike on that tiny micro rod! For jigging i was using a Lindy fatboy tipped with a waxworm. We got loads of big bluegills, many over 10 inches. I got my biggest gill I ever measured and Photographed, a 11 incher that I bet was well over a pound!
Thanks guys for the great trip, my best halloween ever!

Hmm, this looks like the great pumpkin!

Tiny rod, big bluegill!

Some big panfish for buckshot!

CK was bluegill Keith today!

More scary monster sunfish!

the fish is longer than the rod!

somewhere over the rainbow

A great view to end the weekend with!

The Big One !!!!!

MGEM backwater action saturday and sunday smallies and catfish

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:44:00 +0000

I got out with Jack and Dave for a Gem kids outing. the only thing missing was the kids, we has a lot of last minute cancellations. oh well, we still went, and had lots of fun, with crappie, bluegill, yellow perch, and largemouth bass willing to bite jigs tipped with plastic minnows in 1 to 5 ft of water

Here is andrew with some nice slabs

Dave gets a nice bass

Mitch nails a crappie
A good gill
slab for me

we got some nice perch too!

Cow bass?

I got out sunday after watching the vikings get beat, for a little smallie action on the river. met Jim Mc"fly" bonin, and fished for about an hour. i was getting fish steady on a chartruse shad gulp alive minnow until it started getting dark, then it looked like it was done, when bang! reared into a big fish, I thought it would be a huge bass, but it turned out to be a channel catfish. got another cat, and a walleye then called it quits.

Blue gill catching with CK and Boone

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:29:00 +0000

CK got me hooked up with boone and we headed up with his boat for some great panfish action!
They started slow, we would find some but when we stopped to fish them they would disappear, kittish i guess.
I rigged up a slider float at around 22 ft in 25 ft of water to get out away from the boat and cover more water. Not much at first, but in a while i started nailing them.
Soon we were all getting lots of fish out from the boat.
Later they started getting less boat shy and we were able to verticle jig them watching them come up and take our baits on the flasher.
CK and Boone got all their fish with the jig, I tried many different lures, settling on a Lindy fatboy with 2 waxworms for most of my fish. I also took some on a Lindy flyer spoon packed with waxworms.
I had a great time, will have to do it again with you, thanks!

I got a pair of 10 1/4 inchers

Boone got the big gill of the day with this 10 1/4 incher!

CK with a good pike, fun on UL !

More sunfish

Also got some keeper crappies mixed in.

Nice gills

pretty colors

More backwater action 10-10

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:54:00 +0000

I got out for some more backwater action last Saturday. with the colder temps and snow, the bass really got active and provided steady action on various plastics casting around shore cover. Crappies were biting too, but harder to find this week, I got my slabs on plastics and a 1/32 oz leadhead 3 to 10 ft down.

Rainy day Slabs

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:34:00 +0000

Jack took me out in his boat for some backwater fishing south of Alma Wi, on the Missisippi. got into some nice slabs, also got a few bass, pike and bluegills.
i got them on 1/32 oz leadhead with a 2 inch power minnow.

slabs!

Mule!

More nice crappies

Angling Insider Piggy classic pics

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:41:00 +0000

Labor day fishin

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Me and jack it the waters hard up at Alex this weekend. We saw many crappies come into the boat, plastic minnows on a 1?32nd ounce leadhead around 5 ft down did the trick. Casting rapalas up along the weedline and ripping them through the weeds triggered some bass and pike. we also go a few walleyes on a windy sand flat in about 6 ft on jig and plastic minnows.

nice pike

chunky bass

jacks big mule crappie

funny fish

more slabs!

Bass in the grass

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:50:00 +0000

I got out for a while sunday afternoon. I started for bluegills, but only got a few small ones. I started looking for some bass action on the deep weedline, only one bite rigging a black and blue power lizard.
as the sun went down I moved up shallow and threw a sizmec toad, buzzing it across the grass and letting it sink in the pockets. I connected with a fish on the first cast! It hit on the drop and I didn't even know I had a bite til it started going sideways with it! I pulled its head out of the water on thehookset but didn't get the hook in and it let go. I cast back and let it sink, then hopped it off the bottom a few times and it bit again, got em, about a 2 pounder.
As it got darker they really started busting the toad on top, sometimes coming completly out of the water on the strike! got a few, missed a few, nothing big, just enough for a little action.

Typical size

Auqua van! we tried to push it out but it just kept digging down deeper.
finally a pickup pulling a boat came up, and if he wanted to launch he would have to pull the van out first, which he did.

more bassin action

grass bass on the toad

Funny bugs

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:50:00 +0000

A little green hitchhiker

Piggyback beetles?

Hey, can I get a ride?

Climb aboard!

wheeeeeee!

Bassin in the float tube

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:18:00 +0000

I got out for a while in the tube chasing some largemouth bass. I got a few on the outside edge of the milfoil beds earlier on a jig with a ring-N tube, also got some on a swim shad.
Later before dark, I nailed a few in the shallows on a frenzy popper.

Takin' a break from reelin' in big uns

topwater action

I watched the storms form just to the north of me, these storms ended up spawning some small tornadoes later on.

More panfish, with the flyrod

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:28:00 +0000

I got out for a few hours in the tube Sunday evening for some panfish action on my 3 wt flyrod.
I started out with a bead head sinking bee pattern I made. Got quite a few on that. when the winds went down, I switched to a popper, and they really hit that thing! something hit anytime I got that popper anywhere near the pads and weeds! Lots of nice sunfish, nothing huge, and lots of largemouth bass that were a handful on that little rod for sure! A fun evening of fishin in the books!

popper ambush!
Bee fly starting to come apart from sunfish chewing on it

the bass were really smacking on top too

i wasn't the only one fishin'

funny bass

here is its tiny dorsal fin, it actually worked too. I wonder if it was a fish similar to this one that inspired the name Micropterus (small fin)

bass release, normal fin

nice gill on topwater!

Panfish action 7-26

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:16:00 +0000

I got out for a little float tubin for sunfish in the afternoon, got lots of nice fish, nothing huge, but some great colors for pics. i got all the fish on a 1/32 oz lead head tipped with a JRs stub grub.

nice gill on plastic

orange red

gold and green

big mouthed green sunfish

who says sunfish don't have teeth?

funny sunnie

very nicely marked pumpkinseed

nice sunfish

release those big gills to get even bigger!

got my biggest float tube fish last weekend.

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:26:00 +0000

I thought it was the state record bass! it nabbed a topwater sizmec toad as I buzzed it by some pads, I reared back and held on trying to keep it from wrapping around the pad stems and mabye getting away. The fish was too pwerful though, it just pulled me sideways, it felt like I was going to be pulled down like a bobber!
Then it buried deep into the weeds and I felt no fight! Oh no! I was shaking by now and hoping mr giant bass didn't get away! I slowly worked in line til I was almost right above it, then it finally came up, lots of weeds, but the big fish was still there! only it was a pike. Kind of a let down when I was waiting to see a 8-10pound bass, but still a nice fish anyhow.

Casey bags a monster toad

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:21:00 +0000

wow, huge fish! 5#11oz if this keeps up me and casey will make the bloggers derby a 2 man show! ok, my turn!hehe

more tubin' for bass with casey

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:19:00 +0000

I got out sunday afternoon to chase some big largies with casey.
I got a few on the swimjig and some on a senko.
casey got most of his on a "ribbit'plastic toad bait. it was a slow bite til sunset, then the bite got good for a short bit. We casted around the pads, coontail beds and slop in shallow water. the water is finally warm enough to go without waders!

casey out in the lake

first keeper for me on a jig and craw

pad bass action

casey nabs a nice 3 pounder. he also missed one he thinks was twice as big!

nice fish on a senko

I was just about to the landing and taking the last few casts of the night when I had a bite on my senko. I set the hook and this sea monster started to pull me sideways! I finally wrestled it in and it was this big huge toad! I tried to measure it, but it was hard on a paddle, i couldn't believe it but I couldn't get a 20 inch measurement off it, but I was sure it was 5 pounds! then casey said he had a hand held digital scale, so i gave up on the ruler, and hooked it up...5.1 pounds! Cha ching! :D

got my 5 bass, but need bigger ones!

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:03:00 +0000

I got my limit for the bass pundit's blogger bass derby.I was at GEM camp for the week. I didn't get any of the 20 + inchers but still respectable fish 19 incher and two 18s now i need lots of upgrading to do to meet my goal of a 5# average for 25#...
guess I have a lot more bassin' to do, oh well hehehe

Mille lacs bassin 7-3

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:33:00 +0000

We got out on Mille lacs for some bass action, I got the big one right away and we thought the action would be good, but it turned out not to be. jack got a good one later, and we got some smaller ones, but the bite hasn't really come around yet.
i got the big one on a power tube, jack got his on a small rapala. they were around 5 ft down. we tried some other lakes too for panfish, but nothing much was going.

bigg bass

20 1/4 incher!

jack gets a good one

interesting insects

we were not the only ones not catching much

a couple of sunset shots

Saturday bassin' 6-27

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:33:00 +0000

I got out for some bass action in the float tube saturday. they were biting pretty good, a few decent sized but no real lunkers.
I worked the shallows in weedy areas with a plastic swim shad, spinnerbait, and plastic frog.

Bluegills,Crappies ,and walleyes with CK

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:03:00 +0000

I drove up to palisade to chase some big bluegills with CK
I got there expecting to see CKs duckboat ready to go, only to find a nice fully rigged fishing boat that his friend steve "Mallard" left for him to use.
I was a bit concerned about pulling it with my little ranger 4 cylinder pickup, but it did just fine on those lightly traveled roads! i even got 32 miles per gallon over around 25 miles of towing that thing!
We got to the first lake and tried a spot where CK got into them last week. the fish were there, starting to bed in the emerging wild rice . they were quite skittish and would not come out to bite unless you threw it right in the stuff.
We got as many as we could on Cks jigs, and also a black and yellow JRs stub grub worked well. i was wishing we had some small leeches, I think we could have extracted some of the bigger fish from deep in the grass with them.
we moved up and down the shore and found a few more pods of them.
We also worked some floating docks where CK pulled in a few slabs on the jig, but it was still a bit early for that bite.
Then there was a disturbance in "the force'! that would be Mallards outboard.
CK worked on it for a while in the hot sun while i teased him and watched the geese. he got it figured out and we headed in for a steak dinner.
Afterwards we hit a small lake stocked with lots of walleyes.
We ancored on a break for a while and caught some on bobbers and fatheads until the bugs invited themselves to our boat for dinner!
we got out of there and did some trolling after dark with 1/4 oz leadheads tipped with a plastic swim shad. We got some more doing that and i got the big one of the night, around 3 pounds, CK also tagged a nice pike that I gave to my Dad for fathers day, he loves pike!
Another great day of fishing is in the books!

love those big gills!

Hookin' up the boat!

pretty gills!

Very interesting colored gill!

They havn't spawned yet

night bite walleyes

Fly fishing in SE MN

mtpilgrim@comcast.net (Michael Thompson) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:07:00 +0000

Me and fishface mcFly decided to hit some trout action sunday afternoon. I started out catching everything but the fish, but soon was into a leaping rainbow trout.
We just kept working our way upstream until we found the deeper holes were the fish were feeding. We got lots of fish, no huge ones, but some around 14 inches. They all put a good bent in a 3 weight rod though! Color is what matters to me for trout and they didn't disapoint, with colds, red, silver and every other color, they were great! i got most of my fish on a beadhead pheasanttail. Black spiders and elkhair caddisflies also got some action.

MT with fish

great colored fish!

Fatso