The fella coming off the lake as we arrived said "lots of activity on my Vexlar, but no bites…Good Luck!"
Good luck is what Mike (HOF) Smith of Rochester’s premier bait shop – Hooked on Fishing and I had!
Mike is pictured here with all the fish I caught.
Ok, this is a fishing report and I shouldn’t lie, read on for more info on our Myth Busting day on Lake Zumbro!
So many of my fishing trips over the last 3 years have started with a Private Message through In-DepthAngling’s Private Mail system, this one was no different. My little flashing envelope in the center of my screen beckoned me to open my mail. It was Mike Smith of Hooked on Fishing in Rochester.
It read:
Brian, if you’re free Monday lets get some gills and crappies! They’ve been biting! Let me know.
Well, I was busy, but you know…when the fish call….
When Mike and I met at the lake, I asked him how he like his new MarCum Lx-5…he looked at me like a deer in headlights and said…”I forgot it at home”! He didn’t want to go back to get it…and I made it clear that he wasn’t going to use mine!
So he figured he would be one of the guys on MYTH BUSTERS!
Can a person armed with nothing more than a weight and a spring bobber out fish a person with state of the art electronics???? Stay tuned and we’ll see.
We used the ‘wheeler to pull my Polar three man shack and Mike’s gear out to the secret spot on the secret Lake Zumbro. Set up with four holes and fishing we were by 11 ish!
One fella walked by and said he was out for two hours without a bite. Lots of fish down there…just not biting. This didn’t sound promising.
Mike was using a minnow and some type of secret hook for crappies (that he never did show me) and for gills we were both using the “Secret Killer Lake Zumbro Lure”. I’ve learned my lesson. I mentioned the name of this purple lure in my last Zumbro report and it took me two weeks to find them again! This time, I’m not talking! NO WAY! Don’t even bother asking or bribing! My lips are sealed.
We tipped the Purple Ratso with a waxie and down to 22 feet we went, staying about a foot of the bottom. It seemed that it did take us a while before icing our first gill…I’m thinking about 10 minutes before Mike was working on his second. Since he was one ahead of me, I thought he was peaking at my Lx-5…so I put up my shack to ensure he wasn’t cheating….I might have been little chilled too.
Between the gills and talking about the Rochester Get ToGether that’s coming up in a couple weeks, I don’t now where the time went. At the end of the day, Mike may have out fished me by one or two fish…yes, without using any electronics….but I made up for it by picking up the suspending crappie that he couldn’t see. I believe I picked up the biggest gill at 8 3/4 inches too. OK, so the MarCum didn’t help me on that one…but it sounded good!!!
MYTH BUSTED!
The moral of this story is that you can catch fish without electronics. So if you don’t have a MarCum…don’t worry! Come on down to Lake Zumbro on Sunday, Feb 19th from 1 to 4 pm, pick up some panfish to take home if you like and have a good time with some In-DepthAngling folks! Who knows? With a little luck you might take home a fishing contest prize!
More info on the Rochester Get ToGether below.
See You There!
Great report.
Thata boy mike.
Hope they’re still hitting for the GTG
Good Fishin Doug
As always, great report Brian.
Ah the 4 Wheeler makes ice fishing so much easier
Nice report Brian!
Way to go Mike
OK you too Brian
Sounds like a fun day, a bit cold but fish make up for that.
dave
Nice report and pics Bud. Sure glad you didn’t give away what the secret lure is.
Yep, Mike lives to ice fish. Hes out on the ice every chance he gets. And as you saw hes good at it. 
Thanks, Bill
We were missing two things on the ice besides the MarCum Bill….You and RHW!
See ya at the GTG!
Some of us have to work on Mondays.
Hopefully RHW will be back on the ice full swing after he recovers from his surgery. The Lord 
sure was involved in that one. Everything went perfect and took less time than usual and hes out of the hospital couple days later and looks and sounds great. Are you going to be at the GTG on Lake Zumbro for sure?
Thanks, Bill
Thanks for the report
Much appreciated
For Sure?????
Wouldn’t miss it for the world! Way to many IDA members down that way that I’ve talked to but never met.
Some of them almost seem like rela-tics…like Sgt Rock.
I’ll be able to pick him out because of the lute smell that preceeds him!!!
Now don’t go hording all of those secret purple lures…we want to catch some fish too Bill!
JM? Will you be out gilling with the rest of us?
Now don’t go hording all of those secret purple lures…we want to catch some fish too Bill!
Unless HOF got some more in I bought him out a long time ago.
And before me he had taken all from the first shipment. 
But you know Mike, he had more on order the moment I walked out of the store. 
He always knows whats hot as hes on the ice alot field testing stuff. But I’ll be sure and not tell anyone that Mike has other hot colors in stock too. In fact I think hes got something like 20,000 ice jigs. Hes a ice fishin addict real bad like. 
Too bad, hes such a nice guy too.
Hey Mike, wheres the fish biten this weekend? I know you, you have been out scouting around checking out the different bodies of water while on the bait run. Gamehaven still biten? How about Willow Creek? Lookin for some gills and maybe crappies.
Thanks, Bill
Hey I would have joined you guys but nobody invited me!!!
Ya think it might be the Lutefisk????
Nice report. That’s an interesting bluegill pose in the second pic.