Metro Largemouth

With no kids and the better half working late I decided to go fishing after work. Wanting to maximize time on the water I hitched up the boat and took it to work. I was planning on fishing alone but thought that I knew one person that really needed to get out on the water so I made a call and asked Steve (Rootski) from the site. We drove up to the Mille Lacs ice fishing GTG last winter. If you never been to a GTG you need to, you will meet a lot of good fisherman and make some good friends also. To see bigger fish and the story that goes with them read on.

We headed out to a small lake by Minnetonka to find some largemouth bass. I planned on fishing slop, floating reed beds and milfoil using topwater. Buzzbaits and plastic frogs were the lures of choice for this trip. Steve was planning on fly fishing with poppers and other flies. We unloaded the boat and immediately saw water that was the color of ice tea with water temps in the low 80’s. Figuring on this shallow lake the bass would be located in the shady areas so we started fishing the floating reed bogs. The bogs were in 3-4 feet of water; normally the bass will lay under them and hammer topwater lures cruising by. Not this day. Moving locations we tried the lily pads. The pads sit in 4-5 feet of water and usually give the shade and security that the bass look for in this part of the lake that has a maximum depth of 8 feet. Still fishing topwater, as I am stubborn and know from past trips that this presentation should work. We noticed a lack of baitfish activity, so moved once again. Zero fish again.

We drove through the channel that leads to the other section of the lake that is usually clearer and deeper with a maximum depth of 35 feet. Finally some surface activity but the water color was still inches instead of the normal feet. Moving the boat 100 yards from the channel we had our first topwater explosion. A fish that was in the 18-20 inch range. The fish took a Spro Bronzeye65. I made a good hook set using 20 pound Power Pro braid. The drag let out a small screech with the hook set. I fought the fish for a few seconds and as she came up from under the boat I got a great look at her. Seeing that ¾ of the frog was in her mouth I eased up on the pressure, bad choice as she came unbuttoned. After I lost her I started thinking that that slight amount of drag may not have really let me drive the hooks home, well that was not going to happen again. The biggest fish came just a few feet from where I lost the first one. A thick 20 incher. Making sure that I drove the hooks home this time I grabbed the spool with my free hand, NO drag on this hook set and after a short but powerful fight she was brought to the boat.

Steve was next in line for a quality fish and I was glad that I was there to see it. His fish hammered a popper with authority. It sounded like someone dropped a bowling ball from thirty feet. WHAM. The nine foot eight weight fly rod was too much for the 19.75 inch beast. That largemouth never knew what hit him as Steve’s fish came to the boat faster than my 20 incher. The long rod acted like a giant shock absorber; no matter what the bass did that fly rod was just as fast to react. The fish was hooked in the tongue, no other time have I seen a fish bleed from the spot were Steve hooked this fish. After a couple quick photos she was put back into the water. Next we motored to a big tree that had fallen into the water as Steve was changing flies I made a few casts but no takers. Steve landed a black oversized popper right next to a branch. TWITCH, TWITCH, WHAM. Another bass for Steve, this one a fat 17 incher. Once again the fish never knew what hit him, a few jumps and Steve lips it into the boat. A few more casts and we call it a night do to darkness.

I did not name the lake because it is small at less than 600 acres and being located less than a 30 minute drive from downtown Minneapolis it could easily be fished out. There are numerous lakes like this in the metro area, all you need to do is pick one and go fishing. Please remember to catch and release but if you want to keep some for dinner keep the smaller ones and let the big ones go.

Good bye and good luck,

Ron

P.S. Hey Culligan man, you can fish with me anytime.