Saturday: Crappie sun, crappie weather, crappie fishing

Decent day of fishing today, but not quite as good as Friday. The weather today was perfect; mid-70s, sun, and minimal wind. Andy, Roger, and Nick went out fishing early with minimal success. Meanwhile, JR prepared omelette ingredients and fed the camp in waves as they arrived in the kitchen and came back from fishing. A+ omelettes as always!

Shaun and Steve went to various brush piles in the early afternoon with mild success and came in with a cooler of 6 crappies and Steve added two more walleye. Shaun and Steve also saw a large Musky patrolling and swirling around in a brush pile in Bass Bay. Steve caught the walleye in the north channel, and then both Shaun and Steve went back to Bass Bay proper and hammered fish in the honey hole from 3 to 4, with Steve adding another 19.5" walleye, which was released.

Dan, Gary and JR spent the afternoon in the south channel and caught about a dozen crappies. 

We all came in to eat Nick's chicken lasagna for dinner, served with Caesar salad and garlic bread.

After, Nick, Andy and Steve tried various spots with little luck to end the night, and Danny, JR, Gary, and Shaun took out Gary's newly acquired pontoon boat, complete with American flag, and added a few more walleye to their cooler. 

Steve and Shaun filleted their fish while Gary fried up more fish. Everyone ate, despite not being very hungry. It was a great end to the day of a great trip of fishing , for both fish caught and weather! Another year in the books, as the remainder of us are leaving early on Sunday.

Friday 5/15: Walleye is the word

Today was brought to you by the letter W. After a slow morning for Steve and Shaun, who went out at 6 (other than a 16" walleye for Steve at the airplane and a smallmouth for Shaun west of the red bouy) and Andy and Roger, who went out at 7:15. 

After an unforgettable Randy's pizza for lunch, Andy, Roger, Steve and Nick (who arrived by 11) went to fish at Bass Bay. 

 

Bass Bay was some of the best and consistent fishing we've seen in a long, long time! Nick hit on a 21" walleye,

Steve caught a 19.5" walleye which was released along with Nick's, and Steve in addition caught 2 x 15" and another 14" walleye, all of which made it to the freezer.

Everyone in the boat caught a ton of other walleye, northern, and perch. Andy also caught an assortment of walleye and northern. At points we had multiple fish on at the same time, and Steve had a few doubles and back-to-back fish. Excellent fishing in Bass Bay! 

We had an excellent venison steak dinner, grilled by Shaun. We've been eating great food and enjoying the new dinner table setup.

For night time fishing, Andy, Steve, Shaun and Jim went out to Bass Bay first, with decent success, and finished the night by all pounding great walleye at Needle Point Bay.

More great fishing, with everyone slamming fish for the remainder of the evening. 

Gary, Nick, and Danny all had some luck in their boat as well, bringing in a few nice walleye from in front of Gary's cabin, the red bouy, and the raft. 

We finished off the night by planning Saturday arrangements and watching some playoff NBA basketball on The new DirecTV cable installed at the new cabin. Over and out from James Bay on Friday!

Back and better than ever

Greetings again from beautiful James Bay, Three Lakes, Wisconsin. Today, Thursday, May 14 was the official first day of the 2015 trip, although a few had already made their way up on late Wednesday night. Shaun, Gary, and Jim started the day off with a nice cooler full of crappies, walleye, and a few northern, the largest at 25" by Shaun.

Andy and Roger caught a few walleye, Andy with a 17".  Steve arrived at 4:30ish and landed a 25" northern on his fourth cast off the front pier. 

We had a fish fry for dinner in the new, gorgeous cabin.

It was a treat. Excellent new fish recipe by Harry the Happy Hunter/Fisher, and excellent fish. 

We returned to the lake at 7:15ish. Andy, Steve, and Shaun headed to Bass Bay where Shaun landed an impressively powerful 37" Muskie.

It was an awesome fish to see, and probably one of the biggest fish many of us have ever seen come from this lake.

Gary, Jim, and Roger fished around The Raft and caught a handful of smaller walleye. 

Everyone was pretty worn out and turned in by about 10:30. Good first day of fishing.

Saturday

A disjointed day of departures. Roger left first thing after waking up, and Andy and Shaun went fishing with little luck. Shaun and Jamie and Griffin all departed after JR's omelet breakfast. Andy, JR, and Steve took out the big boat to bass bay and had nominal success with northern and a lot of perch; Danny and Gary went to the airplane and had a few smaller fish, including a 13.5" walleye and the first rocker of the trip, brought to you by Danny.  We had a lasagna dinner, Steve left after and the remaining 4 went out for the last time.

The most updated version of the leader board, while B Danny asks me if I've been updating the blog this year. :)

Night 2: Friday 5-17-13

A relatively slow day of fishing with unexpected great weather. The morning was overcast and chilly but by 10 am the sun poked its way through the clouds and it cleared up for the rest of the day, with highs in the upper 60s.

In the afternoon, Shaun and Steve fished in the south channel and Steve boated the largest overall fish of the trip so far, a 22" walleye. 

We had a big fish dinner, cooked by Gary, and then headed out again for the night. Gary, JR and Danny had some luck at the raft, with a few smaller 13-14" walleye and a few elusive crappie. Andy, Roger, Jamie and Griffin fished in Bass Bay and caught a few perch, walleye and northern, in addition to a possible hooking of a muskrat by Griffin. Steve and Shaun got skunked in Mito Bay and narrowly avoided having to row back at 9:15 before the motor finally roared back to life.

We started a campfire and made s'mores to finish off the night. Tomorrow is the last day for Roger, Shaun, Jamie and Griffin.

Friday morning...

Not a lot to report on from the morning. The weather is much nicer than what was predicted. This morning, Andy, Roger, and Griffin headed south to Medicine Lake and caught a few small walleye. Shaun, Danny and Steve hung around Mito Bay and caught a few perch and Northern. Gary grilled brats and burgers for lunch. For the afternoon, Andy, Roger, Griffin, and Jamie are heading to the north channel for bass while JR, Gary, and Danny are venturing out for Crappie. Shaun is hiking out to his deer stand to place a trail camera, and Steve stayed back to run into town for minnows, and a quick nap.

Coolest sight of the morning: a bald eagle swooped down 25 yards away from our boat to grab a fledgling bluegill off the top of the water. It circled right over us, looped back, and gracefully picked the fish right off the surface of the lake. Awesome.

Day 1: 5-16-13

Good times had by all today, on a perfect day for weather. Lots of sunburn and fish stories. Tonight, Jamie and Griffin headed to the north channel where Griffin brought in 3 more beautiful smallmouth bass (15", 16", and 19") on top of the few he discovered this afternoon. JR and Gary hijacked Colemante's spot in Mito Bay before finishing off their night at the raft, and had the most successful night with a cooler full of walleye (14-15") and a few smaller northern. Steve, Andy, Roger and Shaun stayed in Mito Bay and had marginal luck with only a few small northern, not nearly as successful as this afternoon of slaying walleye and nicer Northern. (Steve 21.5", Roger 19".)

Danny is en route and should be here by 10ish. Two boats worth of guys are planning on heading out early tomorrow, which should be cooler with scattered showers.

Griffin's 19" Smallmouth

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