August 1st - 4th fishing report.



What!  Finally!  A true lunker.  4 lb 13 oz

Looking good! 

Went home for two days and now were back.  Woo Hoo!  A much happier report this time.  Finally caught a real lunker.  4 lb 13 oz.  3 little ticks short of 5 pounds.  But I'm very pleased.  It's my biggest bass in five years.  I tribute this catch to my lucky Baltimore Orioles shirt.  HA HA HA!

Thursday August 1st - Caught 27 bass today.  The bite was on!  Fished 8:15 am to 10 am.  Had 11 bass and then rain moved in.  Fished 6:15 pm to 8:45 pm.  Had 16 bass.  Caught a sweet lunker 4 lb 13 oz.  Best bass of the year by far, and my best in five years.  Man that felt good!  Denise did an excellent job with the net.  I was worried it would break the line before she got it in the net.  We definitely found a honey hole today. Location of honey hole cannot be disclosed.  But we did fish Conger Island, Biggie Island and Upper Deep bay today.

Friday August 2nd - Caught 9 bass today.  Fished  7:15 am to 11:45 am.  Had a nice 3 lb 8 oz bass.  No picture necessary because of yesterday.  LOL!  No evening fishing.  Big winds moved in and I prefer not to capsize!

Saturday August 3rd - Caught 9 bass today.  Only fished in the morning.  Big winds moved in again.  Had a nice rain, lightning and thunderstorm for the evening.  First good light show we experienced this year.

Sunday August 4th -  Caught 9 bass today.  For real, what is up with catching 9 bass three day in a row.  Weird!  Fished in the morning only.  Had to pack up and head back home today.  I guess I am going back to work for a full week.  That sucks!  Yes, I'm spoiled with all the vacations days I get at work.

Caught 54 total bass for the 3 1/2 day trip.  Not superb, but the best bass bite of the year for sure.  The 4 lb 13 oz Lunker made the trip.  First day of August put a big smile on my face.  Next 4 day trip starts Saturday.  Can't wait already.  Oh yeah, the lake water level is down nearly 3 feet since the opening day of bass season.  It's finally what I would call "normal" for this time of year.  Until next time folks...    Fish On!

July 24th - July 29th fishing report

Another poor trip for catching bass.  But good times had as usual.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pics to share from this trip.  Lake water level has dropped around 1 foot.  Thank God!

Wednesday July 24th -  Only caught 1 bass today.  Cold and windy morning.  Had to fish in wind protected area behind Conger Island for a few hours.  Needless to say, the bite was not on.

Thursday July 25th -  Caught 12 bass today.  Fished 9:45am to 1 pm.  Wind has been out of the northeast for a couple days.  Caught fish near MP Bay, RP Bay, The Cut and UD Bay.  Decent day but not spectacular.  No evening fishing.

Friday July 26th -  Caught 8 bass today.  No morning fishing.  Fished 7 to 9 pm in Upper Deep Bay.  Caught a nice 3 lb 7 oz but unable to take a picture to post.  It was the biggest catch of this trip.

Saturday July 27th - Caught 11 bass today.  Cold morning and hot afternoon.  Pretty common for Black.  Light northeast winds in the morning changing to southwest in the afternoon.  Put in six total hours fishing today.  Had some light rain in the evening.  Fished about eight of my favorite spots and none of them had good action.  Best bass of the day was 3 lbs even.

Sunday July 28th -   Caught 6 bass today.  Fished 8 am to 11 am.  Fished Emery Island shoal, RP Bay and MP Bay.  Heavy rain moved in.  No evening fishing.

Monday July 29th -   Caught 3 bass today.  Fished 7:45am to Noon.  Bite is off.  Except, for one giant Channel Catfish I caught in Upper Deep Bay.  Estimated weight 20 - 25 lbs.  I played it for a long time before it tired out and I got him to come up to the boat.  It was massive and ugly!  I've caught some big Dogfish (Bowfin) and Carp before, but this was my first Channel Cat.

So only 41 total bass for this trip.  Still a tough year.  The search for Lunkers and a 5er continues.  Until next time folks...   Fish On!

July 4th - 14th fishing report

3 lb 2 oz July 7th

Denise with bass north of RT 58 bridge. 

 Great Blue Heron

 3 lb 1 oz

 Two Loons

 3 lb even

Sundown at Black Lake

 Lakeview



A nice 11 day vacation at Black Lake.  We really needed it.  The weather was great and we had a great time as usual.  On the fishing front, the bass still have lockjaw.  The bite is just not that good this year.  We had a few nice 3 pounders during the week, but no real big bass yet.

Thursday July 4th -  Caught 12 bass for the day.  Best for the day was 3 lbs even caught in Big Bay.  Hot and humid day.  Lake was flat most of the day.  We did get a brief down pour around 9:30 am but it only lasted about 15 minutes.

Friday July 5th -  Caught 8 bass in the morning. Also caught a Dogfish (Bowfin) in Red Point Bay.  Caught 1 pike too.  No evening fishing.  Had to install another new kitchen window in the cottage.

Saturday July 6th -  Caught 18 bass for the day.  Another hot and humid day at the lake.  The bite was a little better today.  Fished Mineral Point and Conger Island.

Sunday July 7th - Caught 12 bass for the day.  Did well at Apple Island area.  Best for the day was 3 lbs 2 oz.

Monday July 8th -  Caught 23 bass for the day.  This was the best day for us.  Had 16 bass in the morning.  A location a south Bigge Island was buzzing for awhile.  Also, Pin Island area was decent in Upper Deep Bay.    Best for the day were 3 lb even and 3 lb 1 oz.  Wind changed from the North today and lasted a few day.  Normal winds are typically southwest.  Weather was beautiful today.

Tuesday July 9th -  Caught 7 bass in the morning.  Fished MP Bay, RP Bay and Jennies Island.  I must say, Jennies Island has really sucked for us this year.  We only fished 20 minutes in the evening because a storm blew in.

Wednesday July 10th -   Only caught 4 bass today.  Fished 6 am to 10 am.  Weather turned windy and rainy for awhile.  No evening fishing.

Thursday July 11th - Caught 12 bass for the day.  The bite is slowing down again. 

Friday July 12th - Caught 4 bass for the day.  Can you say SUCKY?  I can!  Decided this was a good day to install another new kitchen window in the cottage

Saturday July 13th - Caught 12 bass for the day.  All caught north of the RT 58 bridge.  We landed one 3 pounder.  We usually don't fish north of the bridge, but decided is was a nice day to try it.  The lake was flat with hardly no wind.  Found a decent weed bed where we landed a few nice ones.  The lake is also in full bloom and turning green in many areas. 

Sunday July 14th -  Last day of vacation.  Only caught 2 bass.  Had 1 Dogfish (Bowfin) and 1 pike too.  Blazing hot weather today. 

114 bass caught during this trip.  All released unharmed, of course.  The fishing has been very poor this year.  Most years we would catch at least double our count this year.  But that fishin'!  You never know what will happen.  We still had fun times though.  Until next time folks...  Fish On!

June 28th - 30th fishing report

Bella goes fishing June 29, 2013



 

Lake view June 29, 2013

 



No bass pics from this trip.  :(

Friday June 28th -  A real soaker!  Rained over 12 hours straight.  No fishing.  The good new is the lake level dropped 18 inches since last Sunday.

Saturday June 29th - Fished 7am - Noon.  Caught 16 bass.  The bite is picking up.  Fished the mouth of Fish Creek, Dwaynes Island, RP Bay MP Bay.  All bass were under 3 pounds.
Fished 6:30 pm - 9 pm.  Stayed near Conger Island the whole time.  Only caught 2 bass.  West wind was a pain in the butt.

Sunday June 30th - Fished 6:20 am - 11:30 am.  Denise stayed at the cottage with Bella so I fished alone this morning.  Caught 6 bass.  Biggest was 2 lb 13 oz.  Beautiful day today, but time to go home.

All and all, we had a nice three day weekend.  The bass are finally biting better.  We got lots of yard work done and put down some mulch.  Lowered the dock about eight inches a pushed the boat hoist out a little deeper.  We'll be back Wednesday night for an 11 day vacation.  If time permits, I'll put up some pictures during the vacation.  Until next time folks...   Fish On!

June 15th - June 23rd fishing report.

Denise with Lunker of the week, 3 lb. 6 oz.



3 lb 4 oz. I don't know why the hell I am posing like this!



 3 lb. 5 oz.  A more conservative pose!  LOL!

 

6 oz.  At least I'm having fun. :)

 Denise bundled up!  Definitely had some cool evenings.

Denise on a nice day at Browns Bay.



 

OH CRAP!  I have work to do.  Bass opens in the morning!

Yup!  Water level is WAY up.  Photo by my brother from his boat before we arrived.

 

 Crusing out of Upper Deep Bay in the evening, wife took this awesome picture.





Simply stated, the opening week of bass season was not good.  In our eight season at the lake, our catch count was not even close to prior years.  We only caught 60 bass for the whole week.  To give you an idea how bad that is, last year we caught 218 bass during opening week.   The fishing may be bad because of the excessively high water level and lower water temps.  The lake is 2 to 3 feet above average for this time of year.  When we arrived Friday night our dock was under water.  Had to do some adjustments to get it above the water.  The lake level finally dropped about 1 foot by the end of the week.  It still needs to drop a lot more.  Best 3 bass for the week were 3 lb 4 oz, 3 lb 5 oz and 3 lb 6 oz caught by my wife.  There was really no hot spots for opening week.  Our best day was 12 bass. The bass definitely had lockjaw!  I am hoping the bass are biting better our next trip to the lake this weekend.  But, of course, any day at Black Lake is certainly better than a day at work.
Until next time folks...Fish On!

Dock and boat update June 1st, 2nd, 8th & 9th

Launched the boat June 8th

Put the dock in June 1st

 Dock and boat hoist bunks with new carpet

 Storm clouds moving in June 1st

 

We been busy the past couple weeks trying to get ready for BASS SEASON.  Seems we are always scrambling towards the end of May and first couple weeks of June.  Finally got the dock in on Saturday June 1st.  Then we put the boat in Saturday, June 8th.  Somehow we managed to get those jobs done in between rain drops.  We've had quite a bit of rain this spring, especially the past two weeks.  The lake water level is slightly above average.  A big change compared to last years drought.  Anyway, Bass season opens this Saturday, June 15th!  Rain or Shine!  The only weather that could keep us off the lake is high winds.  We plan on fishing 8 days straight.  Well, I suppose we will take breaks to eat a few meals and get some sleep.  ha ha ha.  That's all for now folks.  Stay tuned for fishing updates and pictures.  Until next time...   Fish On!

Cottage opening Memorial Weekend May 25th - 27th

Lakeview from the deck May 26th.



Floated the boat hoist in the water.

 

On the road, heading north.

 

All loaded and ready to head out.

 

Cottage is open for the season.  Woo Hoo!  Let the fun begin.  Did lots of work and cleaning this weekend.  Put the boat hoist in the water.  I made a new barrel floating system to get it in to place.  It's much easier than the old prying system.  Next week we will put the dock and boat in the water.  Till next time folks...       Fish On!