BP & Cyberfish in 2008

Cyberfish and I really only fished against each other 4 times in 2008.

The 1st meeting was at the Fishers of Men Spring Outing at Big Sandy Lake where we both got skunked.

The 2nd meeting was just after the FOM Spring Outing ended when we did some shore fishing at Fransen Park on West Rush Lake. Because this was a panfish thing, naturally Cyberfish won.

The 3rd meeting was at the Fishers of Men Fall Outing where I came out on top and captured top honors on Fally Walleye. The truth however was that Cyberfish's heart really wasn't in it to win it and it wasn't much of a match with him hardly fishing on Saturday. I don't think he turned in a score sheet on Friday, and I am not sure if I would have beaten him with the scoring system being what it was. I did catch more bass then him, but he got the bigger bass on Friday.

Finally we fished against each other all year long in the Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Derby 2008. The results:
BP: 5 for 21.03lbs
Cyberfish: 5 for 20.30

I had the bigger 5 fish limit, but Cyberfish had the biggest fish. Had the Derby run just one day longer than Cyb would have beaten me, but rules are rules and so I beat Cyb on this one. The truth is neither of us had all that great of a season when it came to catching "Toads".

Bass Opener Sunday 5/27/07

No skunk for me. My only Larry of the day.

Solid Smallie caught on our first reef. 18"+!!!

2nd and last smallie followed quickly on the heals of the first. (I think this is the same fish as the first pic.)

The Story: I met "Shake" Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson and "Bake" Jack Halverson at the Wahkon Park access just after 10am. It was cool bright and sunny with a brisk wind out of the NW; the wind would diminsh throughout the day, thank goodness. Upon boat launch we headed a short ways West of the launch and anchored due to the wind. Shake had hammered the panfish in this spot the previous weekend. I was fishing the reeds for Largemouth Bass with a white swim jig and Chart/White Spinnerbait. Shake and Bake were fishing panfish plastics under bobbers trying for monster Crappies and Gills. Bake got on the board first with a 10" Crappie. Neither Bake nor Shake could follow that fish up with anything. For the next couple of hours we worked ourself East along the reed bed anchoring up because of the wind; During this time Mike caught a little perch and one small bass and I got the Largemouth pictured above with the swim jig. I did miss two strikes on the swim jig, one probably from a bass and the other from a dogfish right under the boat. The fishing was not happening in the shallows at all, so we tried out a little bit farther; the wind had layed down significantly by now. On the trip farther out we saw a big smallie, but that was about it.

With the wind down we decided to hit some reefs out by Half Moon and the Twin Islands. It didn't take long and I landed a big 18"+ smallie on the Chart/Wht spinnerbait (pic above). Shortly after that fish I landed another smallie that was a little smaller. Shortly after that Bake landed a nice smallie and we thought we were off to the races. We worked the reef for another hour to hour and a half without getting anything. We tried the reef running West from Upper Twin and got nothing there. We headed back in to Wahkon to see if the panfish had moved in shallow with the warm sun and less wind. Mike caught 1 crappie and a couple of perch, but that was it. We decided to pull out and give Isle Bay a try.

Isle Bay showed us some sight fish: a couple of big muskies, 1 crappie, 1 Dogfish. We didn't catch anything. We then tried the Malone Island Reef for some smallies and got nothing. We tried one reef farther out than called it quits around 8:30PM. All in all a very slow day, but I was happy due to the two nice smallies I caught.

So basically I caught more and bigger bass than Cyberfish.

Memorial Day 5/28/07 Bordon Lake

The fish that made it all worthwhile, 18"+ Smallie!!!

The Story: Once again I was to be fishing with "Shake" Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson and "Bake" Jack Halverson. The plan from the night before was to hit Bay Lake. However, we made a last minute decision at Tutt's Bait to give Bordon Lake a go. So we ended up going to Bordon flying by the seat of our pants/no lake map. As we launched the boat it started to drizzel and by our first stop it was raining with a SE wind. We hit a hump/rock pile somewhere on the western side of the lake. This spot produced a small largemouth for me on a spinnerbait and a pumkinseed for Bake on panfish plastics. After giving this spot a fair amount of effort we headed to the Western Shore line where a steep break abutted some reeds. We tried in shallow and got nothing. Along the break Bake nailed a couple of nice 12" to 14" largemouth. Shake switched to a watermelon tube and started catching 12" to 14" largemouth. We worked our way North along this reed/weed breakline with Mike catching largemouth on a steady basis. Jack struggled for panfish and I cast spinnerbaits, Flukes, Frenzy Poppers, and RattleRaps all to no avail. Finally up by the point that leads into the Western arm of the lake Jack got a single Crappie. We fished the point which had a steep break and Shake nailed several bass on the tube while Bake hit a Jack fish (Pike). We worked our way around the point along the Southern shore of the Western Arm. Mike picked up a rock bass and a couple of more larry's and that was it, I switched to a tube and started catching largemouth too. At this point the sun had come out a little bit and it was starting to warm up. Working that Southern Shore of the Western arm I got a solid tap and the fight was on with the big fish of the day; the smallmouth pictured above.
The South shore started to be more weeds than inside weedline and we weren't getting anything so we switched to the Western arms North Shore. This shore was windblown and had beautiful weeds but we could not get a spinnerbait or rattlerap to go. Jack did catch one 9" crappie, but the sunfish and schools of crappie were nowhere to be found. Eventually Jack gave up and turned over boat control to me. We started hitting points on the North shore of the Western arm. Mike and I caught largemouth on most of the points and Mike even got a 15-16" smallie. The day started to warm up significantly and the wind started to blow. Bake really wasn't into fishing and so we called it a day at about 2:30PM. The size of the Largemouth wasn't big but they provided a fair amount of action and the big smallie once again made my day.

Cyb got the numbers, I got the big bass.

Labor Day Weekend 2006 Mille Lacs

It's been a while since this trip but I'll relay what I remember. I was fishing with Cyb and Jack aka Bake of "Shake and Bake". "Shake" is an alias of the "Thompson Shake" aka Cyberfish. We hit the water mid morning and it was mostly sunny with just a bit of a NW breeze, it didn't make much of a chop though. Our intended target was Fall smallies, but we got a few other fish including some nice eater eye's.

The first fish went to neither Cyb or I, but to Bake. He caught a small Muskie which was his first muskie ever, at least I think it was. That little (3.5lb) guy cleared the water big time during the fight, so we knew it wasn't a smallie almost immediately.
The Muskie reef produced zero smallies and we tried an off shore hump with no results. We then hit some new water that I had never fished before. In this new area we finally started getting some hits and we settled on a big rock reef that had fish scattered. The fishing was pretty equal between Cyb and me at this point. None of the smallies were huge but we got some nice 3lbers. We fished this big rock reef for several hours making several passes, with both Cyb and Bake getting a walleye. Finally we got tired of this place and headed back towards Isle.

We fished a reef of of the big Isle Peninsula/Island. I caught a nice smallie that shadowed my lure. I saw him lurking right beneath my frenzy pop and I slowed it way down letting it sit for several seconds, finally I gave it a pop and I was fighting the biggest smallie of the day (2nd picture). As we went towards shore on this reef we hit into a school of smallies and the action was fast and furious for a while on medium sized fish. When that action died down we called it a day as the sun was going down. All in all we all caught fish but I bested Cyb in numbers of smallies caught and size (at least that's my recollection).

More Pics and Cyberfishes account of the day here...

Blast from the Past

From the archives of FishingMinnesota.com:

Cyberfish vs. Basspastor

Cyberfish vs. Basspastor 2004 Ice to get the full flavor you have to open the links towards the bottom of the page 1 by 1.

Note: Anonymous is FM euphimism for the Banned Pastor.

MN Bass Openner 2006

Saturday May 27

The Day started with me on Platte/Sullivan, while Cyberfish was out at Mille Lacs slaying big Crappies and Sunnies. Cyb arrived around 5:30 and the story is recounted thus at Bass Pundit.

I got back to the house by 5:30 and shortly after that Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson arrived and we had dinner. He had been out on Mille Lacs hammering crappie and sunnies. He said he saw a lot of bedding Larry's and Sally's but could not get them to bite. After Dinner Mike cleaned crappie for a fish fry tommorrow.

We decided to go out around 7:30 in the calm area just to the East of our place. I got one 12"bass and Mike had a couple of pike follows. This area is full of rice which caused the Trolling Motor to overheat and now I have no working forward speeds. NICE! Fricking Minn Kota piece of crap.

Thus even though fishing wasn't much, BP takes Cyberfish!

Sunday May 28 BP & Cyberfish: It's not BP vs. Cyberfish because we were in different worlds a fishin.

We started the day with a trip to Garrison Alliance Church. From there we headed home to watch the Indy 500 and eat the crappies that Cyb caught yesterday. Round about 4PM the adventure began. The plan was to hit Black Bass Lake in Kathio State Park in our float tubes. The DeLorme Minnesota Atlas and Gazetter makes it look like all you have to do is take a road or trail off of 169 to get there. It turned out to not be that easy and we could not find the lake but we sure tried and went down many a false trail.

The backup plan consisted of forsaking the little 20 acre mud hole which we could not find and hitting the 132,000 acre mudhole we could find. The destination was Wahkon bay were the BP would naturally fish bass and Cyberfish would fish panfish and this out of our float tubes. The bass vs. panfish dicotomy made a grudge match out of the question.

I got out on the fish first landing a 14" bass on a bit off "Merth" Zoom Trick worm. I quickly landed a pudgy 10" bass soon after that. Next thing I know Cyberfish is screaming in delight over a 10" gill. I went over and took his pic with a disposable camera Cyb brought along. I headed back to try and sight fish some more of those bass and the next thing I know Cyb is gleefully catching another 10" gill. I didn't go to take pictures of that one.

I was fishing an area where I could see lots of bass and gills, but I couldn't get any more of the one's I could see to go. Meanwhile Cyb was landing the occational gill. I started casting a Snagproof tournament frog and managed to land a 17" and then a chuncky 18" bass. Meanwhile Cyb was landing the occational gill. I headed west and Cyb headed in to where I was seeing the bass and gills.

The trip West was a dud except for some nice small talk with some shore owners who were surprized to see a float tuber happen along. They even gave me tips on fish location but it was all for not because if there were fish there they weren't agressive enough for a topwater frog. Meanwhile Cyb was landing the occational gill, crappie, and a bass. Just when I got back in talking distance Cyb lost a big bass.

Now I think is a good time to interject the fact that Cyberfish was fishing with a telescoping cane pole. How many people do you suspect have fished Mille Lacs Lake out of a float tube using a cane pole? Cyberfish just ain't normal people THAT's FOR SURE! That big old bass got off by pulling the old swim under the float tubers legs trick. Cyb kept on a catching panfish while I toiled for another blow up. I finally got a strike but could not convert even though the fish gave me a second chance. Cyb kept on a catching panfish until dark.

We got off the lake and headed to DQ and that was that.

FYI- Cyb did get out early before church and pulled a 28" Platte Pike while float tube fishing.

May 30, 2005 Memorial Day

BP's Revenge
The Pictures say it all, plus I don't remember much cause this day was so long ago. I did kick Cyb's butt this day, that much is for certain.




These were only the bigger fish we took pictures of, I did catch a solid 5 fish limit that day. Cyb got a couple of smaller bass and was mostly content with sunfish.

BP even's the score!

1st 2 days in the Books

MN Bass Openner 2005! May 28,2005

And it's Cyberfish on top so far.

Morning went somewhat according to the plan.

I did get out slightly later than I wanted and I spent too much time with little fish at the GOMH. I only got a couple decent bass at the GOMH with the biggest being 15+". Caught numberous little ones from 6-13" all on Senko's or 10 Husky Jerks. I enjoyed watching a bass boat parade at the GOMH overpass. The Range Bassmaster have a club tourny here next weekend.

By the time I got to the PRO it had been worked over by at least 2 boats both bass fishing. I got a 16" on a BSF right away, but it was tough. I did manage another 16er and missed one that was in the 17inch range. The fish were skittish and barely taking a pink 10HJ. I headed in at 10 to pick up up Cyb, but he hadn't arrived.

I then went to fish the East Dock row in our bay. Got a strike from a sickly looking Pike and that was it. Didn't do the full row and I went in for lunch and Mike still wasn't there.

Here's a pic of my morning fish.

Cyb showed up about Noon on Sat. as I was preparing to take a nap and watching FLW outdoors. We headed out and went to the Back Bay and there were no crappies or bass. We then headed to the GOMH and nothing in the immediate area. We headed up the East side to the intersection...

...where Cyb got a 17.5" and 18.5", both of which boiled on my bait first with me getting a couple of little ones. I was getting hungry and tired and so we headed in.

We decided to nix the plan about going to Bordon or ML even though it was calm the water was cold and we decided the action wouldn't be very good. I took a nap and Cyb went gill fishing but managed to land lots of little bass and what he decribed as an absolute football of a 16.5.".

Cyb got me up around 6PM and we were on the north end of Platte by 7. Mike was catching Pike and gills on a Mini-Mite while I got pike on a BSF and Popper. I had one super vicious hit from either a Big Dog or Pike on the Popper but it missed the bait. We ended up having Pike for dinner and sunfish and 1 bass going to the widow Olson.

Bass Openner Day 1 Brings a Cyberfish Victory

Sunday May 29, 2005



The BP was one tired dude. To tired too get up and fish at 5AM, too tired to get up for church with Cyb and BP's Dad, too tired to get up and fish @ 11AM, Noon, 1PM, 2PM, or 3PM. Cyb went for a walk, played guitar, and mellowed out during this time. Finaly I did get up, but we didn't head right out but ate sandwiches then went to the Pole Barn for a visit.

We didn't get out until after 5PM when it was threatening rain and had gotten very windy. Cyb was picking some nice gills and small bass off the dock.

Yes, I meant SMALL Bass. (He actually got a smaller one when we went out in the boat)

We eventually headed to the other side of the bay to check docks for bass and Crappies. We got pike and gills and perch instead. Mike got 1 mini Crappie. We then went to the Back Bay where the pic with the Rainbow, Loons, and Boat was taken. As it turned out the rain pretty much missed us and it calmed down quite a bit. Not a bad night. In the back bay we got mainly Pike and Gills. Maybe Cyb got a Crappie. Where are the bass?

As it got dark we headed to the GOMH for Crappies, and Cyb landed a few small ones, I got a bullhead (for real) on jig and powertwister.

Day 2 was a Draw (no creadible bass for either)