12-18-2011 Sun

12-18-2011 Sun
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Weather: S16, clear, 44˚, 29.92 falling, three inches of ice
Location: Lake Onalaska in front of Schaffer’s
Bagged/caught: Approx. 20 bluegills with maybe one keeper, three bass 17, 14 and 12 inches
Partners: none

Comments

I had been itching to get out fishing in front of Schaffer’s ever since the ice became solid enough to walk on. Normally this spot is good for early ice gills and pike with a small sprinkling of bass thrown in.
Today the story line was pretty much bass. Oh, I did catch a few decent gills, but the vast majority of them were small chips. The biggest bass of the day came on my jig pole, and it turned out to be a battle of determination between myself and Mr. Largemouth and I won. I only had one flag all afternoon and that turned out to be a decent fifteen inch largemouth.

Observations:

Ice conditions are not ideally safe, but there is about three inches of good hard ice and I did feel fairly confident I would not be swimming today! I was definitely disappointed with the amount of fish I caught today. Normally first ice in front of Schaffer’s is good for pan fish along with some bonus pike and largemouth bass.