1-22-2012 Sun

1-22-2012 Sun
11:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Weather: SE 7, fog/mist, 28˚, 29.61 falling, 8-12” ice
Water: 4.71’ falling, 10.3 kcfs, clear
Location: Mississippi River Pool 7, backwaters toward Trempealeau
Caught: I kept fifteen decent sized gills and one perch
Partners: Scot and myself

Comments

Today I wanted to try some inaccessible spots on pool seven. I had tried Fox Island for a brief time earlier in the ice season, but I wanted to get back later in the winter and see if the fish had moved in. Well they had not. We marked fish, but I think they were small perch and some shad.
The next spot was a rather large bay near Trempealeau that always produces a combination of pike and pan fish. Our initial assessment of the area was not very promising. The water was very shallow with weed growth almost to the top of the ice in most locations. Where we found the water to be just a little deeper is where we spotted fish on the camera.
I did end up catching a ton of bluegills with most of them being in the six to seven inch range. I also caught a fair number of perch, but most of them were also quite small. Scot did not fare as well as I had but he did catch a decent perch and one nice crappie that both came home with me.
The tip-up action was not great. We managed three pike with the average size around twenty-two inches. There was a group of other anglers there who were unable to figure out the bluegill bite, but did manage to catch a few small pike.

Observations:

Most of the river is now frozen up; however there was a few spots of open water on the main channel. If I had not mentioned it before I am now able to cross the ice on the channel in the back yard and get out onto the lake to walk the dogs.