1-6-2012 Fri
7:30 AM – 4:45 PM
Weather: NW 8, sunny, 49˚, 29.72 rising (1153) no ice to four inches
Water: 4.79’ falling, 13.3 kcfs, clear
Location: Mississippi River Pool 8, Goose Island area
Caught: Approximately (combined) six pike 22 – 33 inches, one 8” bluegill
Partners: I and Scot in the am, and Adam W. joined us in pm

Comments

It was an all-day fishing outing with the air boat around the Goose Island area. All the conditions were beautiful except for the ice thickness. The sheltered bays were covered with plenty of ice, but the sloughs were blanketed with only about an inch. This made travel with the air boat very tricky especially with an extra passenger. So, to be on the safe side we did not venture too terribly far from our launch location.
The first spot Scot and I tried was a sheltered bay to the west of the landing. We fished this area hard for about five hours and only had four pike and one bluegill to show for our efforts. After we finished our burgers over an open campfire, we made a move to another sheltered bay to the east of the landing that is actually accessible without a boat. This is also the spot where Adam joined us.
This is an area that was once popular with ice fishermen, but it has gone out of favor. The water was very shallow and weedy. We managed to pull two pike out of here but none of the pike had any size to them. I did quite a lot of peering into the underwater world with my Marcum camera, but no fish were to be found.

Observations:

The ice is still holding up with the mild temperatures, however anyplace there is any current there is not much ice.