2-5-2012 Sun

2-5-2012 Sun
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Weather: NW 5, overcast, 31˚, 30.33 falling (1253)
Water: 4.88’ steady, 15.9 kcfs, clear, 10” ice
Location: Mississippi River Pool 8
Caught: Lots of nice gills and crappies
Partners: myself and Jay, Jake, Cole and Mark T.

Comments

It was Super Bowl Sunday but for the last several days I have had fishing on my mind; specifically pike fishing. So, I got together a good group of friends and their kids for an ice fishing ho down.
We were fishing the upper end of pool seven in a dead end bay that varied in depth from ten to thirty feet. This spot usually holds a good number of active pike and it always holds some good numbers of decent gills and crappies. Today it held the gills and crappies, but they pike were nowhere to be found. We had close to ten tip ups out at one time but we never managed to get a flag.
Really it did not matter though, since the pan fish kept us quite occupied. I also got a decent fire going and we cooked steaks, sausages and garlic bread over an open fire, what a feast!!

Observations:

The fishing was pretty good, except for the pike; they were not on the chew. The back bay areas are still covered with about ten inches of ice, but the width of the main channel was not completely frozen over. Today the Brice Prairie Conservation Association had a fishing derby on Lake Onalaska and several vehicles, including a wrecker broke through!