3-25-12 sun

3-25-2012 Sun
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Weather: N 5, sunny, 52˚, 30.15 steady (1253)
Water: 8.2’ falling, 40.8 kcfs, 52 ˚, clear (very low for this time of year)
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 4, Nelson, WI
Caught: Many pike and largemouth bass, 40+ totals – probably equal number bass and pike
Partners: Myself, Scott

Comments

It was the first time back to my pike hole near Alma. The water level was low and it was very cold when we first hit the water. We had some difficulty getting out to the spot on account of the low water.
Once we got to fishing we immediately brought fish boat side. We fished hard all day and ended up with a respectable amount of fish, but we also put plenty of time and effort into it. I caught the bigger pike and Scott caught the bigger bass.
The main baits we used were spinner baits, I did try a rattle trap but on account of the low water it was very hard to fish with it.
It was a very hard day on equipment; I hit rocks two different times with the big motor and broke a blade off my trolling motor prop.

Observations:

The water is low and clear. There is some weed growth, but I do not yet see any lily pads or arrow head plants emerging from the bottom. The plum trees are blooming and my red bud tree has begun to bloom.

3-24-2012 Sat
9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Weather: N 8, overcast, 61˚, 29.92 steady
Water: 6.97’ falling, 56.3 kcfs, 62 ˚, clear
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: Many pike and largemouth bass
Partners: Myself, Norm, Grant, Riley

Comments

My good friend Norm was back home in Genoa with his kids and they have had limited success walleye fishing the past couple days. Since we usually get together a day in the spring I suggested he come up to my home waters of Lake Onalaska and fish for bass and pike.
Norm agreed, and himself and two of his kids: Grant and Riley came up for a day of fishing. It proved to be a good plan. We had pretty much consistent action most of the day, with the morning bite being better than the afternoon one. We caught fish pretty much everywhere we tried. The fish were either relating to weeds or stumps in two to three feet of water. We caught fish on spinner baits, senko’s, swim baits and rattle traps. We did not get any big fish, but a few pike were in the upper twenties. It seems as if the big pike on the lake have succumbed to over harvest during the ice season, what a shame! Don’t get me wrong there are still some big pike around, but I don’t catch near as many as I did just a couple years ago. We also had a couple bass in the 17 – 18 inch range. I would have to say we caught three pike to every bass, and the pike were not yet spawned out.
Norm’s daughter Riley was probably the fishing champ of the day, but Grant was right on her heels. Both kids really are good fisher people and did not want to hang the rods up after a full day of fishing.

Observations:

The water is very low for this time of year with weed growth very profuse in some areas. The water temp is around sixty degrees. The pike have not yet spawned, which is a total shocker to me. My red bud tree in the back yard is very close to blooming.

3-22-2012 Fri

3-22-2012 Thr
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Weather: S 9, overcast, 71˚, 29.97 steady
Water: 7.15’ falling, 59.1 kcfs, 59 ˚, clear
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: 16 LMB 10-16”, 4 pike 24-28”
Partners: Myself

Comments

Tonight was my first trip into the home back waters. Every spring I look forward to fishing for largemouth bass and pike when the back bays hit at least 50 degrees. Unbelievably I think the temps have been there for the past week.
I really did not expect a lot of action on account of how early we are in the calendar year, but I was pleasantly surprised on how active the fish were. Right from the get go I had three bass and four pike that made it boat side. After moving down the shoreline the action really subsided. The last half hour of day light I came back to my original starting point and it was lights out on the largemouth. I could have caught many more, but I had a couple of anglers intensely watching me so I played off on these active bass.
I caught fish on rattle traps, spinner baits and the good old senko. I would have to rate the senko as the top bait. As always after the bass tire of a bait throw out a senko and you will almost always be rewarded with more fish.

Observations:

The back waters are very clear, but the weed growth is already exploding and with the low water it makes fishing somewhat difficult.

3-21-2012 Thr

3-21-2012 Wed
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Weather: N 7, clear, 69˚, 30.01 rising
Water: 7.25’ falling, 65.3 kcfs, 59 ˚, lightly muddy
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8 – Dresbach Dam
Caught: 3 sauger 10-12”, 3 pike 20 – 22”, 1 white bass 15”
Partners: Myself

Comments

It was an afternoon excursion below the dam in search of Mr. Walleye. I have yet to connect on a legal eye this year, and I was hoping they had started to bite. I planned on trying a few casts for pike also.
The walleye bite never materialized, all I caught was a few small saugers. However I did catch some smallish pike. The action on the pike was pretty good, but the size was lacking.

Observations:

The river has started to drop and there were a lot less debris floating than when I was out last week. It has been a crazy spring; magnolia bushes and the bulb plants are blooming. I would have to say we are at least three weeks ahead on our spring schedule.

3-18-2012 Sun
11:00 AM – 5:15 PM
Weather: S18 G 28, sunny, 77˚, 29.83 falling
Water: 7.07’ rising, 62.8 kcfs, 62 -70 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8
Caught: Approximately twenty largemouth bass 10- 17”, 22” dogfish
Partners: Myself

Comments

It was my first time out bass fishing for the year and I was exploring my favorite area; Goose Island. The calendar was telling me it was mid- March and it was much too early for bass fishing, but the weather and water temperature were telling me the time was here. I guess the weather and temperatures were correct. The bass bit extremely well today, however I was only able to catch them in one area.
When I did find them they were stacked! For the first hour A Texas rigged grub was the go to bait, followed by a rattle trap. I was unable to get a bite on a spinner bait. However, as I got into the back of the first bay and the water temperature shot up to seventy degrees the spinner bait began to shine. The fish were extremely active and I caught multiple fish on every pass. The first spot never did burn out, but I got bored of the area and wanted to do some exploring.
The wind was extremely brutal, and unfortunately I allowed it to somewhat dictate my next fishing spots. I never did catch another bass during the rest of the day. I did run into a few smallish pike but never did stick one hard enough to put into the boat.

Observations:

The river is still on the rise and with the strong winds today the clarity was relatively poor. It seemed wherever I found the warmest water I would find bait fish and with the bait fish I would find the bass. The best bait today was a one quarter ounce double blade spinner bait with a chartreuse and white skirt. It was best to slow roll it just over the top of the weeds. All the fish were caught in less than two feet of water.

3-15-2012 Thr

3-15-2012 Fri
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Weather: calm, sunny, 72˚, 29.94 falling
Water: 6.18’ rising, 45.7 kcfs, 47 ˚
Location: Dresbach Dam
Caught: Myself – ten 10-12” sauger, one 10” walleye a drum and one sucker (kept three sauger), Scott – 14” walleye and one 10” sauger.
Partners: Scott

Comments

Tonight was a brief outing below the Dresbach Dam in search of walleyes. We started out fishing directly below the lower landing and in a few drifts we had a couple saugers in the boat. After that we pretty much tried every location up near the dam. We had our best success from below the long wall to the upper boat landing, however all fish were small saugers.
The techniques we used today were vertical jigging hair jigs tipped with a minnow. I did try fishing a ring worm on a jig but was unsuccessful with this set up.

Observations:

The river has been on a steady slow rise and according to the forecasts it should peak in a few days at around 6.6 feet. Unless we get some rain it looks as if this may be our highest water of the spring! The bite was definitely not there today, I only saw a few other fish caught and they were perch that were caught by a fisherman fishing for them.

3-13-2012 Tue
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Weather: S 8, sunny, 66˚, 29.98 falling
Water: 5.56’ rising, 38.8 kcfs, 42 ˚ (at Somners) 50 ˚ at upper end of channel
Location: Lake Onalaska
Caught: Two small perch and four small bluegills
Partners: myself

Comments

It was my first walleye fishing trip out to Somners, and it was a bust. This is not a fantastic spring time walleye spot, but usually a fish or two can be caught. In One particular spot the carp are schooled up and can be readily snagged, but today there were none. After a fruitless hour and no fish and no bites I decided to go back to Black Deer’s Channel and finish the night off.
Black Deer’s was no better; I caught a few bluegills and perch, but it was very poor. We had just fished this area on Sunday and had done pretty well on the two species. One thing about Black Deer’s in the spring when the water is low is the surface gets filled with floating algae slim balls. This makes fishing very difficult and pristine factor is not there!

Observations:

The river has some cloudiness to it and it is rising very slowly. With the lack of snow cover up north the chances of flooding are very remote this spring. All visible snow cover is gone but there was a little bit of ice still in the mouth of Black Deer’s.

3-12-2012 Sun
1:15 PM – 4:15 PM
Weather: S 13, sunny, 67˚, 30.04 falling
Water: 5.5’ rising, 38.2 kcfs, 38 ˚ (at landing) 45 ˚ at upper end of channel
Location: Lake Onalaska
Caught: Lots of bluegills and perch, we each kept a total of eight bluegills and perch and any perch over ten inches were released.
Partners: myself and Scott

Comments

Today is Sunday and day seven of my severe cold. I felt totally miserable, but Scott was out fishing and he invited my along, how could I refuse. The plan was to hit a Back Bay area on the upper end of the lake in search of some pan fish. When we got to the mouth of the bay we had a little obstacle to contend with; ice! We had about a one hundred yard stretch of ice that we had to play coast guard ice cutter with. We were both skeptical at the start, but within a half hour we had broken a boats width channel through the hard stuff and were heading towards the back end of the bay.
The water temperature at the landing was a frigid 37 but when we arrived at our destination the water temperature had climbed to a balmy 45 degrees. We quickly got anchored and settled in and immediately started catching fish. The fishing was not fantastic by any means, but it was fairly consistent. We caught many perch and bluegills and even a stray crappie.

Observations:

The river is almost completely open and I do believe I saw what will be my last ice fishermen of the season behind my house. We did catch some nice perch, and from the looks of their bulging bellies I would have to say they are ready to spawn. We did not catch a lot of jumbos, but all perch over ten inches were released!

3-8-2012 Thr
3:15 PM – 5:15 PM
Weather: W 15-20, overcast, 32˚, 30.10 rising
Water: clear, 4.76 rising, 36 ˚
Location: Dresbach Dam, tail waters
Caught: Nothing – I had one fish (presumably a pike) bite off my double Dubuque Rig.
Partners: myself

Comments

Today was my day off in the week and even though I felt miserable, I was determined to get out fishing. I had also wanted to try out my new Honda 9.9 outboard.
The motor worked great, but the fishing was very poor. I tried a new style for walleyes today; it is called a Double Dubuque Rig. It is your basic three way rig, which consists of: a three way swivel tied to the main line, then a large one to five ounce weight as a dropper and then your single or double Rapala Original floaters on a three to six foot leader. This is basically trolled behind the boat a very slow speed. I had one strike on the rig, but unfortunately whatever decided to eat my bait also cut my line in the process.
I would have tried some vertical jigging, but I had inadvertently mounted my trolling motor wrong and it was un-useable.

Observations:

The river is quit open, however the lower landing is still iced in and I had seen a couple ice fishermen on Dresbach Bay. I did like fishing the Dubuque Rig and I think when the fish are active but scattered it will be a welcome addition for walleye fishing.

3-4-2012 Sun

3-4-2012 Sun
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Weather: N 9, mostly cloudy, 32˚, 29.91 rising
Water: cloudy, 5-06 rising, 10” ice
Location: south of Alma and north of Winona
Caught: lots of small bluegills with a few decent ones and a few decent perch, I kept three bluegills and two perch
Partners: myself, Scott, Jake

Comments

Since we had done so miserably yesterday at the cabin, we decided to hit some waters a little closer to home. If you know me, I prefer the Mississippi over a lake any day!
The first spot south of Alma produced a couple small perch for me and nothing for either Jake or Scott. We marked plenty of fish on our locators, but they would not bite. I have to believe it was on account of how much fishing pressure was put on them this winter.
Spot two produced a little better. It did take a little searching to find them but after about a dozen holes fish were spotted on the locator in about twelve feet of water. We caught plenty of fish the first hour, but then the bite diminished drastically. Unfortunately the majority of the fish were five to six inches.

Observations:

Mobility on the ice down here was a breeze; there was only a trace of snow on top of the ice and it made for good traction. The only issue we had was making our way on and off the ice on account of the ice was separating from the shoreline and was quite weak next to the open water

3-3-2012 Sat

3-3-2012 Sat
11:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Weather: NE 9, overcast, 32˚, 29.66 rising
Water: clear, 18” ice
Location: Sauntry’s Pocket – Douglas County, Crystal Lake – Washburn County
Caught: I never caught a fish; the other guys caught a few very small bluegills and perch
Partners: myself, Scott, Jake, Brian, Jeremy

Comments

It was our annual ice fishing expedition to the cabin. This year we were probably two weeks earlier than when we normally go. It would have worked out well, except for the fifteen inches of snow that fell just a few days earlier. This area had been mostly void of snow since deer season, so it was due.
Day one of fishing did not start off as we had hoped. We got both of the vehicles stuck on the road back to the cabin, and it took some shoveling and pushing to get out to the road. It is amazing how common sense no longer prevails after a few beers. Just to set the record straight I was against driving in.
We fished two lakes that none of us had ever fished before and they were a bust. The new snow made vehicle travel on the ice very difficult. The only highlight of the day was that I had one of my tip-ups run over by a fisherman that was hell bent on making it to the other side of the lake. To give him credit, I do think he felt bad about it and if he could have stopped he would have. One of his friends also came over with his snowmobile and apologized and offered to pay for the deceased tip-up.

Observations:

After this last snowfall, there has to be around twenty inches of snow in the woods and on the lakes. This area still looks like winter and I am expecting some high water this spring on account of it.

2-27-2012 Mon

2-27-2012 Mon
5:15 PM – 6:15 PM
Weather: NW 9, clear, 35˚, 30.39 rising
Water: 4.66 falling, 10 kcfs, clear, 10” ice
Location: Black Deer’s
Caught: 12 perch 6-10” (most small), two bluegills 4 & 6”
Partners: myself

Comments

It was a quick after work fishing adventure tonight. I had looked this area over yesterday with the underwater camera, and I had spied lots of small bluegills and numerous perch. The perch got my attention yesterday and brought me back tonight.
I fished for an hour and did not come close to catching what I had expected. I did alright as far as numbers were concerned, but the size was definitely on the small side.

Observations:

The ice on the back channel is quickly disappearing. I was able to walk to Black Deer’s from the landing, but I expect the ice to get too treacherous in the next few days to be able to do that anymore.