12-25-12 Tue

12-25-2012 Tue 2:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Weather
(1453) N 14, 14 ˚ clear, 30.34 rising
Water:
4.72 steady, 10.5 kcfs, clear
Location:
Mississippi River Pool 7 (Lake Onalaska)
Caught:
2 – bluegills, 1 – crappie, 6 - perch
Partners:
none

Comments

I got out and did a little jig fishing on the lake today. It was Christmas day, and not much was going on. Autumn had slept most of the day away as she has done since she got home for Christmas break. We were having a turkey dinner with all the fixing, but I had the green light to go fishing for a while
Since I was not going for a long period of time, and I wanted to do some very quick exploring, I did not bring the boat nor the portable fish shack. I had my Otter sled, a few poles, my Marcum locator and an auger.
Once I hit the ice I took off running, or should I say sliding. With no snow cover on top the ice is rather slick. I by passed the traditional early season spot in front of Schaffer’s and made my way south to the lone island on the south end of the dredge holes. I marked very few fish and caught none until I got just south of the island on the south edge of the dredge hole.
This is the location where I did most of my fishing. The fishing was not fantastic, but I did have some perch action and a little crappie and bluegill action mixed in. The magical depth was around the ten foot mark. I did constantly mark fish, but when one came into view I was usually able to coax it into biting.

Observations:

The ice thickness is between three and four inches, and I would not be afraid to venture out and about with the four wheeler. There were not many fishermen today, and the ones that were fishing were scattered about.