3-24-2011

3-24-2011Thr
5:00PM - 7:30PM

Weather: Sunny, calm, 32 degrees

H2O: 10.27 ', rising, 97.3kcfs, clear

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7 (behind the house)

Caught: An abundance of bluegills a sprinkling of crappies and two perch

Partners: None

Comments

After observing fisherman last year, I knew that the small bay behind the house could be a honey hole for crappies right after the ice leaves. Armed with an array of crappied jigs I was ready to battle the paper mouths. Unfortuneately things are not the same from year to year. After a futile attempt to catch any crappies I changed gears and targeted bluegills.
I put on a small ice jig tipped with a waxy. This ended up being the magic potion I would need. The bluegills bit very good and I ended up taking home six for supper that night.
Observations: The water behind the house does not look high in the least bit, I really cannot figure out what is going on. According to the data it should appear to be much higher.

3-20-2011

3-20-2011 Sun
7:00AM-12:00PM

Weather: Rainy, windy, nasty, 40 degrees

H2O: 6.95 rising, 61kcfs, clear

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8 (favororite Dresbach Bay)

Caught: lots and lots of nice bluegills, and four small northerns

Partners: Adam K.

Comments

The weather was the worst weather I have ever ice fished in or for that matter fished in period. We had rain, wind and cold. It was a good thing I was completely protected by rain gear. It was miserable, but I did stay quite dry and the fishing was excellent for bluegills. Both Adam and I caught a ton of nice sized gills. He took home twenty-five and I took home fifteen, and two perch.
I was hoping to get into the northerns and take a couple sub thirty inch fish home, but it did not marerialize. We each managed two northerns, with the biggest being approximately twenty-two inches. Interestingly all flags came on the same tip-up!
Observations: The melt is on, the river is rising, and the main channel is open. The hillsides and shelterd areas still have snow on them.

3-17-2011

3-17-2011 Thr
7:15AM-6:00PM

Weather: calm, sunny, clear, ice of main channel and sloughs mostly gone

H2O: 5.85 steady, 41.9kcfs, clear

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8 & 7 (favororite Dresbach Bay, Pigeon Island).

Caught: multiple bluegills at Dresbach, no northerns. Three northerns at Pigeon and one bass

partners: None

Comments

I had a day off in the middle of the week and I wanted to take advantage of it. My strategy was to target northern pike. The first four hours at Dresbach only produced one flag with a droppped bait. I did try here for bluegills just to see what was available, and I must say there was lots of gills being offered.
The afternoon spot was Pigeon Island. I had hit this once in February and did pretty good on northerns, and o'k with the gills. I ended up getting three small northerns here (approx 24-26 inches), along with one gigantic bass 4-5 pounds. There were two other fisherman that were doing ok on bluegills and the did catch some better northerns on the southern end towards the open water.

5-30-2010 Sun

5-30-2010 Sun
8:00 AM-10:45 AM (Derek and Mark)
6:00 PM-12:00AM (Jake and Mark)

Weather: S9, partly sunny, 76°, 29.88 falling (9:05AM)
NW21, cloudy, 73°, 29.85 rising (10:05PM)

H2O: 64.15 falling, 36.6 kcfs, clear - Lake Onalaska
5.88 steady, 34.3 kcfs, clear - Winona

Caught : 1) Bluegills (6) 5-8", kept for flat head bait
2) Flatheads 10 lb - live bluegills
3) Channel Cat 6 lb, cut bait
4) Soft Shell Turtle - cut bait

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Mississippi R. Pool 6

partners:

Derek and Mark C.
Jake and Mark T.

Comments

The day started out with me taking my nephews Derek and Mark out bluegill fishing. And we were very successful at it! The bluegills were in full spawn and very easy to locate and catch. I hope both boys had a good time. I really enjoy taking kids out and showing them what the river has to offer.
Later that day I went out cat fishing with co-worker Jake and his son Mark. The fishing was not fantastic but it was okay. It is a good thing I have started using a couple poles baited with cut bait instead of live bluegills, because all our fish came on cut bait. Also, tonight was the first time I have caught a feisty turtle.

5-28-2010 Fri

5-28-2010 Fri
6:30PM-1:30 AM

Weather: SE3, partly cloudy, 65°, 29.99 rising (close to full moon)

H2O: 3.54 falling, .768kcfs (Black R.) - it is too low for my big boat
640.44 falling, 41.2 kcfs, clear

Caught : 1) Bluegills (6) 5-8", kept for flat head bait
2) Flatheads (3), 5,8 & 24 lbs., live bluegills

Location: Lower stretches of Black R., and Mississippi R. - Pool 7

partners:

Jake T.

Comments

I was out to get Tupper a flathead tonight, and I succeeded. We started out fishing the lower stretches of the Black River. We caught a couple of fish on the black, but it was a mistake taking my boat up the river with it being so low. On the way out of the Black I got my boat hung-up on a stump and it took a half hour and the use of a lever to get us off. We also beached at another spot on the way out.
Jake caught flatheads, but he also had an unusual catch: a soft shell turtle, and it was in no mood to play!

5-27-2010 Thr

5-27-2010 THr
7:00PM-11:30PM

Weather: N3, clear, 62°, 30.08 rising

H2O: 640.65 falling, 44.4kcfs 74°, lake is very murky

Caught : 1) Bluegills (7) 5-8", kept for flat head bait
2) Channel Cat, 4 lbs., cut bait

Location: Mississippi R pool 7

partners:

Troy and Kurt

Comments

Tonight I was out cattin with Troy and Kurt. The fishing was not great, but we each did manage to catch one. I caught one channel cat and they each caught a smallish flathead.

5-26-2010 Wed

5-26-2010 Wed
6:15PM-7:40PM

Weather: N9, partley cloudy, 78°, 30.06 steady

H2O: 640.82 rising, 47kcfs 74°, lake is very murky

Caught : 1) LMB (2) 14,16", spinner bait

Location: Mississippi R pool 7 - Lake Onalaska

partners:

None

Comments

I fished for about an hour tonight on the lake and I was disgusted with the water quality. The mill foil is thick and everywhere and the water clarity is very poor.