The Mid West Pan Fish Pullers When the bite gets as tough as it has been , it takes three guys from three states to bring them in.Today we had Tom "Blue Fleck" Donaldson from Minnesota , Herb Baily from Iowa and myself from Wisconsin.We had all of our coners covered today,and with all of the experence we had on the ice today we ended up with a nice mess of gills,crapies and 1 perch.
The three of us were discussing on the place to go for Saturday and with the bite seeming to be rather slow for the quality of fish we were looking for we tried to get to a spot that has not had a lot of traffic.Well we found it alright. We met up and packed up our gear and before we headded out a fella was coming up to the road. I asked him if he had his limit already and he said that the ice was not safe to get out there…Well we thought we would find out for ourselves.
Well there were some areas with some less than perfect ice conditions but we made some smart decisions and safely made it accross two or three areas that if you weren’t paying attention you would have gotten wet.
When we arrived at the location all three of us drilled several holes all around the area we wanted to fish.It was a windy 25 degree day and that made fishing out of the Otter very comfortable. Herb was the first to start pulling fish thru the hole.Herb likes to catch the crappie as seen here(left) but the blue gills are tasty too. Nice catch Herb !!
Tom was the next to be making the Fish On sound.Tom likes to fish out of his Frabil when conditions are unfavorable out side. And with the modifications he has made, his Frabil is an awsome portable fish shack.Once the wind died down Tom was up around jumping from hole to hole pulling some very nice gills out from under the ice.Tom has made up some real nice long ice sticks. Similar to the Pulsator Rod these rods are the ultimate in hole jumping.He ended up with some real nice gills as seen here(right).
We weren’t the only ones out on this particular part of the Mississippi River Bottoms, and it seemed that the noise on top of the ice spooked the fish below and shortly after the flurry started, it was over. We all started hole jumping , only picking up a few fish here and there. The bite must have been slow for the others too and they left. The action came in sperts and really never turned on but by the end of the day we had a nice mess of gills,crappie and even one nice perch.Here(left) is a picture with a couple more nice fish.
I sure had a great time with you guys and look forward to fishing with you guys at the Pool 10 Get Together .
Also remember you can see the pictures in their full size by clicking on them
Nice report Dave!
Great to see ya on some fish. Nice of Herb to come up and Guide you fellows
See ya the 17th
Good to see you guys had a good time. Can’t wait to see you all at the gathering!
Actually, Dave did the guide thing, Herb just told him where he was when we got there
Nice report Dave~
What was the majic depth in the area where you found the fish? Sounds like you guys had a great time out there. Hopefully I will see you and everyone else at the Pool 10 Get together on the 17th of Jan!
These fish have been coming out of 18 inches to 24 inches of water…I don’t know how long they will hold out there but it sure is fun being able to watch them come into view in the 6 inch hole and take your bait…
The Otter helps in this situation…
Was the ice clear enough to see them before they got into view of the hole?
Now that would be cool.
The ice was a milky white for the first inch or so. It was a lot of fun watching those fish swim up and eat my jig. The real treat was watching that big gator swim right under my feet. Too cool.