Justin and I made a B-line for Lake Onalaska early this morning in hopes of finding some ice out largemouth on the main lake. We had 2 locations we planned to hit and both were areas that the bass spend their time wintering in. The first spot produced zero bites, dispite the awesome coontail clumps in 5-8 ft of water. The downside was that the water turned to chocolate milk compared to just days ago, and the water temp was 38 degrees with our reels and eyes freezing up with each cast. We made a move to another wintering largemouth area and found virtually the same results. Lots of floating dead vegitation, 38-39 degree water, and chocolate milk. Needless to say, at 10:00 AM, we still had a skunk in the boat. We decided, even though I had to work at 3 and our options were limited, that we would take a gamble and head to another spot, one that we have never fished in our lives. A stop was made at burger king to catch the breakfast around 10:30 and we were fishing around 11:00. It wasn’t long before Justin hooked the first fish, a decent keeper pictured below, and the confidence began to boost at this new area. Justin continued to hammer 5 largemouths including one more keeper before I even boated my first fish. Something was just not going right in my head and my mental game was way off this morning. I decided instead of beating it out using the same bait as Justin, I would go outside of my comfort box and throw something different. This decision pulled me out of the hole and got me back on the fish quickly. The change was a switch from a 3/8 oz black and blue jig to a suspending jerkbait and the fish were eating it good. The first couple fish were dinks, but then I caught a nice 18″ fish and I was feeling better about the day. We fished a few more areas and I made another switch to a swim jig and popped a solid 19-1/4″er, for sure over 4 lbs! 
Justin also tried a jerkbait and caught another keeper on the spinnerbait. The key to our presentation was keeping the boat in about 8 ft of water and casting to 5-7 ft working some submerged vegitation that the fish were hanging in. The jigs worked to pick off a lot of fish, but we found that lures fish higher in the water collum produced larger, more agressive fish that were willing to slam fairly loud offerings even in 42 degree water. All said and done, we only each caught 3 keepers on the day, but with only 2 hrs to fool around in a completely new area, I’d say we did alright. My best “3” weighed around 9 lbs and Justin found himself tying into around 7 lbs. It was a fun time and we are looking forward to continued success this early season on the river. We only wish we could have had a little more time so we could each get a limit of fish for the day 
Pics justin with a 2-1/4 lber
me with a 3-1/2 lber (rogue fish)
Me with a 4+ lber (swim jig fish, pic doesn’t do justice of the girth)
