Pool 8 Ice

I biked down to goose island to check out some of the backwaters tonight after school. So far so good, as far as the ice making goes. Although there is no safe walking ice that I found between 4 spots I checked, it’s still nice to see a nice
half inch to 1 ” coating of ice that is prime for some hot and heavy ice building in the next couple days. All the spots I checked were not spots that I generally fish through the ice however, in fact 2 of them freeze completely to the bottom in the winter. but the ice seemed to be a uniform 1/2 ” in most areas all over. I actually took a shot of me standing on ice for the first time of the year today too. Of course, this is one of the spot that freezes out completely, but it was still a good feeling. I was about 1 foot from shore so, not taking any chances yet! Based on what I saw today, I’d say stoddard and some of the other shallow water haunts around pool 8 should be fishable on 2-4 inches by the middle of next week. However, I have not checked these spots so that could be variable.Good luck to anyone that manages to find some safe ice!
-Cade

Won’t be long now brother!!

Thanks a ton Cade.

Looks to me like where you are standing has a lot of reeds. They hold some heat making it take a little longer to get hard. First ice I like to be able to step off the shore onto a clean area if possible. Normally this is where you will find your best early ice along the shore line.

Just a heads up for the early ice dudes

Cade-Did you notice where somebody else tested the ice along the road by the culvert ? It must not have been thick enough There was a nice hole the size of a person with a stick sticking out of it. I was able to walk softly on some ice this morning as well. The ice is getting thicker by the day now. That little skiff of snow kind of disappointed me since I really wanted it to be clear this morning I will be out again tomorrow and will give an update as to thickness

lol, no i decided i wouldn’t bother the extra 5 minutes of bike riding to find the same ice conditions. Wow i guess that was a real risk taker. there are a lot of old guys that get out right away down there.

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lol, there are a lot of old guys that get out right away down there.

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The won’t live to be old if they venture out too far this early

You have to remember…..everyone here is old compared to Cade
But he is right. It is an old timer hangout! Easy access for our area, and good first ice gills and pike

lol bret. Don’t worry, i don’t consider you to be one of the “old farts” that i see frequenting on the ice..The guys i’m talking about are in their 70’s and a couple might just be up to 80 years old. Theres one man that wears blaze orange that you will see at goose island just about every day on a bucket at the culvurts. He catches a lot of fish though and i bet it is worth it to him to go to the same spot everyday, all day.

Yes, thats where we are talking about. I fish there a lot after school because its very close to where i live. Like bret said, good access, and the bluegills bite pretty good early and late ice with pike in february. Crappies are a nice bonus sometimes too.

The ice has grown considerably since yesterday We had to use an ax to cut holes for traps this morning. There was no way to bust a hole with your boot. We were also able to walk across a lot of the bays with no problems. tonight is supposed to be REALLY cold so it will definitely build more ice

look for deep water and strutcture. I find my fish suspended half way down in 20-30 feet usually. I’ve found that most of these deep holes hold big crappies winter long, but I have spots in less than 3 feet that hold BIG crappies also, just more sporadic and mixed with gills. Good luck.
Wats, how much is considerably more? We couldn’t get on the ice this morning, it was only about a half inch where we are fishing. But we noticed a decent amount of growth from 10:30 to dark and i’m sure it will grow a great deal tonight. I can’t wait. Oh yeah, the fishing wasn’t too great. We found some small ones after a lot of searching, but not too many big ones. I did break off 3 F-ing times, one of them was to a big crappie. I also caught 2 slobs that were probably pushing 12″. Otherwise, not too consitant. will be back out tomorrow, hopefully. I really want to fish ON ICE!

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Their is 20-30 feet in the backwaters?

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Yes.

My son and I drove through Goose Island this afternoon and a couple of guys were headed to the backwaters off Hunter’s Point Road. We checked a few boat landings today for ice in anticipation of a possible last boat outing tomorrow and we only found two rigs out but the duck/goose hunters were out in full force today. This was kind of odd though. We checked the boat landing at Clinton Street and there was only one truck and trailer there but it was a DNR rig. What would he be doing there? Nobody out fishing. Would he be sneaking up on goose hunter’s? If so I hope he enjoyed the coldest ride of his life down stream. Green island was still open he should have put in their if he was checking hunters.

Cade-We were out from 9-12:00 and were walking on some ice thatwas near 3 inches. Some areas didn’t even crack and pop. But, there were some areas of fresher ice that we had to space apart more when walking. We never found thin enough ice where we broke through. I am guessing there will be some serious ice building tonight

This morning at Goose Island there were a few people out fishing already I didn’t check the ice myself, but I am going to say where they were was in the 3+” range. I was very suprised to not see Cade out there this morning

yeah i wasn’t down there…but you’ve seen some of the crappies we’ve been catching elswhere So we went back there. we got completely skunked. I totally wish we would have gone to goose. I had a feeling there would be some dudes out. We did a little hopping around on 2″ or less but still no takers.
later,
Cade

Update:
Monday evening: 3.5″ at goose island culverts. Medium bluegills biting, only fished 20 minutes.
Tuesday afternoon (today): 4-4-1/2 inches in backwater bay in lacrosse. The ice was pretty uniform. I was able to also walk across bluff slough as well. not giving away the location where we actually fished though…

I will be heading to goose island tomorrow after school. I can’t wait to do some hole hopping for nice gills and crappies on the shortline.
Good luck