What a great day on the ice. 
This morning in the Coulee Region 12 degrees felt balmy compared to the temps we’ve been experiencing the last few weeks. Neutron (a new member) and I walked on the Black River at 5:30. There were only two other guys set up when we got there and Neutron was the hot stick icing 7 nice crappies while I iced 2 nice ones. By the time Bret Clark showed up with a friend of ours, Mark, who is spending the weekend with him to do some fishing, the crowd was starting to congrege at this favorite spot. I think this is only the second time that I’ve known Bret to get out so late (the other time I was with him) but his red eyes explained it all. 
We decided to move to a quieter spot on a backwater of pool 8 where we’ve caught crappies, perch, snott rockets, sauger and perch. We found this favorite spot to be all to ourselves and set up in 18’ of water immediately marking fish – the bite however was the challenge. I iced a large white crappie immediately but then couldn’t buy a bite. 
We moved to shallower water for a while again marking non-biting fish. Bret, starting to feel better, decided to move to a spot on pool 7 with Mark. 
He has a report about that trip posted. Neutron and I decided to stay where we were. I was bound and determined to figure out what we were marking and what it would take to make them bite. Neutron and I moved to several different spots in deeper water and eventually back onto our original spots in 18’ of water. He iced a nice perch and I another nice crappie before he had to leave. I had a couple of hours left so hunkered down to figure them out. I found that every time I went back to my 1/16 oz. golden perch forage minnow I was getting follows with either two waxies or a minnow head on. This bait lately has been on of my favorites and most productive both at Mille Lacs at the GTG and around La Crosse. 
After trying many different approaches and presentations I found that if I dropped the bait all the way to bottom and slowly raised it ( with them following) to about 14’ and stopped they would eventually bite after anywhere from 20 sec. to a minute but when they did they hammered it. I had two holes about 50’ apart and kept moving back and forth and by 3 p.m. had 12 nice crappies and a nice perch. The crappies were in the 10” to 11” range and very healthy with 1 or 2 a little smaller. With warmer temps predicted I think the next several weeks are only going to get better. It was great sitting in my flipover shack by mid morning and not needing a heater – just solar power but you can’t beat sitting on a bucket on a sunny late winter day catching fish like we will be doing soon.
February 19, 2007 at 1:17 am
#1298668
Thanks for the phone call after Mark and I bugged out 
