The plan for the day was to head south and be on pool 9 ice by around 7:00 AM…Well I ended up sleeping in a little bit and managed to make my way out there around 9:30 
The extra sleep felt good and the sun was up and smiling by the time I was set up. I started out working a jigging rap in 20-22 fow near a flat, figuring the fish would be coming down off the flat for the mid-day bite..The action was not fast and furious, but there were spurts of good fish and you could pop a few in a hurry when you got into them. As the day wore on, I developed a very productive system that put a couple dozen fish on the ice. The idea was to drill a line of 3-4 holes, and move out another 15 ft and drill 3-4 more, parallel to the first set. Originally I had 2 levels and I was fishing in a circular pattern, but as the day progressed I found the fish to move down the edge further and ended up with 4 levels to fish. Around 2:30 the action was steady on levels 3 and 4 (23-27 fow) and a black and silver jigging rap was taking top honors for it’s fish catching abilities. All in all, I caught 7 keepers and ended up taking home 5 of the 13-15″ saugers. I released a 16-1/2″ sauger that was just loaded with eggs, they were actually coming out when I was holding her. I decided it was best to let her go and do her thing this spring. Overall, I was pleased with the outing, nothing quite beats sticking good saugers with jigging raps through the ice. I’ll be back at it tomorrow with my friend Carson to try and get him a fish fry.
here are the pics
1- 16-1/2″ released sauger…best I could do with a cell cam and a self timer
2- 4/5 of saugers (last one was caught after pic)
