Pool 8 Crappies, Gills and More! - Ice Fishing Forum - Ice Fishing Forum

The bite this winter has been less than par here on pool 8 of the Mississippi from my perspective. I guess I’ll leave it at that, that seems to be the theme of my topic sentences for most all of my reports this year However, things are starting to change out there, and it’s turning around for the better. We haven’t had a full day to experiment for a while, but once we get one I have a feeling that a hurt will be put on some nice fish. This week’s lineup started on Monday with a local community area in mind. We were aiming at the perch at a secluded area (if you remember “THE post” back in January from us) but the water at that area was far from walkable, anyone have a kayak? After disappointment we got to fishing at the other location and found the gills (mostly small) on a hot bite. The big ones took sorting but the last hour of light was fairly productive. A guy could definitely pop a limit of 8″ gills right now with A) the use of a camera and finding the right bait and B) sitting out the spot from early morning through the evening bite. I caught 6 nice gills that I kept and stayed for an evening crappie bite where I was rewarded with 2 10″ crappies going on 7:00 at night.
Today was another day with another plan on the list. The destination was set to be Lake Onalaska, but after failing to find a certain hump I located in the summer, and only a few small fish caught even after some moving around, we decided to head back to pool 8. After seeing a few guys in a very interesting area that we’ve never fished, Justin and I pulled the trigger. Fishing in 26 ft we had crappies suspended and willing to take a small plastic. 3 of my keepers were caught on a jigging spoon and the others on the small purple plastic. I also caught many small fish along with a few dink perch and gills. What made for a real treat was the white bass action. It took me until nearly the end of the day to finally get one to go, but Justin caught several, including a dandy 17″ + fish. Mine was on the smaller side and I decided to go ahead and see what white bass taste like. I’ve heard mixed reviews, but all I know is you really have to trim the fillet..a lot of fatty and muscular tissue that neads to be trimmed out- I probably won’t be keeping any more anytime soon. Here are the pics- Monday first then today (Justin’s white bass, Justin with an average 9.5″ crappie that fell back down the hole, me with a couple of 10-1/2″ fish and the pile of 9-1/2″-10-1/2″ fish) . Look for an open water report coming at you tomorrow and hopefully more from the ice on Saturday and Sunday.