It didn’t matter what species you targeted today on pool 8, the fish just flat out bit. Finally. After a late start compared to a typical Saturday of ice fishing, Justin and I arrived at the destination around 8:30. We were hoping to learn a little more about the trends of this new area we just discovered. Today there were a couple extra guys out and right away I noticed plenty of fish flopping on the ice 
A #12 diamond jig tipped with a choice plastic was dropped into 26 ft with marks everywhere from the bottom to 17 ft. The fish were agressive and easy to catch. About 2/3 of the crappies caught were in the 7-8″ range, and the rest were all nice eating sized 9.5 to 11.5″ fish. After a while of sitting in the small crowd we broke out and headed for water a football field away. This move to a nice point put us on a few small perch, a bluegill, and Justin landed a short sauger just before hooking up with something huge from the 10 ft range over 19 ft. The fish ended up breaking him off and we suspected it was a northern. After realizing our move was not paying off we went back for more crappies and this time stayed on the outskirts of town. This was the right choice, and the bite was on. It wasn’t long before every single person in the area left 
right during the peak of the bite from our experiences. Between 11:30 and 1:45 it was all the slob white bass and eater crappies you could catch. The fish that made my day however was a toothy one. Fishing the bottom for heavier marks would most often produce a fat white bass and a fun fight when the crappies strayed from our holes. This one appeared to be no different and fought me for my money’s worth on my ultra light frabil with 2 lb test. When I got it to the hole I did not realize what it was even after seeing it, until I grabbed it. Once I had the epiphany of catching a nice walleye I was pupmed. 
Although it wasn’t a monster, at 17″ I found it to be the perfect size for the pan and worthy of “the catch of the day” prize. It certainly opens up new doors for the coming weeks and we definitely have our hearts set on a evening bite in the coming outings. We will play around with some tip ups and jigging spoons/rapalas tomorrow evening and see what the results are. If anything I’m sure we will put the smack on a few dozen more toad white bass. All in all, a great day. Hopefully another one is ahead tomorrow as we tackle Lake Onalaska again, hopefully to complete the perfect fishing weekend.
-Cade
PS- check out the last pic. We all know I’m the first to complain about people overharvesting 
But it sure is nice to finally have a freezer-full again. Though I’m far from posession limit, I won’t be keeping fish for quite some time now. March is here, which means stock up time because once the water is soft there just won’t be time for panfish 
Nice fish dude.
