We gave it a couple more tries throught the ice at the Dells over the weekend.
Went on Friday afternoon by myself after work. Set two tip-ups and then jigged in the shanty. At 4pm, caught a 27″ pike on a tip-up. No more action on tip-ups after that.
Just before dark, I could see fish on the Vexilar coming into check out my baits. Tried jigging rapalas, swedish pimples and finally a willow spoon in yellow/orange.
Caught a couple of small walleyes on the willow spoon.
No more legal fish today.
Saturday morning, good friend Larry and I headed back and got on the ice before dawn. Set up four tip-ups then we jigged in the shanty. Larry started out with a willow spoon and I decided to give live bait a chance by itself. Put on a small split shot and thin wired tru-turn hook which I baited with a large fathead minnow. We had set up on the top of the hump. Eight feet deep.
Fish started biting just after sunrise. First one I caught was 19-1/2″ sauger. Larry had some light hits on the willow spoon but could not hook them. Switched over to live bait and started catching them also. Only problem was, none of them were of legal size.
We ended up with only the one sauger and after 9:30am, with the bright sunny skies, the fish shut right down. Wouldn’t even show up on the Vexilar anymore.
Monday afternoon I got out again. Had no action until almost dark. From 5pm to 5:30pm, I had steady action on both rods, a live bait on one and a willow spoon on the other rod.
Unfortnately, none of them were of legal size again.
Thats it, maybe I’ll have better luck next time!
JWB
February 17, 2004 at 4:00 pm
#1337636
