Don’t be silly there dude, no charge necessary. Just buy me that beer you always said you were going to when i turned 21 (back when I was like 17 
). But you wouldn’t have needed to drive “up there” as far as you might think.. in fact, you probably would have been driving the opposite direction from “up there” to get to where we were going 
I’m sure you could cross the main channel. Just have to spud your way along. Give me a shout when you decide to try it.
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What was it about the area that made you think about jumbos? Heck of an impressive outing, congrats!
Throughout my time ice fishing the river, I have found a half dozen or so spots that offer really good perch fishing at certain times. There seem to be a couple different patterns for ice perch on the river; deep main channel/sand type areas, or shallow backwater areas. This area falls in the backwater category. I noticed over years of fishing that I seemed to catch perch in large numbers in areas that had a good mix of several different kinds of vegetation but also a good hard sand bottom. Particularly, ditches in the weeds or otherwise open patches that are clear of weeds seem to be the best. The perch like to relate to the weeds but seem to spend more of their time on the outside looking in rather than the alternative. Areas that have these characteristics seem to include the mouths of most backwater lakes and bays. The best areas seem to have a source of current, and deep water or main channel access close by. What drew me to the area was the combination of all these factors that I observed while fishing around there in open water times. I always thought it would be a phenomenal ice fishing spot, but never had the ambition to risk going that far out only to get skunked.. Glad I took the risk last year.
Water temperature is a major factor in the distribution of different fish species. The reason you don’t see trout in the river isn’t because it’s murky or doesn’t contain enough oxygen- it’s because the river reaches temperatures above their preferred range for survival. This is why you’ll occasionally catch brown trout in the MIssissippi during Winter months. The larger fish will travel greater distances to find bigger prey and in the winter, the river temps are well within their range for survival. With shad its a similar, yet different scenario. Shad are adapted for living in southern lakes and reservoirs. They’re not adapted to live in our temperate climate of the midwest. The summer months bring warm enough temperatures for the shad to reproduce and thrive, but many of them perish when the water temps dip below 45 degrees. And I’m not talking about surface temperature, you have to factor in that the temperature below the surface stays warmer deeper into the fall. You’ll rarely see the big breeder shad, but they’re there. I’ve accidentally snagged shad as long as 18″ before in the Mississippi. They usually come out of deep water. As someone else said, its hard to know just how many of them die off. From my own observation, i say with some degree of confidence that it’s over 50% of young of the year shad, if not more. I very rarely see 2nd year shad in the spring and summer months on the surface like you would when the YOY group comes on strong later in the year.
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Last weekend there was a good 10″ all the way across to the channel against the MN bluff and quite a ways up river but there’s always a chance of a thin spot. Fishing was slow, a 17″ sand pike was all I got.
A “good” 10″ of ice? Christ… i wouldn’t be driving on that, especially on a lake that has some current… But that’s just me. 
Table Rock… phenomenal lake. Big largemouth- you can catch a 30 lb bag there. If you figure out the pattern, you can get on smallies too. I haven’t caught a lot of big smallies there, my biggest weighed 4.17, but its nice to get on a school of 2-1/2 to 3 lb smallies to break up your day of largemouth fishing. You’ll catch a lot of spots too. Lots of productive water to fish… If you want to catch the big largemouth head up into the White and James River arms. Jerkbaits and Alabama rigs as well as wiggle warts will be the key in the late winter/early spring. If you want smallies, stick to the clearer sections from Kimberling city on down to the Dam. Lake of the Ozarks is good, but not AS good in my opinion. And you lose the potential for smallies and spots. They’re still there, but far less numerous.
nope! 
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I’ll most likely be there, at least for a little bit. 4 vehicles and and ATV went through this weekend so care should be used when driving vehicles out there. Not real sure on thickness as I haven’t been out there.
I was out there this past weekend. The ice is good in most spots.. 14+ inches I’d say but you need to use caution when driving on the main lake. There are some pressure ridges out there that people were senselessly driving over. That’ll happen when you have over 1500 people fishing the lake for an ice fishing derby, probably 1/2 of which were novice ice anglers. So long as you stay on the flat ice and go where other people have been, trucks and other vehicles are fine.
We went out of Ford’s Guide service. He didn’t have a road and took us out there in track vehicles. We were just down the way from Long Point Resort. We did drive out on their roads one night and just plop in the middle of the shacks and fish outside. We faired okay there picking up one 20″er and some eaters. It was hard to be mobile with the heaves, ice thickness, and horrible maps. Next time I’m going up early ice, and with better maps!
We’re still working on the details, but as soon as we have prizes and advertising set, we will be spreading the word. We hope to have as many old farts and young bucks alike out there… the more the merrier! Traveling to tournaments around the country ain’t cheap!
Do the 16th on Onalaska.. We are having our Winona State Ice derby/fundraiser on that date and it would be a big help! 
I got on a school of really nice channels last year on lake Okabena in Worthington, MN. What a great fight they put up… I really had fun with them.
These genetically manipulated fish are a bad deal.. If they ever get slipped into the wild, they will without a doubt outcompete the native species.
All systems go everywhere I checked today. People are fishing Stoddard also. All the way out to the 2nd set of islands. From the road, it looked like there were some areas of recent open water so watch out. These next couple nights should shore up any of the real sketchy stuff. I had a very solid day on the south end of pool 8. There is a report up on the front page. I’ll be fishing mid pool tomorrow. Say hi if you see me… (if you see me 
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On the Mississippi, we often catch a lot of species variety while targeting panfish. As a result, my crew and I have landed some very big game fish on 2 and 3 lb test line. I have been using 2 lb Trilene Micro ice on my 24″ ultralight for years. On my finesse spoon rod (1/16 oz spoons and less) I use 3 lb Trilene Micro Ice. I have caught 4 lb largemouths, 30+” northerns, nice walleyes, catfish, and giant buffalo on this set up. I am confident I can land anything on 3 lb line with my 6 year old abu garcia cardinal 100. If I am targeting walleyes with the 26 and 28″ sticks I am using 4 lb micro ice on Okuma reels. Anything over 4 lb just feels to heavy for me. The only time I’ll go up to 8 lb is when fishing the tailraces on the Mississippi. In this scenario I usually abandon my flasher, pick up a 6’6″ spinning rod, and hole hop with #3 and #7 jigging raps.
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Thats great to hear Wade, I’m currently at Winona State with a hopeful degree in Nursing! The fishing club is top notch here at winona
Goodluck!!
Right now there is a very strong morning topwater bite going on on the river. Spooks and buzzbaits will get some nice fish on shallow sand flats early in the morning. The water temperature is still 68-71 degrees. As it continues to cool, the topwater bite will get better, produce bigger fish, and last longer into the day. The water is still warm enough right now that the sun shuts them down around 10AM on a bluebird day. In my opinion, the best topwater bite is somewhere between 65 and 58 degrees in the fall. The colder the water, the more time of day becomes irrelevant.
ha, funny Boone. The only reason I said that comment which you are referring to (from the Bassmaster Regional) was because we already had a limit in the well, and nothing under 17″ would help us. Believe me, at Carlyle, we were netting 13″ers! Thanks everyone. It was a good tournament.
I have the 7’6″ Mojo bass Pitchin’ rod. I use it for flipping a lot, but it is mainly my frog rod. When I go down south it works great for spoons and big football jigs. I would like to go toe to toe with someone who doesn’t think this rod is effective for Froggin’. Send me a PM, and we will meet up for a day on the water. 
so far… well they only showed my absolute most dorky moments. And when I was being a d*ck to my partner… hopefully this gets better. LOL 
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You are correct.
If you take an ounce and split it up 10 times or even 100 it would look like this 77.123 and so on. I was just trying to say that when an ounce is a fairly large unit of measurement you would think they could break it down a little bit more.
What are you talking about? The units of measure are in 100th’s of a pound… it doesn’t get any more “broken down” than that. Ties happen. Though rare, it happens.. and to be bashing a very reputable organization like that…. well that’s just… “unprofessional.” 
Whether you agree with the tiebreaker or not, thats the way it is and always has been. It is the best and most consistent way to break a tie, as not everyone weighs a big fish, and having a fish off would be a lot of extra work for FLW to coordinate.
probably about 18-1/2 to 19 lbs to cash a check.. 21-22 lbs to win
Saw the same thing on pool 8 yesterday… Hot water must be the culprit… I saw some bruisers too near the 40″ class.
I like using reaction innovations skinny dippers or zoom swimming fluke jr’s on 1/4 oz heads for the Yumbrella rig. I believe the “double up” rig is meant for using hard baits like poppers. As far as using live frogs as bait… why not spare the poor fellas and buy yourself a couple of Spro Bronzeye 65’s and go to work in the slop!
I would try backing the boat as far away from the fish as possible and casting a suspending jerkbait- ripping it as hard as possible. I’ve seen what you are describing with pike before. They aren’t spooked by the boat, but just by being there they won’t eat. (kinda like getting stage fright when you have to pee in around a lot of people ) When I backed 30-40 yards off the school and made long casts I caught a PB (at the time) 40″ fish.
They must be really holding up the water as much as possible on those upper pools. Its high down here to but its been a much more gradual rise. The fishing remains outstanding. I expected the water to be dirty (today was my first day out in a few days) but it was pretty normal. I like fishing at high pool. A few key areas get outstanding for largemouths when the water is at the predicted height. The local beaver’s better put on their helmets, because my skeg is going to be bouncing over their heads…. #beaverdamjumping2012
A little bit bitter? I’d imagine you’ve had a run in with a few jerk guys in bass boats. I saw one today associated with the event I was fishing- He weaved in and out of recreational anglers like yourself just to get another 50 yards or so before shutting down. Totally something that I thought was BS! Its guys like this that make me mad because they make guys like YOU think that we are all out here to rape the water and don’t care about anything but ourselves. I care very much for the river and the environment in general, and want to see nothing but improvement with respect to water quality, fish populations, and quality of all species. Unfortunately- and here I go generalizing too- I feel it is the weekend warrior recreational anglers who are the ones that are more likely to be over harvesting certain fish, congesting the boat ramps with inexperienced boaters, and otherwise just out there being unethical and not using common sense. For instance today I was loading my boat at a boat ramp just after our tournament. in a 4 lane boat ramp that had multiple boats waiting to come in, a man in a flatbottom with his kid and another guy backed down the ramp crooked and took up almost the entire 2 lanes of that side of the dock. When this happens I always attempt to squeeze my trailer in just to prove a point to them. I squeezed in flawlessly, but then the man dropped the F-bomb on me multiple times about coming into town and “F-ING up our ramps” right in front of his kid. I told him that at least I know how to back a trailer down the ramp, and that I was in fact right from town. He had nothing but a grunt after that, and despite him being there 5 minutes before us, he was also there dealing with his boat 5 minutes after us. You can make a case that bass tournaments take up space at the ramps, but as pointed out by others, they also are a huge part of the economy. We have to pay launch fees just like everyone else. Can you imagine what the city of La Crosse this year will make in launch fees on tournaments and tournament practicing alone?! I don’t want to know. I just hope they use it for the boat landings and research involving the fishery. Maybe put it in the asian carp fund too. WIth the Bassmaster Elite series coming to town, there will be hundreds of people from all over the midwest coming to spend their dollars right in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Anybody who doesn’t recognize this year as a huge opportunity for the area is a fool. It has been a dream of mine to meet all of these pros, and this is a 1 year trial for La Crosse. If they like it here they might come back. But if y’all are gonna be pricks about it than you can kiss them goodbye! So I say bite your lip. We all have to deal with your bad boat driving and trailering skills along with my all time favorite: anchoring in the middle of high traffic channels!
who is this “smoke grub” guy???
