Broke ice this season on Thanksgiving morning for the 1st time on Pool 9. Felt good to tip toe on 2" of thick clear hard stuff. Shallow haunts (less than 4 FOW)and fist ice usually spell bull gills. The bull gills however had a slightly different agenda than mine this year. Definitely not your typical "green – yellow – red – SLAM" type first ice bite. Numbers of respectable size gills were low. What I did catch had to be to worked like it was January 23rd instead of November 28th.
By the time the calendar flipped December I migrated to deeper waters in search mode. A cool 25+ holes later with roughly 10 hours of searching stretching across a couple days ~ the game of hide and seek came to an end.
I can honestly say the best ice equipment purchase I have made in the last few years has been the Marcum LX6. This machine can be dialed in so tight fish no longer have privacy taking a #2! Perch under the frozen Mississippi are nomadic by nature. Here one day. Gone the next. They travel in packs with their tummy’s rubbing the bottom. The LX6 has no problems picking up a the return echo. Biggest perch I’ve iced so far this season is 14.5". Average size of the schools I’m on are 9" to 10". Along with the Perch I’ve been tagging some nice gills and crappie to boot.
What would an ice season be on Pool 9 without these guys? True money winners in the summer session ~ these guys are just a flat hoot when jigging light ice tackle. They like to hang closer the shorelines. Especially shorelines with some structure. Best be sure to have your drag set loose when you bury the hook. Unless of course you enjoy re-tying.
Was treated this morning with some white tips. Despite the subzero temp at daybreak with a wind chill number close to the number of yards I will ever rush for in the NFL ~ I zipped up the ole ICE ARMOR suite and went to heaven. I’ve been fishing this mid December walleye ice pattern on Pool 9 for six years now. This morning I had one short, a 16", a 19", a 22", and one that broke me off after circling the hole just under the ice several times. He’d a been a new avatar picture had I won the battle. Mississippi river ice walleye are hard to come by. Wintering haunts are just simple not reachable on foot. This pattern lasts about 2 weeks once they come in range.
Once I located and started catching fish of all species I’ve used but two presentations. Lil Cecils and DIamond jigs. Rainbow color pattern on the Cecils and Fire Tiger on the DIamonds. I’ve tried a number of different jigs including colors and sizes. With & without live bait as well as plastics. The rainbow Cecil and Fire Tiger have been the best.
Some group shots.
X2 on the Cecil!!! Nice lookin gills and you aren’t kidding when you say the walleye bite on the miss is a tough one to walk too.
Nice pile. We were duck hunting on 9 while your were fishing. We were busting that walkable ice with a boat in hopes for some late season green. Maybe we should have started to chase the bite instead.
And couldn’t agree with you both more. Icing walleyes in these parts is tough to come by. I know a couple spots but you need many day of hard freezing to even consider it safe.
We have been doing very good jigging Cecil’s as well.
Great job!
Congrats on a great catch Bos!
Great read…. as always!
Spurts of activity found a variety of Mississippi dwellers come top side today. Crappie were the most active. Bigger ones floating around a little higher in the column.
PATIENCE is the first word that comes to mind when sitting on top of moody fish. Activity level is like a swinging pendulum from aggressive eaters to mid winter lock jaw. But when it happened…..it happened! That one bite. One chance at a ‘bigun. Just got done cleaning my hole and ice buildup on the 4lb Vanish stretching to the depths. Such a task had me banging the pole around like a five year old roughly 2 feet off the floor. Glanced back at the flasher while in the process of propping back down on the bucket. What the heck? Did I lose a couple feet of the water column? The red bar signifying bottom was solid up to my presentation. Gave it a little giggle-jiggle and WHAM! Down the pole went. Between pulsating throbs I managed to clear the transducer of the hole. A game of give and take quickly persuaded. Don’t know how long it lasted. Tried to call “TIME OUT” to look at a clock but the tug on the other end wasn’t having any of that. I do know it was getting to the danger point of losing the fish on such light tackle. All but convinced it was a big ole LMB while kneeling over the hole and not really sure how much line I still had out ~ you couldn’t possible imagine the surprise of seeing the body with a trailing “white tipped” tail fin swim through the hole 2 feet under the ice. She took another long run at freedom which had the drag screaming again. All I could think was…..let her have it while replaying that rich gold color of her body when she passed under the hole 15 seconds ago! Her last run was soon subdued and I had her nose in the hole. My left arm (to the elbow) served as the Frabil. She flopped a couple times when on the ice as to say “you win”. Didn’t weigh her but she tapped just over 24″ with an 8″ girth. After a picture she went head first back in the hole. She’s going to be a mother in another 4 months. She won after all!
Four more white tips paid homage top side over the next 30 minutes. All were released and not in grease. I hope the school sticks around for another 7 days. Gotta work-work the next 6 Sad
Some more from today.
Great Job Bossman !!!
Excellent mixed bag !!!
one of these times our paths should cross
Nice mixed bag, looks like a good time and some fun eats. – QB
Fished abbreviated banker hours (9am to 2pm) Friday.
Was a little late for walleye action. Managed one 15 incher and a striper before moving on to pan fish.
Downsized and went to a horizontal presentation after experiencing erratic behavior on the LX6. Fish darting in/out of the cone acting almost afraid of the presentation. Jigging motion slow and methodic with several second pauses. About as close to a dead stick presentation as you can get. The DIamond and Gill Pill from CJ&S were perfect choices for the mood the fish. Filleted a dozen gills. Perch were either the size of your index finger OR big females like the one pictured. Selective harvest and letting these big gals go is investing in the future. It’s a rewarding feeling of emotion every time I watch a big ole tail fin kick up some ice water!
Great Job Brett !!!
Wish I could have joined ya…
Healing up is a bit behind schedule. but sure as I am typing this I’ll see ice time next week.. so if the offer is still open ….
Awesome perch Bos!