Ice Fishing on the Mississippi River Backwaters

Ice fishing on the Mississippi River backwaters is the place to be for good ice, lots of fish and fun. If you are looking for panfish action this winter I’ll tell you where you should be. Read on….

Mike [HOF] Smith and I left Rochester at 8:00 this morning with both safe ice and good panfish action on our minds. With the recent warm spell we just had and a public concern for safe ice we headed for an area that we knew would provide us with both safer ice and fish. The good o’l Mississippi River has many many acres of backwaters with water depths of under 6ft of water, wood, weeds, areas of no current, and a combination of safer ice and lots of FISH. And thats a combination that we just couldn’t resist.

We traveled light today leaving the portable ice houses at home and settled for a bucket with a comfortable seat that fits on the bucket and of course both Marcum and Vexilar flashers [our under water eyes] along with several rods each, ice auger, and other needed items that you need on the ice. The presentations used today consisted of light small ice jigs with a small plastic on them and a waxie offered to the fish with a combination of a small jigging action and periods of just holding the offering still. This type of presentation caught alot of bluegills, sunnies, perch and even some bass. Mike made a few rounds of hole hopping with a bigger plastic only [no bait] offering and caught some crappies and of course it just wouldn’t be a day on the ice without Mike getting a bite off from a northern. lol.

Mike’s family had their Christmas gathering on the 24th and my familys on the 23rd as the families are getting bigger now with the kids, grandkids, and all the in-laws our kids have so that left Christmas day wide open for a day of fishing for both of us. The Mississippi River offers alot of backwaters with shallower water and finding the areas with no current provides an angler with a nice place for safer ice fishing. The ice is thicker in these areas with us fishing on 6-8 inches of ice. The best action came from areas we found with cleaner water. The dirtier water areas held fish but the bigger fish came from the cleaner water that we found. The fish were both on the bottom and also suspended a couple feet up off the bottom. This is exactly what the flashers are best at providing information for the fisherman. When raising our jig up off the bottom you could pull fish upward and see it happening on the flasher. When fishing for the fish that were already up a couple feet up off of the bottom you could watch your jig being lowered down the the depth they were at or just slightly above the fish and bam-FISH ON. Its such a neat way of fishing. If you don’t own a good quality Marcum or Vexilar ice fishing flasher you owe it to yourself to get one. They take ice fishing fun and success to the highest level and are worth every penny. These units can also be used year round by just purchasing a trolling motor tranducer for open water fishing using the same presentations just mentioned.

The jigs used for ice fishing can be used year round also. Just think about this for a moment. The fishes mouth doesn’t get any bigger in the summer than it does in the winter. Have you ever sat next to a boat on a lake with two retired fishermen [retired meaning that they have paid their dues at their place of work and can now fish everyday and know where the fish are at on how to catch them on their favorite lake] in a boat and watch them catch fish after fish while the people in your boat aren’t catching anything? I use to say ”unfortunately” it happened to me once but really it was ”fortunate” that it did happen because I learned that I could catch alot of fish using ice fishing jigs with a waxie in the summer too. Yes, the little jigs are dynomite year round for panfish. And I’ve seen lots of other spieces of fish bite on them too. [thumbs up].

I try to take with me from each fishing outting something that I learned that day. We are never to young to not be able to learn and never too old to learn something new from a day on the water whether soft or hard water. And along with learning comes a desire to want to share with others. I will never know it all but what I do learn and know I want to share to help others enjoy their day on the water more. Thats what the IDA staff is all about. Thats what this website is all about. Thats why I always ask that YOU share with all of us here on the site, both members and staff, as we ALL learn from each other. I hope that your next ice fishing outting is as much fun as I had today. Being on the water, both soft and hard water, is such a joy and an experience that really gets us fishermen excited. If you keep fish to eat please use selective harvest to ensure that there are many fun fishing days left for your kids and their kids. This way we can pass our love for fishing onto them. And if you know some great fish cooking receipes please feel free to share them with everyone in the General Discussion forum. [thumbs up].

Have a safe great season of ice fishing and don’t forget to share your fish outtings with all of us. Thanks.

Thanks, Bill