With a little moving around a few times to locate fish, Pool 8 was no disappointment the last few days. Gills with back straps and crappies with shoulders were more than willing to play making for a fun 3 days of jiggin’ up pannies.
News Years day was started off with Mike C, JP Mason and myself following Blue Fleck across the ice on the east side of the pool, after a few adjustments Blue was on a bite in a little over 3 foot of water sportin’ green weeds on the bottom. Clear shallow water made site fishing a lot of fun. I can get dazed staring into an aquarium…… let only the river 
The bite ended soon though, fewer and fewer fish started showing up…….yep, Blue should have stayed quite. I think we chased the gills off the shallow water to tell ya the truth. Things came to an end so the trucks were loaded and heading for the west side of the pool……and it was a good call 
The set up on the second spot was a community hole on a snag in 17fow. The LX-5 revealed a lot of fish but only the dinks were willing to play. Not what we had in mind. JP Mason and I backed out of the crowd around thirty yards into 18-20fow and found a little better bite. With Blue headed home right about then I knew the bite was going to get good 
….and it did get pretty good The gills were hanging towards bottom and the crappies were cruising through at the 10-5 foot mark.
With some persistence JP Mason was able to walk off with a good fish fry rattling his plastic bag 
With day one of vacation in the books and knowing I was spending day 2 alone on the ice, there wasn’t much sleep for me that night…..plans running through the head wondering if I should head to the same spot or change up 
Well……I headed back
Day two I set up another 10 or so yards even further from the snag in 18fow. At first I thought the MarCum was pitching a fit, it took the brain a few seconds to realize I was on a gold mine 
Numbers of 10 inch Crappies could not resist the Pink Glow Brite Demon tipped with a minnow head and, the best way to explain the technique that created crushing hits…..vertical trolling!
It didn’t take long to figure out letting the jig drop at a rapid rate to 10 feet and then stopping it dead pulled a mark at 11, as soon as the bait started to raise the mark came up to meet it immediately but would not hit if the bait stopped, how high up will they come is the question then. After the 10 foot drop and a mark lit up below….I raised the jig and kept it above the rising target, the faster I raised the faster the Speck or gill came and at 8-5 foot the UL St Croix tip would stop dead in its track for the suicide smack on the bait.
There was a fish fry on the ice in a hurry with some 11 inch crappies and bonus gills that slammed the minnow head also in short order, a limit could have been put together but the most part of my day was catch, picture, release
Day 3 Saturday 1/3/09….09 already 
….Jeff Jensen was going to head this way but with freezing rain in the forecast and being on a good bite himself, the trip was canceled. AmWatson had already asked about the day too so we met up early AM. With that said, the better bite has been 9 o’clock and on, so…..if you want to sleep in or need time to do your hair there is no rush to get out there….. Brian
Setting up in the same area I wanted to change things up and get a little more serious about the big gills feeding in the deeper portion of the water column. Ratfinkee’s, Gill Pills and Mini Merts all tipped with a waxie produced some fish but an Orange Lil’ Cecil with 2 waxies out shined the rest, a quick drop to 17 feet, a little tease and then a fast lift to 12feet was to much for 8inch (some a tad over) orange bellies, they had to hit 
The pannies made for a fun day for both Wats and I, playing catch and release while schooling some of the older class fish makes for good times. I’m sure Wats will chime in on his day He did very well too 
Stay on the move, some community holes are hot while others may be sleeping. After a couple hours with nothing going move on….you will find a bite on pool 8 right now.
From the buzz going on……other pools are producing also.
I see some good reports for the river coming from these last few days
Good luck fishing people 
PS: If you where posting or replying to…where is everyone
You missed out on a good bite 
….hey don’t be mad at me 
…I was fishing 
The first picture is the fish fry kept for Sunday football or, maybe fish and eggs for breakfast. Either way the Clark’s like fresh eats
The third pic is a short gill with a pie hole full of waxie and Cecil….aggressive little bugger
Go Packers………oh wait
…guess we are done 
Have a great Sunday dudes and dudettes
Nice Job Brett! When I moved across from you on 1/1 I had all I could do to take off the 7 inchers. I could not rattle up any nice spec’s that day, but was fun to pretty much catch one after another. Abe and I got away from the crowd today and put a few nice spec’s on the ice. Heading back there tomorrow when we can spend more time. Good Luck!
Looks like a nice fry
As always Bret, I had a great time fishing with you. My 10 days off went fast.
From all the talk I’ve heard today, it looks like I’ll be educating a new member to the icefishing community tomorrow.
Thanks for the great report Bret!
You and your daughter will have a blast I’m sure Blue…….your hands aren’t even cold, now that was funny today
Good luck tomorrow also duckdogbrown aka Mr. L and Abe
sure wish I could’ve followed Jeff up there today. But you guys made the right call. Great report! Looks like a success was had!
Jeff and I fished pretty hard today. Tons of small guys. I did bring home a nice mix of crappie and gills for a decent meal for the wife and I.
Hope to see you another time!
oh, don’t know if you listend to the entire voice message Jeff left you?? But I did lose a dandy crappie at the hole! If you couldn’t tell
Yep, I definitely had a fun day today
Bret pretty much gave a great rundown on today’s activity so I won’t go into that.
For me, a clown gill pill, clown diamond jig, Forage minnow, and a purple Cecil took most ofthe fish. I did have a short battle with something big that hit the clown diamond jig. A few good tugs and a short run left me with a broken hook
The key for us today was to constantly change the jig in front of the fish, that is why I had 4 rods rigged and ready to go at all times today. A few fish on each jig and they would drift off, quickly dropping another bait down and they came flying right back in. We caught so many fish today that my hands are raw
Thanks Bret for a great day on the ice
Well…..I just took a step outside and slid down the sidewalk in one great movement. It looks like our ice fishing adventure will be delayed by inclement weather.
Deleted at the request of POOL-8-LAX
Deleted at the request of POOL-8-LAX
Deleted at the request of POOL-8-LAX
I guess you could say that TJ and I played it safe. Hate to ditch an offer to fish with you guys as we were really looking forward to it but hey, whatareyagonnado?
(The gtg will be a good spot come to think of it 
)
Long winter, plenty of time to pick our spot
Great report Bret!
It’s been a solid season so far with many good reports!
Today we fished a long slough that has been loaded with fish including some honkin crappies. Well, the crappies never did take off for us. Not like we didn’t give it an effort. TJ and I were out there set up and jigging at 6:30am. with Welder and buddy Del showing up shortly after trying to serve up breakfast for the slabs…..never happened.
Gills were plentiful though so hey, not as good as being a pool 8 visitor but alot of fun with good friends.
Here’s to a good season buddy
Great report Bret! As I sit here and listen to the waves of the ocean, I miss the silence of the ice…I can’t wait to get back stateside and ice some fish!
Bret,
Great report but I have to compliment you on the quality of your photos! That gill on the ruler is gorgeous!
John
great report Bret, as usual. nice read and pics-john
What a great report Bret. Your reports allmost make me think about takeing up ice fishing again…..
Heck of a report Bret. That is one mongo gill on the ruler!
Good job all you guys.
Great report, Bret!
good read bret day 2 alone??? i bet theres a lot of guys that woulda taken vacation to fish with you heck id prob quit my job for a day on the ice with you
Gutone4me, yep, anytime you can fish with bret, it is a good time. I have only fished a few times with him, but we always caught fish. I met him a couple weeks ago at his favorite sport shop. Talking with the owner before bret got there. hE Said the bite was off form what he had heard. told him I was fishing with Bret. First words out of his mouth were, Well then you will be catching fish. He was right. thnaks again bret–john
Nice post Bret- looks like on heck of a day!!