Mississippi River Pool 9 Ice Fishing 12/30/03

Today took me to places I haven’t been to in quite some time. I still can’t stress enough that you need to be carefull on the ice. I have passed over less than 2 inches of ice in places today with open water on both sides of me just 20′ away.But to my reward was some dandy gills, crappie and perch.I had some gills today that plowed past the 7inch mark and were working on the 8 3/4 inch to 9inch mark. Here(to the right) is a shot from inside the Otter.

I found myself fishing in some old lily pad fields that only had about a foot to a foot and a half of water..I was very bummed when I first set up over my first holes and there was only 18inches of water…but with in 5 minutes I had my first real 8 incher shown here(left) and the disappointed feeling was gone.

I was in and out of my Otter all afternoon. Hole jumping again was the way to put more fish on the ice. If you were to sit in one spot all day the numbers were not going to be there.The Pulsator Rod and a Purple Moon Glitter tipped with a spike was the real ticket for me. Being able to pop in and out of the holes without draging a bucket along and without being hunched over has saved my back and put lots more fish on the ice.I did catch a couple of nice perch today too. There have been some real nice perch caught on pools 9 and 10 as of late and I for one am real happy about it. Seeing the perch population return is a real bonus when fishing the back waters of the Missisippi. Here(on the right) is one nice perch that I caught today.

Todays numbers were the best I’ve had in a couple of weeks now. I’m not sure but I think just gettin off the beatin path and getting into some of the not so pounded areas has helped..But most important, when out discovering new waters make sure to take a buddy, some sort of comunication like a cell phone, a good spud bar and most of all common sense,and the rewards will be something like this photo on the left.

remember all photos can be seen in their full size by clicking on them