Long Time Com’n "Pool 10 Fish Report On The Ice"

By Dave Koonce 0

So…where do we start..

I have been POUNDING the ice for the past three weeks with very limited success. I have tried several areas, several techniques and a huge variety tackle presentations.

What I have found was I needed to stay right here at home…My home waters that is..In the upcoming weeks I will be spending all my time out of PdC working the areas that have treated me so well in the past. Fish like these crappies that came to a Lil Cecil from Custom Jigs and Spins

I have spent the past three weekends in a 70 mile radius of Prairie…Whether it was the weather,two full moons,high pressure,multiple fronts passing thru,,,I really struggled with my ice fishing this year. So I came back home and started out in the Ambro Slough. With in minutes of setup I had my Marcum lit up and the fish was on !!!

One thing I have done over the past month is try out some new equipment…One piece I have really come to like is my new rod holders. Multi-Flex Rod Holders from Catch Cover has proven to be a great add to my Otter Ice House. They clamp on to several places in the house. The adjust to any angle. The pivoting rod cradle adjusts to every position no matter where you mount it. The cradle also lets you detect the lightest it without spooking the fish..check them out at www.catchcover.com

Another fantastic piece of equipment I was introduced to was the Rose Creek Box for handling all my ice jigs.The people that put their heads together and came up with this ice box,have allowed me to keep all my jigs so neatly organized and easily accessible. I picked up a handful of new jigs from Bob at Custom Jigs and Spins and he told me these were a MUST HAVE for my jigs..I had him add these to my bill and he was right on the money…they work flawlessly !!

I will be out again come the weekend…I sure do love the ice and the fish below it.. Watch out Ambro Slough…here I come !!!

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Dave Koonce

Koonce’s home waters are Pools 9 and 10 of the Mississippi River, neither of which is too far from where he lives in Prairie du Chien, Wisc. “It only takes about 15 minutes to have my boat at the landing,” Full Bio ›

0 Comments

  3. Nice report Dave…Sometimes the best fishing is close to home, it also may be the confidence factor again that has been talked about a lot this winter….

  4. This year has really been tough hasn’t it? I haven’t even made the treck up there this year because my friends aren’t doing so well around the Praire Du Chein, Desoto area. I’d like to get back up there late ice. Hopefully, I’ll see another report of you holdin slabs and I’ll make the treck up there. Have you tried Joyce this year?

  6. Right on Dave! Those multi flex holders are slick

    “Spotty” is a word that I’ve heard way too much this season. We know the fish are around and in good numbers, we need the bite windows to open up longer AND on the weekends however. It will get here………I hope

    Stay on em Dave and good report

  7. Great job Dave. You stay close to home and catch some decent fish. I have to get away from the lakes close to home to catch anything decent.

  8. Great job finding some quality crappies Dave

    The Multi-Flex Rod Holders also work great clamped to a bucket holding a dead stick

  9. Bret,

    On the rod holders…When I have been mobile..I can just reel them up and flip the top over on my Otter and they stay level. No need to put the rods away completely..

    Great idea on the bucket !!!

  10. Quote:

    This year has really been tough hasn’t it? I haven’t even made the treck up there this year because my friends aren’t doing so well around the Praire Du Chein, Desoto area. I’d like to get back up there late ice. Hopefully, I’ll see another report of you holdin slabs and I’ll make the treck up there. Have you tried Joyce this year?

    I have been there a couple times with very limited success…

    I haven’t even began to mention all the Large Mouth Green Carp in this pool… OMG !!!

    I think it was a buddy of mine that gave me a recipe for “Buffalo Bass”
    I think it was a wings recipe converted for bass…I may have to try it !!!

  11. Yup, Dave it has been a tough bite this year. But lots of bass!
    I have started to fish the PDC area also finding that there are quality fish in the area namely crappie and perch.
    Great article.

  15. Anyone still catching anything up there I have a ice fishing itch I am going to try to scratch this weekend but it doesn’t sound to promising. Anyone heard anything about Bertom or Bagley.


  17. Quote:

    In the upcoming weeks I will be spending all my time out of PdC working the areas that have treated me so well in the past. Fish like these crappies that came to a Lil Cecil from Custom Jigs and Spins

    There you go you found a pattern that works, heck you already knew they were there but a guy gets restless and needs to explore other areas to keep interested. But on another note catching quality slabs puts a lot of interest into the game.

    Those Rose Creek boxes are the cats meow, I have a couple of them and love em. I wish they made a box that would hold on to spoons… Something like the hook holder on one side of the box like they have and a piece of foam on the other side comes to mind.

    Any way back to your report. I have had a hard winter also unlike you my home waters has been fruitless, what has paid off for me is the exporing I have been doing. I have found a few lakes that produce some quality 7-9 inch gills that interest my grand daughter. Now that our ice is gone for a while at least I have plans to head up to Minnesota later next month. And have had thought of running by pool 8 or pool 10 on our way back south. Thanks for the report Dave maybe I’ll give you a call next month.


  18. Quote:

    In the upcoming weeks I will be spending all my time out of PdC working the areas that have treated me so well in the past. Fish like these crappies that came to a Lil Cecil from Custom Jigs and Spins

    There you go you found a pattern that works, heck you already knew they were there but a guy gets restless and needs to explore other areas to keep interested. But on another note catching quality slabs puts a lot of interest into the game.

    Those Rose Creek boxes are the cats meow, I have a couple of them and love em. I wish they made a box that would hold on to spoons… Something like the hook holder on one side of the box like they have and a piece of foam on the other side comes to mind.

    Any way back to your report. I have had a hard winter also unlike you my home waters has been fruitless, what has paid off for me is the exporing I have been doing. I have found a few lakes that produce some quality 7-9 inch gills that interest my grand daughter. Now that our ice is gone for a while at least I have plans to head up to Minnesota later next month. And have had thought of running by pool 8 or pool 10 on our way back south. Thanks for the report Dave maybe I’ll give you a call next month.

  19. Great report Dave. Can I assume that there is enough ice for an atv say to go to the Fennimore Cut. Thanks

  20. Quote:

    Great report Dave. Can I assume that there is enough ice for an atv say to go to the Fennimore Cut. Thanks

    Drew,
    if your going to go to Fennimore Cut you will need to head to the South landing and head north out of there…The Mill Coulee Creek had the channel wide open during the warm weather and rain we had a week ago..

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