Mississippi River Backwaters Early Ice

It was a real ruff start to the ice season for this guy..

First day out was on the local lake here on P10.. Geared up with the Otter Sport Sled, an assortment of jigs and plastics and the Lazer hand auger and I was set.

Met up with Alex at 7am and we were fishing in a quick 15 minutes… The fish were very tight lipped on Friday ..several fish were in the circle of my LX6, but a measly 25% of them would actually commit..
We tried just about everything in the bank to loosen the lock jaw on these scaly critters but nothing would work and a move was in order..

Alex and I decided to make a trek with the spud bar to find some more fish hoping they would be more cooperative..

Negotiating a creek was one of biggest feats…I’m not 24 any more… Making bridges with trees three times our size..not to smart…the tree won.. Alex and I positioned it just perfect at the edge of the creek…working it up foot by foot..the top towering over our heads…with just a few more feet would topple it over to the other side of the bank and wa~la.. we would have our bridge…. Just getting it to it’s peak of balance… one ..two..three HEAVE…tiiimmmmbeeeerrrrr…rind to the center of the creek… LOL
One huge benefit to my otter sports sled.. crossing a creek !!!

We safely crossed the creek and then had to get across the slough.. This is where the spud bar comes into play.. safely get across the slough and were in prime first ice again… We popped several holes with thoughts of monster panfish coming to our offerings… NOT !!!

We managed a few fish but again…these fish thought it was Feb or something.

Duke and I were off to explore with his hovercraft. Duke has spent many hours fine tuning this chariot during the off season. He has done a fantastic job !! It is a nice assurance that when you go out in one of these, you know you’re going to be able to get back !!

Day two was not much different than day one was…

You have to know..when you’re fishing with Duke and he barely manages a dozen fish for day… the bite is OFF !!!

Better fishing is in store.. I think these fish just were not prepared to be fished this early… I can’t remember the last time i was on the ice this early in the season..

Till Next Time..

The Tug is the Drug Baby !!

Profile Photo

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 ›

Comments are closed.