I checked the forecast first thing this morning a noticed the wind was going to be gusting from the West at 20+mph. Not wanting to fight with boat control the decision was made to grab some minnows and crawlers then head for some of my favorite panfish waters and see if a fish fry could be put on ice. The first target was going to be early morning crappies
Mini Mite & Minnow Crappie
A run was made for wood piles in 10-14fow so the boat could be tied off without worrying about fighting the wind. The locator showed tons of fish 6 foot below so the bobber was set to the proper depth and a minnow was added to the jig head of a chartreuse mini mite, it produced action immediately. I was able to weed through a lot of fish and keep a dozen 10-11 inch specks, perfect eating size in my book Not wanting to get greedy with the paper mouths and wanting to fish Blue gills using my favorite technique I untied from the wood and made a run for a wing dam.
Solid 8" Gill
My favorite way to take gills off wing dams is with a piece of crawler on a #10 gold hook, small split shot and a bobber. A cast just short of the wing dam is made and then let the rig drift over the top. Normally this is a deadly way to put Gills on ice and a few did take the rig today but, with the gusting winds I didn’t like the way the rig was working so it was time to change things up.
Gill taken with Jig
My second favorite gill rig was put into action and produced non stop battles for the ultra light equipment. An orange 1/16oz jig head with a piece of crawler just long enough to have an enticing tail trailing was the ticket. Casting to the top of the wing dam and then bringing it back to the face put the jig in the proper location. There were a few jigs lost but if you are not losing a few jigs you are not in the fish Two different wing dams were hit too put a dozen gills at the 8 inch mark in the cooler with the crappies. The gills were on the inside of both wing dams, there is still a little more flow towards the outsides of the wing dams than the gills care for. Pool 8 has a great bite going on right now, get out and enjoy
Good luck fishing people Bret
Location
:
Wisconsin
Water Body
:
Mississippi River Pool 8
Species
:
panfish
Water Temp
:
75
Stage
:
5.61
Flow
:
31900
Technique
:
bobber fishing
-------------------- Bret Clark - IDO Ice Pro Staff "Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway."
Great report Bret and congrats to you on a very successful panfish day. There aren't too many guys out there that can catch both quality bluegills and crappies on the very same day and on the same body of water.
-------------------- Brad "Grifter" Juaire
IDO Field Staff
Nice report! I'm a little "bassed out" right now and I know some snags up on pool 6 that are going to get probed for "gruppies." (old timer's lingo) This is what I needed to hear!
Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies and Gills 7/13/0
Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies and Gills 7/13/0
You had a great week-end 
