Wisconsin - Mississippi River Pool 8 - Panfish Fishing Report at IDOfishing.com

Mike with a wood pile crappie

Mike C and myself for the most part keep an empty freezer of fish, but hungry for a fish fry, we decided it was time to check out one of are favorite submerged brush piles hoping to put some nice specks on ice. Knowing crappies are early risers we were on the water shortly after 6am willing to serve up crappie minnows for breakfast. By 6:15 the underwater brush pile was found and marked, we then pulled off it a good 25-30yards up wind and parked the boat. It wasn’t long and bobbers were down with light action rods doubled over

Average specks for the frier

Two essential tools today were a marker buoy and good anchor. Mike’s water spike held us dead in a gusty South wind while the buoy made a great target for bait placement Casting down wind is the only way to go with light tackle and when fishing in an open area it dose not take much to cast baits just outside of the strike zone without a reference point.
The marker was sitting on the top of a wood pile in 25fow. The brush jets up to just 6 feet below the surface making for some of the best crappie structure in any waters. After making a few different depth settings with the bobber it didn’t take long to figure out 7 foot below is where the baits needed to be early morning

Another piece to the puzzle, these fish were more willing too take anything with white on it.

ratso/minnow crappies

A small white head from a ratso or mini mite tipped with a minnow was by far the most productive for me, Mike tried a variety and found white to be the best color also. With that said, there were specks taken on a plain hook and minnow along with a Slender Spoon over the side of the boat. A pinky tipped with a minnow made for good action, again white but with hair. Later into the morning staying on the active fish had us again changing are depth to a foot or two deeper and cast made tighter to the wood. With consistent action we were able to score on 15 specks a piece, Perfect for a fish fry each

The majority size of what was kept were just short of 11 inches to 113/4. We did throw a few of the 10 inch fish (which seemed to be plentiful) in the mix.

Bonus 34" pike

2 bonus fish making for fun on the light tackle were a Channel cat and a 34 inch Northern. Mike had a good time with his channel cat and 3lb line, it sure had him doubled over and just did not want to come up to the top for a picture. The lip hooked Northern gave my light tackle a test for the money too, the President Micro Spinning reel sang pretty with some long runs of 4lb spooling off

You never know what the river is going to give up on any given day

With the right equipment we were able to turn what could have been a frustrating boat control day into a great outing. Enjoy your fish fry buddy Mike

Good luck fishing people

Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies

Re: Mississippi River Pool 8 Crappies