One Last Hu-Rah!

Sunday, March 15th.

Felt like a 7 year old confined to my bed at 4:00am on a Christmas morning Still a solid 2 & ½ hours before the first hint of daylight and a Crappie hunt. Thanks to a hearty meal of shrimp skewer & Mr. Budweiser the night before I managed to drift in & out of sleep passing the last sand hour
AM Crappie were where they’re supposed to be this time of year and as an added bonus doing what I wanted to them to do! Orange baitless Lil Cecils produced a handful of 8 to 9 inch Mississippi River papermouths before the sun came over the bluff. Sandwiched in between the “wanted” was the “unwanted” – LMB. Three plus pounders are an absolute hoot to spend 5 or so minutes doing the tango with on a 28” medium spinning rod. Leave your tips-ups behind some time and try it….you’ll like it! And talk about crowd pleasers and head turners! Not one but two individuals came over to key in coordinates on their H20’s. The early morning crappie bite was eventually completely over taken by the LMB. That’s when the Cecil went back in the box and out come the #12 Fire Tiger Diamond. First, tearing the buttocks out of a waxie as so to pollute the under water world, then strategically hooking him by the head making for a perfect “I Surrender” white flag presentation with the Diamond. It didn’t take 2 minutes waving that flag before the pole went down. As you can imagine the Abu Garcia pro guide series drag was set pretty liberal with all them LMB in the neighborhood. This particular fish took line at will at first but was not accompanied with any Pit-bull like headshakes once a little pressure to come top side was applied. Curiosity was getting the best of this cat as to what I had on. Certainly wasn’t no LMB and this is the Mississippi were you never truly know what’s gonna take to the liking of your presentation! Careful not to horse too hard I took my time and got her vertical in the hole. One quick peak over the edge and ~WOW~CRAPPIE~ I wasn’t too bashful about getting a wet sleeve to assist her horizontal & top side. A fellow bucketeer happened to be carrying a tape. She was a few little ticks away from the 14” mark with a set of back straps to rival a 200 lb field dressed buck. Not quite a Rainy Lake monster but easily the largest Pool 9 crappie I’ve iced all winter. After a measurement & couple quick pics with the Razor back down the hole she went……By mid morning a warm southern breeze with hint of maple was enough to make any big round white objects with a corncob pipe and a button nose board a Burlington headed north. A sharp and settle reminder that this would in all likely hood be my last day on the hard water of the season.

Stepped off the ice to assist my wife with some mid afternoon chores before heading back out to catch the PM bite. This time Perch was on the agenda. Conditions had changed drastically from a mere 7 hours ago. Clarity went from “good” to “poor”. Could no longer see a white nuclear ant a mere foot below the bottom edge of the ice! With that I cycled through a mix of purple, pink, and black Cecils. Marks in a hole prior to dropping a jig scattered once the jig reached target areas. Fish were definitely a little skittish with the declined visibility. Wasn’t until I dropped a gold cecil tipped with a waxie did I get a positive result icing a nice female stripe back. Eggs just oozing out of her better half. Very slow jigging presentation within 6” of the floor in a 10 foot column yielded 9 perch and 2 short walleye in an hour half leading up to sunset. Every one of the perch was spewing eggs and was quick to return to the water. I estimate (scooper method) we lost a solid 2 inches of ice yesterday. The ice I was on after the perch had that little spongy step to it. There was a solid 10” yet but given the 5 day forecast – if temps hit the marks predicted - by next weekend a person may as well carry a bar of soap with em if attempts to access the ice on Pool 9 are made. The walk off the ice as the sun settled over my shoulder was a truly sad walk. Hopefully my new Avid series rod will make the next 9 months pass a little faster….