Well despite our best efforts to get on the hard water in Illinois, mother nature was against us and we had to go and take a visit to our neighbor to the west....Heaven....or is it Iowa
! Through much planning and consternation, several spot changes the last week of planning, and a lot of help from friendly board members in Iowa we finally hit the ice near Guttenberg, IA; what a cool town that is along the Mighty Miss. We fished a backwater called Bussey Lake...got schooled the first day, did better the second, and put a nice beating on the last day. Here's a few pics of our one trip for 2013
:
After a stop at this really cool bait shop and a conversation with the owner our confidence was high:
But with all these signs in town and advice from fellow-fisherman we weren't quite sure which way to go though:
We stayed at this really cool place called The Landing, just below Pool 10. Turns out it used to be a booming button factory many years ago using the "river clams" to stamp out....buttons:
For example, here's a pic of one of the stamping machines and its handy work:
One of the coolest things about the area is the amount of eagles below the lock and dam. There are swans, eagles, and ducks in this picture:
With hopes of catching some Yellow Perch, we mostly salvaged the trip on Crappie and Bluegill:
I was lucky to catch the biggest Crappie. What was weird is that there couldn't have been more than three feet of water below the 16-18" of ice. I/we had little experience fishing skinny water, but we eventually adapted:
So all in all we had great weather, solid ice, we caught fish, and met some of the nicest anglers and people west of the Mississippi. I can't believe all the helpful people we met prior to the trip on IceShanty and on the ice....really great folks. Maybe some of that goodwill might spread to the Illinois board
!?
tight lines and bouncing spring bobbers until next year fellow Ice Nuts!
ratsotail
