Dresbach Revisited

[innate123]

Hey gents/gals:

I'll be out of town AGAIN...so no fishing this weekend...but if someone could let me know if we got any ice up at the dam it would be great...i'm Xing my fingers with the cold weather..but havent heard much about dresbach lately...

frozentoes...did you fall in? where are all of your local reports..hehe..

tim

[frozen toes]

Innate- I am still dry, LOL. I have not been out a whole lot lately and when I do get out, it has been very tough fishing to say the least. The best luck I have had was at Third Lake last Sunday. It was bitter cold, but a few fish were biting. I just got back from Onalaska and never even got a bite. I have heard there are people on the ice at Dresbach now. A couple people have made it half way to the short wall. I am not sure how much more fishing I am going to do this year if things do not change soon.

[innate123]

heya..

ya that is why i'm hoping to get out at dresbach...i'd much rather get skunked there fishing eyes and saugers then put in all the work for a small amount and small size panfish....i'll be checking dresbach out later this week hopefully...

tim

[frozen toes]

I just read another report that there were quite a few guys fishing by the short wall now. It is now known if they are catching anything yet, but there seems to be good ice quite a ways out. What do you use to fish there? I have always been leary of fishing the river through the ice. I think I am free tomorrow, might have to venture over there.

[muskybuck]

Frozen Toes, Use jigging rapalas and swedish pimples, and buck shot rattle spoons and so forth tipped with part of a minnow and fish them right on the bottom. Stir up the bottom a little bit. They like to pick them up right off the bottom once in a while. Use strong enough line so you can set the hook good. Especially with the raps. Be careful and use your chisel to check where you go. Some of those guys out there push their luck a little.

[frozen toes]

I chickened out and went to Black Deer instead today. The fish were biting very well, just not much for size. But, the ice was tricky. With all the snow cover, it is impossible to read the ice. We started out fishing with 6 inches of ice. We then moved about 75 yards and that was a whole different ballgame. We heard the ice cracking and decided to kick the snow away from the ice and have a look. It took about two turns with the auger to break a hole. Needless to say we backed out of there real slow. The shore line was dotted with open patches of ice that was filled with shad. They were so thick in there you could see them with their backs sticking out of the water. The shad this year are disgustingly thick. I am not sure if we will ever catch many bass and norterns this year on tipups due to them. But, the gills were biting on marmooskas tipped with waxies or red spikes. We also caught a few on forage minnows (small), and rockers.

[frozen toes]

Drove bu Dresbach today and there were lots of people out fishing. They had the vehicles parked on the ice and they were fishing just about everywhere between the two walls.

[muskybuck]

Drove by Dresbach yesterday morning and last night and there were a lot of people fishing way out next to wall and close to the second wall. Some people had even walked across and were fishing the other side. I will be checking it out this afternoon and post what I see.

[frozen toes]

Fished Dresbach this afternoon and it was HOT. We started fishing around 4 and quit at 6. I ended up with a nice 16 inch eye and several sauger the same size. All were caught on a firetiger jigging rap and a blue/silver shad rap. They were fished plain with no bait. My buddy and I were nailing them while everyone around us was not doing to hot. We definitely got lucky and hit a good hole.

[muskybuck]

Went out this afternoon also and caught some saugers. The bigger ones were 14-15 inches. Caught only one walleye, a small one. Ice is approx six inches with water coming on top. Another nice day and it will be all over out there I think.

[innate123]

hey..

sounds good let me know..i'm in balmy california...but i still had to check out the forum...

i'll be back home..to the cold sunday...we were at dresbach last weekend..and it was slow...

i even met frozen toes...was nice to puta face to a name...altho..we are both unsitely..lol

tim

[frozen toes]

muskybuck-Where were you fishing at? We were about 30 yards off the long wall toward the main channel. We were there until 6. We sure had a blast for the hour and a half we were there. We caught 16 fish, ranging from 10-16 inches. We also lost 6 at the hole. We went out this morning and got four 12-15 inch sauger. It was windy and COLD, and the bite was slow. These fish all came from way up toward the lock. We ran into 2 inch ice in places, but we also had 9 inches of ice in most places. The only problem we had was on Sat evening where the snow melted into slush and made a crust. The ice should still be good for awhile. I would not even think about crossing to the other side like some were doing. Common sense has left some for sure.

[muskybuck]

Frozen Toes, I was even with the end of the long wall and about 50 yards towards the middle. We were not too far apart. I left about 6pm also. Between my son and I we kept 8 saugers.

[frozen toes]

Went out to Dresbach from 10-3, very slow bite. I did not even get a bite. I did see a handful of small ones caught by people fishing in the middle ofthe channel. No walleye is worth that to me so I went home empty handed. I am going to head out about the same time tomorrow and bring some fatheads to see if they want that. Seems like an evening bite around there.

[frozen toes]

Isn't anybody fishing the dam around here? I have spent quite a few days out there and have done well last week. The bite for me has been really good starting around 4 until dark. It might still be good after dark, but I usually head in then. I had a very large walleye on the other night. I had a 6 inch hole and could barely get it up through the hole. Then the line broke and off went the fish. We have been catching mostly saugers using jigging raps with and without minnows. The ice is 6-10 inches where I have been fishing.

[innate123]

heya..

i havent been out there...just too busy...we fished trempealeau this a.m....was cold and really slow...just some small ones..

saw one old guy catching some nice saugers...but slow for him as well...couldn't tell what he was using...but it wasn't a rap...

tim

[frozen toes]

Fished Dresbach today from 11-6:15-very slow. Between 5 of us we iced maybe 6 fish with 1 being keeper sized. We lost quite a few before they got to the hole, but still extremelly slow compared to the rest of the week. I am using raps, blade baits, and grubs.