Lacrosse to Winona Ice Fishing Road Trip

[JIvers]

I started out this morning on Lake Onalaska off of Schaeffers. Plenty of people driving their vehicles out off the landing, although no one was driving as far as the airport landing lights. I found about 16" of ice, although the top four or five inches was packed slush, not solid ice.

On Onalaska, I caught some small crappie and sunny (nothing over 7") in 22' of water. Those small fish were picky, and would take some time before hitting just the right bait (a white spike on a small pink jig). Nothing on the tip-up. After a couple hours of that I loaded up my gear and headed to Winona.

There is open water at the lock and dam at Dresbach down to below the end of the lock; no ice fishing for walleye and sauger there any time real soon.

I wanted to get some crappie, walleye, or sauger at the spillway in Winona, but I had a few hours to kill before that bite started, so I went out to Bartlett Lake, AKA the airport lake, and caught a few small sunnies. Nothing on the tip-up. Ice there was about 12", but the top few inches was hard-packed slush. No one drove a vehicle out, which was a wise choice.

Also saw some portables out on Lake Winona, but no vehicles.

I found about 8 to 10" of ice at the Spillway, depending on where I drilled, but again the top was hard-packed slush. I caught a 13" walleye and a small sauger between 4:30 and 5:00, along with a few lookers. No crappie.

And that ended my first trip of the year to the Mississippi in Minnesota.