Finally the temps rose well above zero in Minnesota on Wednesday and I decided to head to the Mississippi River in Monticello for a little shore fishing.  I figured for a pretty good day with an active bite.  I wasn't quite right on that one.  My friend Chris and I headed to our first spot and ran into my friends Rich Lindgren and David Cindrich from the Gopher Bassmasters. 

Chris and I were both throwing 3" watermelon seed tubes on weighted exposed hooks. The first spot we tried yielded nothing.  At the next stop I managed to catch two (one of them is pictured above) but my friend Chris was still getting skunked.  Though it didn't seem like anyone was really hammering them, from those we spoke with. 

When we moved locations Chris switched over to a floating jointed Rapala minnow in a firetiger color and caught one close to the bank on his third cast.  I remained with the soft plastics trying some various craw baits, the Lake Fork Tube Craw and the Berkley Power Bait Chigger Craw with no success.  So we left late afternoon with only 3 fish total but we both said it was fun being able to wet a line in the frozen tundra without drilling a hole first. 

Friday I am heading to Minnetonka with Sport Smith to help him with a group of folks that want to go ice fishing...most of them for the first time.  I will have some pics and a report on my next blog entry.
 
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