Water is back up in the trees AGAIN on the Upper Miss–3rd time since ‘first ice’ a couple months ago.

Tailwaters of Dresbach dam and Genoa dam both open. Access is easier at Dresbach in this unusually warm January.

rising waters are moving fish AGAIN from favorite winter haunts. Fish really don’t want to expend energy moving if they don’t have to. But hanging in the current is not an option so they are following food to places they wouldn’t think of locating in a ‘normal’ winter.

Most of the backwaters have 5-7″ of decent ice. toughest part is getting on it as the shoreline is ever-changing.

Besides locating in extremely low current areas, water clarity is a key. It takes a couple days for the water column to settle down after levels peak. Looks like we’re there now, so fishin’ should be good again by about Wednesday.

Was on fish all day today, but with the exception of a couple small gills they were all frosting lickers. fish looked at both horizontal and vertical presentations but would not commit.

They surely would have started to bite if somebody stayed out there long enough. But a couple of dinky gills after sitting on a bucket 4 hours sort of takes the fun out of fun fishin’.

Always figured the “back 9” of winter shows up here about Valentine’s Day with consistently easy fishin’ until the ice goes out. Until then there is only one universal truth; YOU CAN’T CATCH ANY FISH IF YOUR LINE ISN’T IN THE WATER!