Ron Barefield of McFarland lands a fat pike from Butternut Lake, where a one-fish, 32-inch daily bag limit runs up the possibility of a trip to the taxidermist after a day of fishing in the northwoods. Photo by Ted Peck.

Although winter officially arrives in the Land of Cheese just before Christmas, it may be early January before we can get a good handle on the hardwater season across the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin.

Last winter was a strange one by any measure around my home southwest of LaCrosse.

We were ice-fishing in Green Lake at Blackhawk Park near DeSoto on Pool 9 before the gun deer season even arrived in mid-November. Setting tip-ups Thanksgiving weekend is a tradition in the North Country. However, first ice -- at least, safe first ice -- has been pretty unusual the past few years from LaCrosse south. However, just when conditions pointed toward a long hardwater season, the weather warmed.

Global warming wasn't a major topic at the Great River Roadhouse until Christmas. On Dec. 27, the neighbors and I were still vertical jigging for catfish with blade baits below the Genoa Dam, and a sweatshirt was enough to keep you warm out there on the open water.

Was winter over before it even really started? This preposterous notion was dashed shortly after New Year's Day. Before it was all over, we were using hippers to wade through thigh-deep snow, and the power head on my Strikemaster gas auger was mere inches from kissing the ice when the blade finally found the river.

By mid-February, there was no further talk about global warming spewing from barstool pundits at the Roadhouse. An ambient temperature of minus 9 degrees at noon on Feb. 12 dashed even the thought. No one was out on the ice that day from Genoa Dam clear down to Ferryville. One wag even opined we would be using tip-ups on opening day of the spring fishing season on the first Saturday in May.

I stopped for coffee and to mull over a dilemma: Follow the entries in a fishing diary I've kept since 1976 or yield to common sense and go tie some buck-tailed jigs in front of the fireplace at home.

According to the diary, crappies have traditionally stacked up around several stumps pretty much due west of the Roadhouse around Valentine's Day. Although an arctic high-pressure system was definitely squeezing this part of the state, fish in a river system don't seem to be affected as much as their lake-borne brethren.

A little voice whispered, "You can only catch fish if your line's in the water," and won out over other mental muses based on sanity and common sense. Twenty minutes later, I was probing the first of a triad of holes poked with a hand auger. I never got to the third hole; the first two yielded a 25-fish limit of fat flopping crappies.

The area was still producing a month after this initial eureka moment. However, a secret spot doesn't hold this designation for long within sight of the Roadhouse and Highway 35 that runs in front of it.

Wisconsin is speckled with countless hardwater locales that hold perpetual promise for ice-anglers. Following is a look at some of the state's best deep-winter ice-fishing holes, beginning with the Mississippi River, considered by many to be the best multi-species fishery in the state.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Ice-fishing on the backwaters of the Father of Waters holds tremendous panfish potential from Onalaska south to the Illinois border on Pool 12. Although these sloughs vary considerably in character on the river's journey south, there seems to be one common key: Fishing tends to be best in those backwaters with little or no current.

In some cases, winter and early spring are the only times you'll find fishable populations in extremely shallow backwaters. And there are some winters where there can be less than a foot of water between the bottom of the ice and the bottom of the river.

Northern pike often inhabit the same areas, feeding on panfish in a vivid illustration of the predator-prey relationship. Pike in excess of 40 inches come through the ice every year.

Probably the best pike habitat on Pool 9 is south of the Highway 82 bridge, which spans the river south of DeSoto. On Pool 8, there is great piking just west of Stoddard, from the boat ramp behind the Thirsty Turtle to riprap-boxed weedbeds at the north end of town.