I have nothing to report about the Iowa Great Lakes, I haven't been able to get out for a week. I believe the bass have slowed down some. I know they are still getting crappie in the canals and off the grade but that has also slowed due to the cold rainy weather. BIG NEWS I failed to report that the spillway on Big Spirit is running, good news for fishing in East Lake where the spillway runs into East, walleye, silvers etc.
Well, I am off to Clear Lake, IA Friday, for the Heartland Chapter of Muskies Inc.'s annual Dale Ahrendt Muskie Spring Tune-Up. If you are a muskie hound I would encourage you to enter the tournament. It costs $25.00 and you get at least that much back in food. You can sign up at tournament headquarters "The Other Place" 200 Highway 18 West, Clear Lake, IA Friday night, or you can sign up at the boat ramp at McIntosh Park Saturday morning. The Heartland Chapter always has good food, a ton of door prizes and raffle items. I will report on Monday.
Of course you all know that the walleye opener is the following weekend, May 7th. I would encourage one and all to sign up for a chance at a $10,000.00 tagged walleye, all proceeds going to Easter Seals of course.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Boji Update
Well the tempo is picking up in the Iowa Great Lakes Region (Boji Land). Last weekend there was a bass tournament on Okoboji and on Spirit. The smallie bite continues to be hot for us. I took a drive around Big Spirit last Saturday and not one boat was on our spot or any spot like we were fishing. I didn't go to the weigh-in so I don't know how they did. Mark Mitchell and I took a run at both Big Spirit and West Okoboji last week and did well. The bass we caught on boji were not as big as the bass on Spirit. I believe the water temperature is the reason, Big Spirit was about 56-58 and West Okoboji was 48-51. The big females are up shallow on Spirit and not on Boji. The water temps are going to take a plunge tomorrow nite, lows expected to be in low 30's brr.
Rick Dicus, Harlan Herbst and I took another run at Silver Lake Sunday, it sucked. We got on the water at 8 AM in fog so thick you could hardly see the buoys at the boat ramp. After a little confusion until we found the point to follow, we pitched jigs from the southeast corner to Trapper Bay, Harlan caught one sheephead on a deadstick and crawler, and Rick and I missed one each. The walleye definitely were negative. Water temp warmed to 58 in the afternoon, still nothing. Rick caught a 13 incher on a Flasher Jig in the afternoon, and I got bit off by a Northern and that was it. Harlan got antsy about 3:30 so we quit, mistake. Leif from Hartley was just putting in when we took out, he said he killed them from 4:00 until dark on Saturday. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.
I talked to my good friend Scott Berry yesterday. He is just back from a GNWC tournament out on Lake Sharpe in South Dakota. He and his partner Curt had to fish in 35 MPH winds during the tournament, but they did fill a limit, good enough for 13th place just out of the money.
Rick Dicus, Harlan Herbst and I took another run at Silver Lake Sunday, it sucked. We got on the water at 8 AM in fog so thick you could hardly see the buoys at the boat ramp. After a little confusion until we found the point to follow, we pitched jigs from the southeast corner to Trapper Bay, Harlan caught one sheephead on a deadstick and crawler, and Rick and I missed one each. The walleye definitely were negative. Water temp warmed to 58 in the afternoon, still nothing. Rick caught a 13 incher on a Flasher Jig in the afternoon, and I got bit off by a Northern and that was it. Harlan got antsy about 3:30 so we quit, mistake. Leif from Hartley was just putting in when we took out, he said he killed them from 4:00 until dark on Saturday. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.
I talked to my good friend Scott Berry yesterday. He is just back from a GNWC tournament out on Lake Sharpe in South Dakota. He and his partner Curt had to fish in 35 MPH winds during the tournament, but they did fill a limit, good enough for 13th place just out of the money.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Big Spirit Bass Are Hot
Hello, all. I was able to get on the water Thursday afternoon with my good friend Mark Mitchell and after a good deal of searching we found the spot on the spot totally opposite of what we expected. We were looking for early season smallies on the rocks in the sun and they weren't there, they were in what little bits of weeds we could find. What a blast! We caught smallies, largemouth and silvers. The bait was either a medium size Rapala Husky Jerk or a Rapala DT6 both in Silver Minnow color. We did catch a few on Frenzies but the Husky Jerk was the best. What a blast, beautiful day on the water.
Again I was amazed by the Optima's. We got on the water about 2:30 and came off at 7:00, I plugged the charger in and went about the usual after trip boat chores and the green lights came on about 30 minutes later, granted the wind wasn't howling so I didn't have to run the trolling motor on high, but that is still pretty impressive to me. Later
Again I was amazed by the Optima's. We got on the water about 2:30 and came off at 7:00, I plugged the charger in and went about the usual after trip boat chores and the green lights came on about 30 minutes later, granted the wind wasn't howling so I didn't have to run the trolling motor on high, but that is still pretty impressive to me. Later
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
First Soft Water Outing Of The Season
Well, I finally was able to put the Ranger in the water and do a little walleye fishing this past weekend. Here is what went down. Sunday, Rick and I fished Silver Lake in Dickinson County to no avail, I lost one fish and Rick landed a 10 incher. A real disappointing trip, because the reports had been excellent. Evidently the bite had switched to evening because there were 5 guys in belly boats and an equal number in waders just west of the boat ramp when we came in Sunday night. BRRR, the water temp was 49.4.
Monday April 6th, we packed up and went to Storm Lake in Buena Vista County, and man am I glad we did. We caught 12 walleyes and kept 8 between 15 and 17 inches. We just couldn't get that last fish for 3 limits. Rick Dicus (Experience The Outdoors) and Harlan Herbst, (4 Seasons Bait and Tackle, Seney, IA), were in the boat with me. The pattern was Walleye Flasher Jigs and a minnow in 5-2 feet of water. It also seemed to help if you had a piece of Berkley Power Grub on the jig as well. The walleyes were really biting short, you had to feed it back to them if you felt them, it didn't help to have a stinger on, they ignored the offering completely if a stinger was added to the jig.
I was really impressed with the performance of my Optima batteries, the 3 D31M batteries had plenty of power to push the 74lb thrust trolling motor and run the live well, bait well, and all the electronics all day long both days. It takes about half the time to recharge them that it takes to charge the wet cells. I think I have convinced Rick to give them a try, I know he has ordered one to replace his cranking battery that was dead this spring. Anyway the the first trip of the year was a lot of fun with friends, with the bonus of catching a few fish.
Monday April 6th, we packed up and went to Storm Lake in Buena Vista County, and man am I glad we did. We caught 12 walleyes and kept 8 between 15 and 17 inches. We just couldn't get that last fish for 3 limits. Rick Dicus (Experience The Outdoors) and Harlan Herbst, (4 Seasons Bait and Tackle, Seney, IA), were in the boat with me. The pattern was Walleye Flasher Jigs and a minnow in 5-2 feet of water. It also seemed to help if you had a piece of Berkley Power Grub on the jig as well. The walleyes were really biting short, you had to feed it back to them if you felt them, it didn't help to have a stinger on, they ignored the offering completely if a stinger was added to the jig.
I was really impressed with the performance of my Optima batteries, the 3 D31M batteries had plenty of power to push the 74lb thrust trolling motor and run the live well, bait well, and all the electronics all day long both days. It takes about half the time to recharge them that it takes to charge the wet cells. I think I have convinced Rick to give them a try, I know he has ordered one to replace his cranking battery that was dead this spring. Anyway the the first trip of the year was a lot of fun with friends, with the bonus of catching a few fish.
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