ADVERTISEMENT

Ice Fishing Report

jellyfish10

jellyfish10

HR Legend
Aug 10, 2009
22,764
24,137
113
Anyone been out much this year? I have only been out a few times in the CV with minimal luck. Had some luck with northern on tip-ups but nothing earth shattering. Heading up to Clear Lake tomorrow to try our luck. Sounds like the fishing up there has been pretty good. Looking forward to ice out on the Wapsi/Cedar.
 
We called a few weeks ago to get a report - and never made it out. Be CAREFUL! We just had 3 people die the other day here in Creston. 68, 71 74 on 4-5 inches of ice. May have been under water for 6-7 hours before discovered missing.
 
Originally posted by kcoop35:
We called a few weeks ago to get a report - and never made it out.  Be CAREFUL!  We just had 3 people die the other day here in Creston.  68, 71 74 on 4-5 inches of ice.  May have been under water for 6-7 hours before discovered missing.  
Click to expand...


I saw that coop. Pretty horrible. I have a friend that was on the rescue dive team here and he has scolded me many times about safety. I take a pfd and a self arrest ax even though we should still have 15" of ice.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Southern guy like me always wanted to try that one time. What happens if you need to take a dunk ?
3dgrin.r191677.gif
 
Lute-

Late ice can be
Some of the best
Fishing of the season.

I hate ice fishing. So much I turned down a trip to Lake Erie. My buddies are slamming huge walleye right now. I am now regretting not going. I had another buddy catch a 24" rainbow at backbone yesterday.

I took my son out on Sunday and there was 16" of ice. The ice conditions are deteriorating quickly with the warm up and the wind.

With any luck I will be on pool 4 tomorrow at this time.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
One of the people who died it was his FIRST TIME EVER ice fishing! Sad story. He grandson is one of my students.

That is 5 in about 2-3 years we have lost. Had 2 10-11 year old boys fall in last year.
 
I remember hearing about a some prostitutes getting busted on some lake in Minnesota several years ago. Seems they were going from one shack to the next.
 
Yes, that was on Otter Tail Lake near Fergus
Falls, Minnesota. The prostitutes pleaded
no contest.
 
Originally posted by kcoop35:
One of the people who died it was his FIRST TIME EVER ice fishing!  Sad story.  He grandson is one of my students.  

That is 5 in about 2-3 years we have lost.  Had 2 10-11 year old boys fall in last year.  
Click to expand...


Man that is really horrible. Thoughts and prayers.

Cadet...good luck. Give us a report after the weekend.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Went Sunday in the Ames area, no luck. There was about 6" then. That will be my last time out, getting pretty warm out and ready for some soft water fishing or golf.
 
Originally posted by jellyfish10:
Originally posted by kcoop35:
We called a few weeks ago to get a report - and never made it out. Â Be CAREFUL! Â We just had 3 people die the other day here in Creston. Â 68, 71 74 on 4-5 inches of ice. Â May have been under water for 6-7 hours before discovered missing. Â
Click to expand...


I saw that coop. Pretty horrible. I have a friend that was on the rescue dive team here and he has scolded me many times about safety. I take a pfd and a self arrest ax even though we should still have 15" of ice.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Click to expand...
I live in Davenport and fished in our rather large farm pond and put in a dozen holes that averaged 14-16 inches. how the hell could Creston pond only have 4-5 inches? Has anyone heard more on this? Sad ordeal to here 3 old boys having fun to end like this is horrible. Old farm boy back here said they may have been fishing above a under ground stream which can cause thiner ice in that area.
 
Fished a couple of ponds last weekend in NW IA with about 6-8 inches of BAD ICE. Cant imagine fishing on 4 inches of ice this time of year. It is so honeycombed at this point. The auger rips thru the top half if about 3 spins and it comes out in big chunks.There is a big difference between 4 inches of dark, hard ice and 4 inches of white, soft ice.
 
Went out today and ice was12 inches down from 15 yesterday. going out tomorrow again but walking out on 10 ft plank from edge to be safe. I always tie off rope to bank and pull along no matter how thick it is with tire tube on the end of it. My partner always snickers about that....screw him.lol. Tomorrow will be last day for both of us. Be safe fellas
 
So the ice was still good in Clear Lake. There were a few sketchy areas, but we pulled out shacks, gear, etc with a four wheeler. We caught some small walleye, a couple nice crappie, and 200 or so yellows and kept 140. Great day to be on the ice. Nicest weather I've ever ice fished in.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Originally posted by jellyfish10:
So the ice was still good in Clear Lake. There were a few sketchy areas, but we pulled out shacks, gear, etc with a four wheeler. We caught some small walleye, a couple nice crappie, and 200 or so yellows and kept 140. Great day to be on the ice. Nicest weather I've ever ice fished in.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Click to expand...
I'm around an hour-in-a-half to two hours south of Clear Lake and I quit fishing down here last Saturday while a few friends went out on Sunday. But Sunday was the last day....

The ponds and lakes are starting to break through as of yesterday. I will be shocked if they are not mostly open after today. I was fishing on the Raccoon River yesterday and may head back out this afternoon in hopes of landing some Walleye.
 
Originally posted by hexumhawk:

While I love fishing, I have never understood the allure of Ice Fishing; especially this time of year.
Click to expand...
Yep. Hey thanks retired guy for taking 75 bluegills out a day. Not like any other fishermen want to catch any the rest of the year or anything.

I wish on the Mississippi that it was outlawed.

Edited to add that how in the wide wide world of sports does ANYBODY need 200 fish. That is utterly ridiculous. Save some for somebody else.

Gawd ice fishermen piss me off...
This post was edited on 3/13 1:01 PM by bagdropper
 
Originally posted by bagdropper:
Originally posted by hexumhawk:

While I love fishing, I have never understood the allure of Ice Fishing; especially this time of year. 
Click to expand...
Yep. Hey thanks retired guy for taking 75 bluegills out a day. Not like any other fishermen want to catch any the rest of the year or anything.

I wish on the Mississippi that it was outlawed.

Edited to add that how in the wide wide world of sports does ANYBODY need 200 fish. That is utterly ridiculous. Save some for somebody else.

Gawd ice fishermen piss me off...
This post was edited on 3/13 1:01 PM by bagdropper
Click to expand...


The yellow bass population in Clear Lake is insane. There is NO LIMIT. We threw at least 70 back. A 7" yellow is a fish chip. Nothing more. I am a great steward of the land. You don't know what you are talking about.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Furthermore, the fish we kept was split up between 4 anglers...that is maybe one third of a big freezer bag. The guts were put out for coons, birds, etc. Certain guys will tell you to throw yellows out on that lake if you don't want them because of their rate of reproduction. We kept two (2) crappie, the rest were yellows. Your point works in some scenarios, but you are way, way off in mine.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Sooner or later, they will get wiped out.

The Mississippi is a shadow of what it was like when I was a kid. Having to deal with the silting in of winter hiding spots because of farming and barge churn is bad enough with people slaughtering them in the few winter holes there are in there nowadays. Hell on my pool (11), the walleye, sauger, crappie and bluegill populations are imho a tenth of what they were when I was a kid (early 70's). They've had to restrict winter fishing on other pools to resuscitate the populations recently if my memory is good.

Now Clear Lake...yes, they have a massive yellow population. And yes you need to filter through them to get anything above a chip. But this is Iowa...my experience is it's quality of fish is not very good because of over-fishing. We aren't Minnesota and Wisconsin with thousands of lakes each to spread out the pressure. I don't even bother to fish the waters around CR any more because all you seem to catch is dinks, sheep head or catfish. I want to be able to walk along shore just about anywhere, throw a line in and catch quality fish like it used to be. There plainly aren't enough Clear Lakes around.

I just think it's wrong.
 
Originally posted by jellyfish10:
Furthermore, the fish we kept was split up between 4 anglers...that is maybe one third of a big freezer bag. The guts were put out for coons, birds, etc. Certain guys will tell you to throw yellows out on that lake if you don't want them because of their rate of reproduction. We kept two (2) crappie, the rest were yellows. Your point works in some scenarios, but you are way, way off in mine.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Click to expand...
What is a yellow bass?

Is that what you northern Iowa guys call perch?
 
Originally posted by torbee:

Originally posted by jellyfish10:
Furthermore, the fish we kept was split up between 4 anglers...that is maybe one third of a big freezer bag. The guts were put out for coons, birds, etc. Certain guys will tell you to throw yellows out on that lake if you don't want them because of their rate of reproduction. We kept two (2) crappie, the rest were yellows. Your point works in some scenarios, but you are way, way off in mine.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Click to expand...
What is a yellow bass?

Is that what you northern Iowa guys call perch?
Click to expand...
Never mind. I see it is these:

yellowbass.gif


Among me and my angling friends on the Mississippi we call both those and the white bass "stripers", even though that's not technically correct.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

cigaretteman

Climate change is altering Earth’s rotation enough to mess with our clocks

Replies
9
Views
269
Off Topic
Sharky1203
Sharky1203
RicoSuave102954

For UPS employees and their swell new contract the hits just keep coming!

Replies
3
Views
305
Off Topic
jayhawks65
J
cigaretteman

Iowa’s state parks need $100M in infrastructure repairs

Replies
81
Views
1K
Off Topic
Joes Place
Joes Place
Sharky1203

Climate Hoax

Replies
34
Views
587
Off Topic
ConvenientParking
ConvenientParking
cigaretteman

Pentagon report finds no evidence of alien visits, hidden spacecraft

Replies
4
Views
100
Off Topic
lucas80
lucas80
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back