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Posts: 89
| How's the fishing? Got out sat, had one mid 30s hooked up on a glider. It managed to spit it back at me.
Main lake was 46/48, fish was in a back cove at 54.
You guys having better luck? |
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Posts: 164
| Not an Iowa boy, but my son and I headed south today (Iowa). Just got home actually. Found 51 degrees. Fished only 5 hours. Didnt move one fish. Of course my son had 5 hits and missed on everyone (hehe). What a blast though, never fished Iowa before and enjoyed every minute. 5 hours on the water and not seeing any action but yet my 9 year old son kept at it every minute, never complained once. Great day. |
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Posts: 51
Location: Mound, MN | I was also down there Saturday, fished noon to dark. Water temps started at 46 and rose as high as 51 by mid-afternoon (all main-lake, didn't make it back into the more sheltered water). I got a 39 on a glider on a wind-blown shoreline (48 degree surface temp), but didn't move any other fish. Beautiful day to be out there.
Interested to hear what everyone else is seeing. |
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Posts: 83
Location: Des Moines Iowa | Fished Big Creek for about 3 hours this afternoon. Did not see a single fish. Highest water temp was 53. Have never seen the water so clear in that lake. I could see bottom in 14-15 feet of water even though it was cloudy, no sun at all. DNR had test nets out and I got chance to talk with them at the ramp. They said the Muskie population is looking better. The barrier at the spillway seems to be helping. They are seeing fish of all sizes in the nets, the biggest so far being 46 inches. Quite a few more fish this year than 4-5 years ago. |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | I'm one of the people who think most of the missing muskies from big creek ended up in a fish taco rather than saylorville. But that's just me |
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Posts: 83
Location: Des Moines Iowa | I'm sure that happens too. But too many Muskies have been caught below the Big Creek spillway not to realize that they come from Big Creek. Just wish I knew where they go in Saylorville. |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | Saylorville is all open water, no structure to fish really. I imagine they head into the Des Moines river in the spring to spawn then cruise for gizzard shad and white bass schools the rest of the year. Would be a lot of water between fish. High heat mortality during hot dry summers. |
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Posts: 83
Location: Des Moines Iowa | Some go through the Saylorville dam too. Been some big Muskies caught in the river below the dam. |
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Posts: 118
| Whats the closest water to the MN border with muskies? Might have to take myself a trip... this offseason crap is getting to me. |
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Posts: 38
| Clear Lake is 35-40 miles south on I-35 from Albert Lea |
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Posts: 118
| Any thought on whether its worth the trip to Clear Lake from the twin cities? Looks like at least a couple hours which is no problem as long as there are fish there for the catching. Didn't seem to be a whole lot of information online from what I have gathered thus far. Any pointers would be great. Would probably be heading down there in the next couple of weeks. |
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Posts: 89
| Check the tourney forum, clear lake is in a few weeks, great time, |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Iowa | ErockEsox - 4/8/2015 1:47 PM
Any thought on whether its worth the trip to Clear Lake from the twin cities? Looks like at least a couple hours which is no problem as long as there are fish there for the catching. Didn't seem to be a whole lot of information online from what I have gathered thus far. Any pointers would be great. Would probably be heading down there in the next couple of weeks.
Better to go to Palo...IMO...or wait till The IGL opens up
Edited by Big Perc 4/10/2015 7:22 AM
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Posts: 89
| Pulled 2 from clear yesterday, not monsters by anyone's standards both in the mid to low 30s, but feels nice to be on the board for the year. Anyone else moving fish? |
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Posts: 51
Location: Mound, MN | colinj8899 netted one for me Wednesday on Clear, about the same size as the one the week before. Besides that fish, we didn't couldn't find anything else which makes it tough to try to put a pattern together. |
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Posts: 89
| I managed to miss one on a glider today on brushy before the storms chased us off, My buddy who was on clear with me yesterday managed to tag a 40ish class fish from MacBride before he got blown off said he had a dozen follows of fish all sizes.
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Posts: 164
| Noy - 4/18/2015 8:42 PM
colinj8899 netted one for me Wednesday on Clear, about the same size as the one the week before. Besides that fish, we didn't couldn't find anything else which makes it tough to try to put a pattern together.
Yeah buddy, always happy to net some fish  I'm actually getting kind of good at it. She was a fat 39" with battle wounds all over. If you talk to the locals they are seeing skies all over the place on that lake. |
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Posts: 43
Location: Central IA | If I figured out the resizing program on the phone. Here are the two LongtimeLurker caught on Clear Lake last Friday
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image.jpg (111KB - 181 downloads)
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Posts: 89
| Sounds like the tournament on clear lake was great, 50 some guys catching almost as many fish as 102 teams on cave on the same day, how are the water temps,? They should come up nice this week. |
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Posts: 38
| Surface water temps were high 40s The fish I caught looked like she spawned, and you could actually see the spawning beds in the gravel in about 7-9 feet of water on the side scan image. Kinda cool! Very good day out on the water |
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Posts: 2012
| DocZ - 4/27/2015 4:53 PM
Surface water temps were high 40s The fish I caught looked like she spawned, and you could actually see the spawning beds in the gravel in about 7-9 feet of water on the side scan image. Kinda cool! Very good day out on the water
Except muskies don't make "spawning beds" .. beds in gravel are most likely from bass or bluegills.... |
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Posts: 38
| I don't doubt you but the water was awfully cold for spawning bluegill or bass |
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Posts: 51
Location: Mound, MN | Thinking of hitting Clear this Friday and Saturday. I haven't been down there since the tournament a couple weeks ago - anyone care to provide an update on the water temps or if/where they're seeing fish?
Let me know if you're going to out there this weekend, would love to compare notes. PMs appreciated if you don't want to broadcast on here. |
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Posts: 89
| My info is from last friday and conditions have changed a fair amount since then, we have been successful every trip so far this year on clear, locate warmest water and then work the nearest cover. Last friday was post frontal, prob same as this coming friday, erratic with long pauses was the ticket, did get a couple half hearted swipes on tail choppers. Brushy has been decent also with fish moving but not as consistent. Big creek is kicken my ass tho, prob 25 hours in on that lake this year and only one follow, fish was a TANK, but was super slow and lazy, I think it laughed when I tried to bring it into the 8.
Good luck |
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Posts: 323
Location: Waukee, IA | NOY....I will be out there friday and saturday in a black lund pro guide 1725, 75 merc on the back, tiller. Stop by and say hi if you like. |
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Posts: 83
Location: Des Moines Iowa | Had 1 follow on Big Creek Sunday. Also had a fish go streaking by the boat after a Lab jumped in the lake chasing a stick his owner threw right in the spot my next cast was going to. Looked like a Muskie but that might have been wishful thinking.
Edited by muskiebob1 5/7/2015 4:08 PM
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Posts: 12
| Been to Brushy once, had one small follow and one large one strike at my buddies spinnerbait. Other than that, haven't seen much. Heading there tomorrow. |
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Posts: 51
Location: Mound, MN | Put in a full day on Clear today. The first ~8 hours were something of a grind as I had a follow and put a 37 in the net. The evening major really made our day. I missed a fish that hit way out, my buddy boated a 32, he had a hit next to the boat that didn't get any hooks (~3 casts later) and he boated a 35, all in the matter of about an hour. We didn't check the solunar table until we got off the lake, and it may have been pure coincidence, but the fish really turned on "right on schedule".
A huge thanks to the net man today. I was battling the wind and some structure concerns with my fish, and he picked a small but perfect window to net the fish. His smaller fish hit right next to the boat right as I made a long cast, and he recognized the fish wasn't hooked well and was able to scoop it right as the hook popped out. We easily could have lost either fish, the luck was definitely on our side today.
Looks like the weather is going to hold for at least another day. Good luck to everyone that gets out this weekend. |
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Posts: 12
| Went to Brushy on Sat for a few hours. Caught one 36 incher on topwater, awesome strike. It was beat up pretty bad with lots of spawning marks. |
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Posts: 51
Location: Mound, MN | Boat's full. Good luck to everyone that gets out this weekend.
Edited by Noy 5/14/2015 6:31 PM
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