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| We want to fish spring lake this weekend and was wondering if anyone knows if the ice will be off by that time with the warm weather?
Thanks
Dan |
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| I've already read reports of guys catching fish. Anyone know when the dnr starts netting the brood stock. I've heard thats when the fishing dies for the year. |
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| Call the hatchery and ask. |
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Posts: 284
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I really wish you hadn't posted under "guest" so that I could PM you and help you out with the information you are requesting. |
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Posts: 70
| PM me and help me out w/ the info.
Heard it has been getting pounded pretty hard down there |
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Posts: 68
| Sorry I was on my phone and its just easier to post if I don't have to go through the hassle of logging in. |
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| DNR told me they had a bad winter kill out there.. |
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Posts: 91
| Interesting report from the DNR. I was on the lake a couple of weeks ago and even though we didn't have much luck others did. There was a father/son who had 11 fish by afternoon. |
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| Sounds like a great outing for that father/son team! Did they say how many were under 30"? Hopefully very few! |
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| has anyone ever fished the pike side? any size over there or just snakes? |
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Posts: 20212
Location: oswego, il | Never fished the south end but there is some cypress trees which is cool to see. |
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Posts: 91
| There are 40" plus fish in the north lake but most of the fish we catch are in the 30's range. Its also a good bass lake with reports of 10 pounders in the past. The south lake has pike and not sure of sizes because I have only fished it once. Both lakes are shallow.
Edited by Hoffy 3/2/2012 4:25 PM
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| what was the largest pike you caught on the south side? how many did you get? |
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Posts: 108
Location: Crystal Lake,Illinois 60014 | The deep holes on the "South lake" can be fun for pike. Decent average of 34"-43".
I havent fished it since 08, but solid lake with plenty of action, north for muskies is a light switch, so south is an option.
Nettings always produce a ton of females, usually have enough in 1-2 days of netting. |
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Posts: 68
| Well I requested off work a while back for tomorrow and was planning on making the drive out to spring lake. I have never ben there so I dont know how the lake is when there are high winds, forecast says 20-30mph with gusts to 40. The temps are also supposed to hit 60. Anyone think it will be worth the 2.5 hour drive? I really wanted to get out there before they started netting |
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Posts: 160
| Was there last wed. When it was windy like its supposed to be tomorrow ...lake was chocolate milk by 10 am...might want to wait for a better drive |
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Posts: 553
Location: 15 miles east of Lake Kinkaid | I second what esox said. That lake sucks when it's windy. There is nowhere to get out of the wind and it's so shallow it stirs up the whole basin into chocolate milk. |
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Posts: 68
| How bad does the netting affect the fishing? I would really like to get out there before it gets too warm. |
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| It's not the netting that "hurts" the fishing, it's what causes them to get into the nets in the first place that hurts the fishing. When do the hatchery guys set the nets? What is happening at that time of year that pretty much shuts down fishing everywhere else with no closed seasons in the spring?
You answer that and you've got your answer as to why. |
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| hey guys I'm from Chicago and just got a steal on a 14 foot tracker last November. I'm itching like a hound to get her on the water n get some slime on the carpet so I took a few vacation days march 18 and 18 and I'm heading to spring lake for the first time. I fish muskies quite often but only by my families cottage in the upper peninsula, I've never fished muskies in IL. any tips or pointers (lure selection, spots, even local bait shop locations would help) that you could share would be great really excited to get down there. thanks guys |
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Location: Illinois | word to the wise, the IMTT will be fishing here March 17-18, so do what you want to do, but good luck finding parking at the ramp. There are plenty of spots open for the tourney if you care to do so. |
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| figures the one time I take vacation something like that would happen. am I even going to be able to launch? I'm going do arrive around 6:30 am on the 18th. n I was also wondering if the campground is open yet? and I will be able to fish the 19th as well so I'm still gonna go down either way. thanks for the info |
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Location: Illinois | Hard luck man, it's too bad for you. I've fished this tourney for 3 of the past 4 years, and two things are pretty constant- it's crowded and crappy outside. You may find a parking spot at 6:30, you may not. There is parking for 20some rigs on the south launch to Spring Lake North, and it's full or near full before 6AM. Tourney starts at 7AM both Saturday and Sunday. I believe there is a launch somewhere on the north end(by the campground?) so if you go, I'd definitely try that. There's enough fish for everyone. Just wouldn't be my idea of enjoying a vacation fishing a smaller body of water with a tourney on it. |
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Posts: 284
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Nets go in today unless the wind keeps them off the lake, otherwise tomorrow unless the wind keeps them off the lake. In that case it will be Thursday ... etc |
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| how many fish do they take and how long until they are returned? |
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Posts: 455
| Why not just fish the tourney. Its not like Spring Lake is difficult to fish. Throw small baits and cast everywhere. |
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| The nets are in! This will make for some tough fishing for awhile. I would not make the ride. Drove to the lake today and went to put the boat and walked out of the truck and realized it was about 5 mph away from being a tornado and then tried the back waters with no luck. |
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Posts: 2024
| Was at Jake Wolf today. The smaller nets are in, tomorrow the larger fyke nets get deployed. If any of you have ever wanted to check out the hatchery, I'd encourage you to do so. Great folks and the facility is pretty amazing (one of the most unique around, capable of producing cold water species up to very warm water fishes too). Tons of trout and salmon in the indoor holding tanks and several thousand pike fry as well. |
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| I would love to fish that tournament. but unfortunately one of my jobs is at a bar and I cannot take St pattys off. I work a ton between three jobs just wanted to see if I could squeeze a quick down state fishing trip without taking any of my vacation time from my full time job. but best of luck to those of you who are fishing it. maybe ill run into you while I'm down there. |
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Posts: 115
| I went to spring lake yesterday and ran into the dnr guy at the boat ramp. The water has hit 50 degrees and the fish will start to spawn very soon. Gonna be a real tough bite for a week or two. Dnr guy also told me that they've already netted about 400 fish with the biggest being 49.5"!! Who says there's no big fish in Spring lake! We fished hard and only had 1 fish about 24" follow. If you are planning a road trip in the next week or two, I'd save my gas money if i were you. |
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