Clear Lake Anglers

Considering the fact that there hasn’t been a post in the Clear Lake Forum in over a year makes me worried I won’t get much info.

I live in Minnesota. I have a friend in Waterloo that is going to me at Clear Lake for some camping and fishing. We are staying in mid July.

So… Average Angler coming into an unknown lake. Every lake has it’s little subtle quirks and the tricks that work. Those that fish it often knows it’s secrets.

If anyone is willing to share the wisdom for fishing Clear Lake in the warm month of July I would greatly appreciate it. Don’t want to share it with everyone then PM me and I’ll keep it to myself.

GPS coordinates would be great too. I’m a walleye guy but my buddy is a “whatever’s biting” guy. I’d love to tie him into a Muskie if we can get lucky.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Not too familiar with Clear Lake, but when I have gone there, the bait shops have been very helpful.

Yep, check the bait shops. At that time of the year at Clear Lake you will need to troll to find the walleye. For just fishing, the yellow bass bite is pretty good. Again, if you just troll some spinners in front of the Baptist camp and around the narrows going into the little lake you will contact fish, most likely Yellows. Once you locate them, you and drift around the area and catch more. Walleyes are a bit tougher and will require more trolling. If you can get out early in the morning, you can do fairly well on the “reefs”. You will want to fish during the week, by weekend time, it is crazy with boaters. I live close by and NEVER fish on the weekend. If you camp at Macintosh, you can fish the little lake very easy and in the reeds the bluegill bite happens. There is a good population of nice crappies, but by July they will be hard to find also. Like any nice walleye lake, use the wind to your favor, and good luck.

been on Clear Lake a few times, and X2 on the local bait shops being very helpful…

if you look at a map, the large lake to the west is generally shallower and seems to be a trollers paradise…although there are a few reefs that draw attention too…

The smaller piece on the east is the area that was dredged and has much more variation in depth and bottom contour…good luck and enjoy

Thanks guys I really appreciate the suggestions.

I looked on the Navionics website and didn’t see any reefs. But I’m still learning how to read their contour maps. So they might be on there.

I did find the Baptist Church Camp.

In Mid July I’m guessing the walleye are going to be in the bottom of the deepest holes in the lake?

Whats the weed structure like?

Is there a marina on the lake?

There is a marina on the south side of the lake. I would concentrate on the dredge cut in the “little lake” area on the Ventura side. This will be the deepest part of the lake with varying contours. There is a submerged point off Woodford Island that is productive as can be Dodge’s point. Trolling the weedline on the north end of the lake has been productive also. July will be tough fishing as there is a TON of recreational boating on Clear Lake. Kevan Paul is a guide on the lake with an active FB page that will keep you up to speed on the current bite. Clear Lake has a very healthy Muskie population that you may also want to target.

Thanks for the help guys!!!

Dillon Sanders wrote:

Thanks for the help guys!!!

How did you do? I’m headed that way tuesday.

Hey Bryan,

Not much was biting that week. But the lake is beautiful. We were finding fish on the graph they just weren’t biting. A guy in the campgrounds next to us caught a very nice walleye but he even he said he had to work for it. It was really hot that week too.