Macbride Report-Fished 04/18/05

Since I got my stuff operational at work over this weekend, and I was “waiting” for other stuff in process, I decided to bail at 4PM and see if my son wanted to chase specks at Loch Mac. Surprisingly, I was able to pull him free from the vintage Atari set. Soon after supper, we were on our way down route one.

We tried my trick of wind-trolling (drifting) minnow-tipped jigs and shad darts in the creek channel of the north arm. It started out really slow, but around 7:15, we started getting steady action. My son nailed a 12″ Kentucky bass and we proceeded to catch a mixed bag of small, yet scrappy bucketmouths and Kentuckies. He was outfishing me and having a blast.

After a brief lull, we noticed some surface swirl and headed towards the action. Crappies. They were very spooky, we got close then casted towards them. My son caught grandpa tonight, a thick 14″ monster! This was the first time I ever needed to net a crappie. It was quite a fight on the ultralite rod, but he handled it well, especially considering he is only 6 years old. I wanted to get a picture of him with his fish, but he feel asleep in the truck on the way home. We proceeded to catch a couple of “standard” 9″ Loch Mac specks before it was time to head in, as tonight is a school night.

The bite was not furious, but steady.

Water Temp: 64 degrees

TOD: Late evening

Technique: Jigs/minnows, best color and type was a white shad dart

What is a Kentuky Bass. I have never heard anything classified that way before.

Look here for info. They say McBride is the only lake in Iowa that has these. Look just like a large mouth unless you really know what your looking at.

When I fish the north arm creek channel, I anchor on some structure I have marked on my GPS. I usually use plain minnows on slip bobbers, but that is mostly because it is less work. I have found that the crappies normally move around on the creek channel, instead of holding tight to the structure, so I am not surprised trolling catches fish.

Vike:

What we’re doing is not really “trolling” in the generally accepted sense. I let the wind, or at most, use the trolling motor set to “2” (out of a possible 8) to just ever so gently tool around. I suppose its more of a controlled drift than trolling. We cover a lot of water using this “method”.

Since this was the biggest crappie ever for us, we are going to get it mounted to remember the day. Could not have asked for a more perfect father/son outing. I was gonna wait till I nailed a 16″, but my son was so pumped about his “trophy”, I gave in. I thought our fish was big til I looked up the state record black crappie. The state record is a 21″ utterly Frankstein speck. That record fish had to be as big as a freakin’ Zoey’s pizza!

Anyone know a decent taxidermist in the greater CR area?

Fished McBride/Res last night for an hour or so from shore. Nobody was fishing the McBride dam side from shore so I fish the res side. Nothing in an hour. Did see a few short white bass, some small gills and one big carp caught. Climbed the wall to the McBride side and caught one 13″ bass. The crappies must still be in the deeper water. It’s got to be getting close. Does anyone know if they catch crappies right there on the res side? New to fishing this area and don’t have time after work to get the boat out so I am stuck to shore fishing during the week. Would love to know of any other spots a guy could land a few crappies from shore in the CR area. Thanks.

At times, there is an awesome crappie bite right below the Macbride spillway when water is coming over it. You can also pick fish up from along the rip rap on the res. side.

That is a big crappie–the largest I have gotten in Macbride is 11″. I saw a 14″ come out of there this past winter–big fish! I’m trying to imagine a 21″ crappie.

Congrats on a great crappie. Its good you are getting it mounted for your son. He will love it. My dad let me mount a 33 inch northern when i was a kid. Not huge but it meant alot to me back then and still does. As far as a 21 inch crappie goes i cant imagine one. I think i would get weak at the knees as it came in.

Its far from the state record, but its on the larger side for the Mac.

And as you relate your experience with your northern, I know it will be a lifelong souvenir of that magical evening when everything came together for my son.

You gotta wonder how old that 21″ behemoth was? Can you imagine the fight? That’s gotta be like pullin’ in a pizza pan strapped with a jet-pack… I have had the occasional crappie that just came in to the boat without much of a fuss, however most are pretty scrappy.

The bite on the res side of the Mac spillway can be phenomenal at times, I think we’re just shy of the temps we need for things to really turn on.

Is the water level on Coralville still low? Seems they should be starting to bring it up soon.

I’m going out to Macbride tonight, if the rain stops. If not, I’ll be out there some time this weekend. I’m wondering what this cold front will do to the bite. I am thinking (OK, mostly guessing ) that the cool down and high pressure will drive the fish deep for a few days. I was catching them deep out there last weekend, but it sounds like most people on Macbride in the last week or so were finding fish shallow along the shoreline.

Vikefan: Just got back from a good morning & afternoon fishing trip at three mile.
I would guess around 250 Crappies caught & 174 over nine inches. 10 big bull gills
9 inch plus. 1 twelve inch perch. Also a Bass on her bed pushing 3 lbs.
Four lb line, long poles, & home made hair jigs were the ticket.
I lucked out with the window of opportunity weather wise as this cold front is going to
push them out again.
The other day my dad & I had about 25 from the Mac in shallow water. lots of little
guys, hard to come up with those nine inch plus Crappies.