Oh what the heck

My folks always told me that if i couldn’t say anything good about someone then dont say nothin at all. Oh what the heck this isn’t about SOMEONE its about SOMEPLACE. I went to Corralville Friday and Saturday, and guess what.. Yup you got it. There just aint no fish in that lake.

Too funny!

I just logged on to say that I bought a copy of Walleye In-sider for the plane ride last week and they listed Coralville as one of their ‘top picks’ for the midwest! Since reading that, I’ve been trying to decide whether I’ve misjudged that lake, or I should start disbelieving everything In-Fisherman puts out???

To be honest, I haven’t fished it but twice this year, and both times weren’t exactly spectacular. That magazine had me headed back down there tomorrow morning, here is what they said: Exceptional late-summer saugeye fishery, troll cranks over eight foot mudflats. Open water in the tailrace draws walleyes in the spring and fall.

Let me put it this way John, I put in at Mcbride and trolled up river past High Rock (or what ever it is they call that where the ding dongs jump off that rock) On up 2 more coves. Thats about 2 miles one way. I stopped along the way about a half dozen times to try for crappies. I was tryin to work the edge of the channel for walleyes. Turned around and decided to work the MUD FLATS IN ABOUT 8 FOOT OF WATER. Well I trolled everything from 3-4 foot down to 10 foot and from creeping crawl to over 4 mph GPS all the way back to just below Jolly Rodgers and finally got sick of doin nothin and reeled in so I could clean the cobs out of the motor back to the dock and get the hell out of there. Now I don’t proclaim to be even a good fisherperson. However I felt that even someone as inept as me could have found one that wanted to commit suicide. Hell by that time I would have been happy to have snagged a 2×4 2 foot long to fiight.. I just have no faith in that lake and its for a good reason. Oh sure you can go down there and catch Cat fish anytime you want. For me, catfishin was years ago. Now im into walleyes and crappies. Ahhh, its probably a month too earlie yet? Whats the walleye insider say bout that?

The insider said late summer… sounds like that should be about right now, don’t it? Anyways, I went out today and proved that they were lying.

Sounds like I did almost exactly the same thing that you did. Started at MacBride and ran up North of Jolly Roger. Started the trolling run where the lake narrows and there is some noticible current. Storm thunderstick off the shallow side and a YoZuri diver off the deep side. Worked from 3-14 ft of water, zig-zagging on and off the shelf up to about MidRiver Marina. Gave up there and bolted back to one of my catfish coves, where I realized that the Conoco in Ely had sold me already rotten brown mush instead of crawlers (second time I didn’t check them from there and got ripped).

Soooo…. without any live bait, we headed for what should have been a classic pattern. Burned down the Mehaffey bridge, where a stiff wind had a good chop blowing up onto the rock point to the west side of the bridge. Wind-blown point with current on it; now we’re talking. I moved up onto the point, and the fishfinder was just lit from about 10′ down to the bottom. I marked more fish on that point than I thought were in the entire resevoir.

So I sat on top of them and threw jigs, cranks, spinners, spinnerbaits, you name it. Nothing. Surface temp has dropped 10 degrees in the last week, and I’m guessing that without any meat on the hook they just weren’t going to budge.

Of course, option two is that they were all carp. Sometimes I wish I had an electoshock boat (underwater cam would be about as effective at Coralville as it would in a glass of chocolate milk).

You guys just gave the best testimony possible for in-depthangling.com We get the most up to date AND most accurate info right here!! Since I logged on in 01, I haven’t needed any other source of information.

Thanks to all who post here and keep us up to speed,and thanks to James & friends for making it possible

Awefully strange how dead that lake’s been this year. Not even a hot catfish bite to speak of, which is unusual to say the least. Last year guys were posting stories of 200+ fish days crappie fishing, now it’s dead.

Maybe with some cooler water things will start picking up. To tell you the truth, I like going there every once in a while even though it’s devoid of fish just so that I can run the boat at above-idle speed!

Big B, I kinda enjoy posting here, Its just I hate to have to be so negative all the time. Thats not the way I am. But I gotta tell ya the truth.

I’m planning on fishing Saturday morning, but haven’t decided yet where to go. Sadly, the motor reg will still be on MacBride, because the Sept 7th date was chosen to include the latest possible occurance of Labor day.

I’ll probably go beat up Coralville some more, just for the heck of it. I mean, come on, there’s gotta be a fish in there. Maybe this time I’ll actually get some “live” live-bait to try.

As always, if anyone sees a blue & white Bayliner bass boat with a Mariner 50, give out a yell (especially if you know where there’s a fish in that lake).

TTRIGGER:

That’s what we want to hear!! Tell it like it is

You guys who are out there fishing have the best, most accurate info availiable. We want to hear it all,the good, the bad and the ugly

Of course, if your on a good bite we want to hear about it in detail …..B

Ok buddy, well this is what I copied off the dnr sight… Hope it dont bust your bubble of Setp 7 … Those folks get a little more time on THEIR PRIVATE lake the way it looks to me. Where did you get the Sept 7 date? Macbride ————– Johnson County

No-wake speed, Unlimited h.p., From September 12 through May 20.

No-wake speed, 10 h.p. or less, From May 21 through September 11. Looks like we wait till the 12th to me Un ifn you tell me you got it off the sign at the lake then thats what im’a gonna go by- the sign

http://www.state.ia.us/government/dnr/organiza/fwb/fish/regs/regsmain.htm

Trigger

They even contradict the 11th date on their own site. Since the 7th date appears twice and the 11th only once, I’m perfectly happy to run the big motor. Besides, I have nothing better to do than sit in court and argue with them about it.

The thing is, if you’re not causing problems I doubt the DNR is going to do anything about it anyways. I’ve been out there in the summer buzzing around with my electric TM and had boats with 9.9’s put waves over the bow which is what really torques me off.

Now listen John, I don’t think you’re payin attention here. It says .Macbride – Johnson County No-wake speed , Unlimited h.p., From September 12 through May 20.
No-wake speed, 10 h.p. or less, From May 21 through September 11. Ohhhhh, I know what happened, you met up with one of them guys that live down on the lake. One of the Owners…. OOOOOOO now I know what happened.. DAHHH

Yes, of course. I should have tipped my hat and thanked him for allowing me on the lake in the first place.

What was I thinking?

Today’s the day, guys. Another cup of coffee and I’m headed for the Coralville ramp in McBride state park. I can feel it; them fish don’t stand no chance now!

You can read all about it in the headlines:

“Man Snags State-record Carp While Fishing for Nonexistent Walleyes”

You’ve got to go where the fish are going guys, if you get my drift?????????
The Miss. R. has been so fun that I just can’t keep it to my self any longer. It’s so low and the fish are so predictable that I almost feel guilty. My hands are so rough and my elbows hurt from setting the hook so much,,,,,,, had to go back to work to recoup I’ve got 15 days Vac. left, providing the river stays low, that’s where I’ll be spending them Good luck with coralville!!!!!!!!!!

When I’ve only got the morning to fish, the drive to the big river makes it a little bit impractical. Otherwise I’d be there every single day – I love that river, and the scenery and the sights always makes the trip worthwhile.

Of course, I had to be home by noon today, so I hit “Iowa’s walleye capital.” We started out fishing around the Mehaffey Bridge, and it was a bust. Once again, lots of baitfish moving through, and lots of larger fish lurking underneath, but noone home when the baits went down.

Wanting to put the kids on some fish, we headed up past Sandy Beach to that first cove on the South just downriver from Mid-River Marina. I’ve caught a lot of carp in there under any conditions, and a good number of cats when the water is high (which was not the case today). We let the kids rope in some pretty big carp for about an hour, then ran up to the Curtis bridge.

Unbelievable the number of carp just north of the 965 bridge there. I’d bet at any one time there were 200 backs and lips sticking out of the water. What a disgusting place.

Quote:

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I’d bet at any one time there were 200 backs and lips sticking out of the water. What a disgusting place.

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Were them those “strippers”?

If it makes you guys feel any better, it’s not been a “banner” year on the croix either. Some fellows are picking up fish, but generally, it’s tough. In my case really tough.
Went out for two hours yesterday and the ONLY thing I brought to the boat was a shad on my rap. But the fall bite is coming…soon I hope. Fishing has to get better….can’t get much worse!

Now, where’s my beer that I was crying in before I started typing here?