Hickory Grove Lake-Central Iowa

Central Iowa Crappie Update:

Had a chance to fish with a good friend of mine on Sunday, so we chose a lake close by. Hickory Grove is about 18 miles East of Ames off Highway 30. We started out slow trolling for crappies. Had 3 fish in the first hour, then we found a HOT spot. We anchored up in 12 foot of water and casted jigs to these very active fish. Had to be right off the bottom though. After an hour and a half, we looked in our basket and decided that was enough. Got back to the boat ramp and counted out 87 crappie and 5 big gills. They were almost all in 9-12 foot. Mainly all females with eggs. Pink head with a white tail seemed to be the colors of choice. Smallest ones we kept were 9 1/2 and the biggest being 13. Most were 10-10 1/2.

If you plan on fishing Hickory Grove, make note that it is a NO big motor lake. Trolling motor only.

Good Fishing!!!

everyone loves to catch lots of fish, but here on the river we have a 25 limit. we hope enough survive to make babies for another year.

Clayfish,
Nice to see you had a good time. Yes, Hickory Grove is a great little lake. I grew up in State Center and fished it every week. I have found nice crappies, big gills, tons of bass, and also the little secret (at least back then…a few eyes). The lake can be overfished quite easily, so I’m a bit turned off by your number of fish in possession. I’m not sure what the IA limit is any more as I have lived in MN for many years, and we have a daily limit of 10 Crappies. I don’t want to sound preachy about this, and if the two of you were within your legal limits, that’s fine. Just want to make the point that if you took that many large females, and then the next group does the same, and on and on…….this gem of a lake will not have the reproduction stock it needs. Go and catch fish, but practice a little selective harvest.

Dean Thorn

Dean,
I hear what you are saying about catch and release. I do more than my share. At this time of the year though, the water temp is still cool, the fish aren’t mushy and if I am going to clean some fish for my family, I am going to make it worth while. As far as a limit, there is no limit in place for inland waters. There is no daily bag limit, no possession limit, and no length limit at this time. I fish over 100 days a year and don’t even keep 10% of the fish I catch, so I don’t feel I’m hurting the system. Just my thoughts. As far as any walleyes in the lake, I do hear of a few coming out each year not too many though. I used to fish there many times a year and have seen quite a few fisherman that do fish, but most shore fish. Very little boat traffic these days, at least when I’m there. (Lucky to see 3 or 4 boats)

Hmmm… Iowa DNR says the exact opposite: Keep all the panfish you catch; guilt-free even.

Any science to back up all the criticism?