McBride?

Any Reports from Lake McBride? I’m thinking I may go there this weekend, mainly because my outboard is out of commission for a while.

I haven’t heard boo about Macbride. The only thing I’ve seen is what was written in the 6/13 IDNR weekly report. Wish somebody would talk about something other than bluegills and crappies for that lake.

Lake Macbride (Johnson County) – Bluegills are piled into the shallows and can be caught on small worms.

I haven’t been out to Macbride in a month, but I heard on the IDNR fishing report, and from a couple of people who were just out there, that the bluegill are biting well.

Where is McBride located?? Is it near Iowa City??

McBride is located between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. The McBride dam empties right into the Coralville Res (Iowa River). During the warm weather months I believe there is a horsepower limit for boats less than 10hp (at least that is what it used to be) and there was a no wake zone for the whole lake.

McBride has all kinds of fish in it from cappies and bluegills to walleye and Bass. I have heard of walleye as large as 10Lbs being taken from the lake. I have only fished McBride for crappies thru the ice and right after ice out.

Eyehunter

Hey Mike,

Macbride should be getting better year after year since they reworked the lake a few years back. To put it simply, Macbride is to Coralville as Big Creek is to Saylorville, kind of sister impoundments. Macbride is HP restricted in the summer months to 10 horse. That is fine with me now since I forked over the cash for a kicker, otherwise I hate the idea. I would like to think that all the new structure that was added would help.

The IDNR will continue to stock walleyes there. From what I have heard they are going to discontinue stocking walleyes @ Pleasant Creek. I have also heard that the IDNR is thinking about reworking Pleasant Creek like they did Macbride. BTW, I’m also IA9249AY on IO.

The ten-horse motor limit is still in place. From May 15 or so to September something-or-other you may not use a motor of that size or larger on Macbride. Officially, it is because the wake from larger motors is considered a hazard for some unspecified reason. The real reason is…well, maybe that should go on the General Discussion forum because it deals with politics.

Anyhow, Macbride has about 900 surface acres, which makes it among the largest of the recreational reservoirs in Iowa. It has a diverse fish population, as someone else noted. The crappie population exploded after the lake renovations were completed several years ago, although my perception this last spring is that the crappie numbers may be down a bit. Crappie go through natural population swings, although I suspect that the heavy pressure the crappie on Macbride have received the last several years may have contributed to a down-turn in the cycle.

Macbride’s bluegill are very numerous and always willing to bite, but their size is a disappointment. Due to lack of proper habitat and competition from shad for food, Macbride’s bluegill are notoriously undersized. There are decent numbers and sizes of walleye in there too, and they will continue to be stocked in Macbride, but not PC. Macbride is also the only place in Iowa, besides Coralville res. and the Iowa River below it, in which you can catch spotted (Kentucky) bass.

Vikefan,

Do you fish Macbride much. Always looking for someone to school me on that lake??? I have the HP restriction covered .

Rod

Early morning, and late at night you can catch a bunch of bass throwing buzzbaits. Get close to the shore, and cover lots of water for the best success.

The walleye trolling bite has slowed to a zero- Catfish are still being caught on the north arm at night.

Bluegills and crappies are always being caught around wood structure- putting together a pattern of nicer sized fish may be difficult.

Luke,

I know you know that lake like the back of your hand. When do you think the walleye bite will pick up again???

I fish Macbride pretty heavily in the spring and winter, mostly for crappie. I have lived in IC for six years, and my first couple years here I put in quite a bit of summer time on there as well. I caught crappie and walleye on Macbride during the summer, but I found that I was better off going to the Mississippi. (My motor falls under the ten-horse cut-off, so that is not an issue.) Unless we get very high water on the rivers, I don’t bother much with Macbride between June and first ice.

If you do fish Macbride in the summer, it is important to know that the lake stratifies, with the thermocline being only about ten or twelve feet down. So, you don’t need to fish below that depth. The bass bite is pretty good, but I’m not a largemouth guy, which is why I would rather head to the Mississippi during the hot weather months, as the walleye (and catfish) action is better on the river.

If you want to try finding walleye and crappie on Macbride during the summer, troll deep-running crankbaits around the dropoffs and points for the ‘eyes. I had a good day or two doing that. The crappie will suspend over deeper cover and structure, but figuring out what they want to bite is a bit more work than it is in the spring.

In the winter, finding crappie is easy–just set up right over a brushpile in fairly deep water. I haven’t really targeted walleye through the ice on Mac., but I have picked some up when fishing near the rock piles or the old roadbed under the powerlines.

Sent ya a PM!

I’ve tried trolling Mcbride a few times for walleye but have yet to be succesfull. Caught a few nice bass but still trying to figure the walleye out. My best edumacated guess is to find the schools of shad and the walleyes should be close by? The sunken bridge always sounds good but have yet to see anything but a blugill off of it. If anyone has any suggestions on narrowing my search down I would appreciate it.
But when all else fails, bluegill and crappie here I come. Managed to land a 10lb flathead on a half crawler with 6lb mono last year in a favorite bluegill haunt. And when the carp spawn, it makes for a fun day of burning drags out.

I would love to help you out- but as of right now, if somebody is catching walleye’s out there consistently- I would like to see it- they are incredibly tough and hard to pattern this time of year-

Ask me again during the winter!

I may be stupid but what’s the difference running a 10hp motor at no wake or a 90hp at no wake ? Seems to me they just want to keep people with larger boats away.

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I may be stupid but what’s the difference running a 10hp motor at no wake or a 90hp at no wake ? Seems to me they just want to keep people with larger boats away.

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No one in the Cottage Reserve, or the legislature, can answer your question honestly. I have asked it myself, and have never gotten a straight answer. As you pointed out, the generally accepted real (but unstated) reason for the ten-horse limit on Macbride is to keep people off it during the summer months. Every reasonable person agrees that a no-wake rule, regardless of motor size, would be fine on Macbride.

The problem is that there is a lot of $$$ dwelling in the cottages on the lake, and that $$$ got the sympathy of some legislators in Des Moines, who agreed with the Cottage Reserve Association that any motor over ten HP somehow was a drowning hazard when used on Macbride, regardless of how slow it was run. So, the legislature (not the DNR) passed a law banning ten-horse motors during the summer months on Macbride. This makes it easier for the cottage-dwellers to cruise around in their pontoons without having to share the water with the general public. The worst part is that the taxpayers of Iowa just paid for over a million dollars in renovations on Macbride, but they cannot use it in the summer months if they have a motor over 9.9 HP.

Luckily, my noisy little six-horse motor is allowed on Macbride. I rarely fish it during the summer months, but when I am out there very early in the morning, I make it a point to buzz the cottages at full throttle.

The ONLY thing I like about the “rule” is it keeps big party boats off the lake. Not that they want to be there, but I tell you what, there are some “smart” people around the area, that would take a triple axle cruisin boat out there, and putz around at no wake just for fun.

With that being said, I have two augers- guess where I am at a five in the morning every day during the ice season?!

I wouldn’t be suprised if some of the reserve owners, tried to get a power auger ban on the lake…
I will personally gaurantee, I would put a stop to that…

I asked two local Linn County Legislators about the ban. One basically said it something like “not so glorious history” in the reply. I thought that was pretty good. The “reasoning” that was given was that Macbride was to be maintained as the “sailing” lake in Iowa. Note, I believe the UoI sailing club hires lobbyists to help their cause. Just don’t shoot the messenger here, I’m just repeating what I was told.

Now that I have a kicker motor I guess I view it as joining a club LOL. I hate the ban from a moral aspect, but realistically it is really peaceful after joining the club. Big Creek had the same ban lifted quite a few years ago, but somehow Macbride held onto the ban.

Your auger comment is too funny Luke. I’m sure they love you drilling out there in the dark.

Did the Linn County legislators explain why a fifteen HP motor operated at no-wake speed is somehow is more of a problem for sailboats than a 9.9 HP motor operated at no-wake speed? Again, I would see no problem with a no-wake regulation year-round on Macbride–the jet skis and deep-v hulls have Coralville res. all of a hundred feet away to use to their heart’s content. A motor operated at no-wake speed, regardless of size, would not interfere with sailing, swimming, or whatever. Instead, we have the ban on motors over 10 HP, which serves no purpose that a no-wake limit would not, except for preventing a lot of taxpayers from using the lake at all during the summer.

Your preaching to the choir VikeFan. Part of my argument to the local legislators was that 2.5 mil was dumped into the Cottage Reserve’s back yard for lake improvements. It was really time to give back to the taxpayers. The correspondence may have been deleted since it was from a work e-mail address.

It is actually really old legislation that also had Big Creek in that same category. When I was an undergrad it was like that (circa ’88). Somehow when the legislature lifted that ban, Macbride was not lifted.

I finally got tired of going to Pleasant Creek w/the family and complaining that I couldn’t drop in @ Macbride. I accepted that the ban would not be lifted, plain and simple. I just forked over the cash for a kicker. I’m fortunate enough that I can do that . You know what they say, “when in Rome…..”.

I guess I am not fortunate enough (or just plain unwilling) to join a country club, so this will be as close as I get LOL.

Personally since there are so many lakes in NW IA, it seems more appropriate that the sailing lake be in a location where there are an abundance of lakes . Then the UoI sailing club could commute.

Of the guys I know who own sailboats, 99% of them would rather be on Red Rock than MacBride. The biggest problem with MacBride is the power lines prevent any sailboats of significant size from using more than half the lake.

As for the 10hp limit, I’ll just keep my mouth shut. There’s nothing that I can add that hasn’t been said a dozen times.

And yes, I also enjoy running the gas drill all winter at full throttle ~4:30 AM. I would make it a point to stop by the ramp and do it even if I wasn’t going fishing.