Snow

Spose this snow will help the DNR get McBride back up where it belongs for a change? Couldnt happen last year and was wondering if we were gonna be able to get on her this year? Also What are you guy’s feelings about the fishin this year there? Is it going to be worth a darn if they do get it up so a guy can get a boat in?

I’m only about 60 miles from that lake, but have not been on it. Didn’t they drain it a couple of years ago? I think I remember them thinking it would take a couple of normal years to fill it back up. Have I got that right?

Yup, they drew her down about 17 feet I believe,2 years ago and did a BUNCH of rip rap work, jettys, rock piles etc. all around the whole lake. Then they were gonna get it back up to full pool with last years runoff from the snow. Well that didnt happen cause we didnt have that much snow. Then this fall they drew it back down again and were going to do a bunch more that they didnt get done the first time. Havent heard much about it this year but I would imagine that its done and ready to fill. If anyone has an update let us know. I’d like to get back to fishin it, till the horrds come. Still wondering what these two big draw-downs have done to the fish.

Don’t know if they’ll have it full this spring or not. I was down there about a month ago ice fishing and it’s still about 8 feet low. They could have filled it with last year’s runoff, but they didn’t complete some of the work, so they held off.

It shouldn’t be too hard to bring it back up if we get some decent spring rains. We did allright catching cats and small crappies through the ice, and last year when it was still down 20′ I caught a bunch of bass off the rock piles right after ice-out.

Now if we can get rid of the rediculous 10hp reg, we’ll be set.

Well just to let you guy’s Know we got plenty of run off coming your way this spring, we got a foot of snow last night on the north side of mpls. last night and the river will be flowing this spring again.

Hey Gianni, What is the deal with that silly@#$$ 10hp reg? Keeps a lot of good people off the lake. Last year about now my son and a friend got into a real good bite from the bank below the spillway at Coralville,crappies and sauger. I believe he told me it was on the west side,in an out of the current spot. Maybe you could keep an eye on this and let us know if it happens again this year?………….B

I did some investigation into the 10hp reg last year. The results were, to say the least, dissappointing. The bottom line is that MacBride is a public waterway, but we’re not welcome.

The DNR at MacBride, along with my state politicians and the bait shop owners, basically said that there was a lotta lotta money sitting in those houses surrounding MacBride, and they pay darned good cash to keep us off the lake. They know that a ‘no wake’ rule would mean that people like me who can’t afford 2 boats or a boat with 3 motors would be down there every other weekend, and just don’t want the company. Maybe we could get petitions routed to bait shops in the area and get it opened up, but for now I need to figure out a way to fish it effectively using only the electric.

Usually Coralville has an excellent spring crappie bite all along the MacBride spillway. I haven’t hit it right in a few years now, and as much as I’d like to do some investigation, I know that things are going to be busy as all get-out for the next few weeks… They’re inducing Jennifer Monday morning.