Ave of the saints

Fished the little waverly lake last nite for a few hours. The water temp was 82 and clairity was excellent. The water is up presumably from the recent rains. We spent the evening just mainly scouting the bottom contour, and to my supprise, we found ALOT of humps and drops that looked to be great crappie haunts. We were drifting/trolling shad bodies & blue/char twisters over 9-18 FOW. Managed to pull several specks to the boat only to be dissapointed that the class of fish were all in the 7-8″ range. We moved to another area in the west bay and found a very large tree submerged in 12 FOW and decided to try the ol slip bobber trick. Set them from 3-7′ down and watch em drop . Still no bigger . We had the camera, however they were just not photo quality fish. All in all, it was a beautiful nite to be out in the boat with my uncle randy.

That little pot hole gets a lot of pressure and I doubt you will see them much bigger any time soon. I like to use my fly rod on them just for kicks. Hardly ever keep any from that lake. Still fun to have them suck in a surface fly.

Was the algae bloom still real bad? I skipped putting in a couple weekends back just cause I didn’t want to have to scrub it all off the boat when I was done.

Just curious how the smallie bite is up there, been hearing anything. The smaller rivers in N.E. Iowa are doing good right now.

Too bad the DNR won’t let county conservation boards put length limits on lakes like this. Go to any other state and look at their fishing regulations. Iowa is out of step in not actively managing their fisheries. One size does not fit all!!

I fish it quite a bit in the spring and in the evenings in the summer. The bass and catfish are nice in there but everything else is small.

John

I don’t understand what you are saying,

“Too bad the DNR won’t let county conservation boards put length limits on lakes like this.”

The DNR does set special length limits on “lakes like this”. One such lake that comes to mind is right in your backyard, Casey Lake has special length limits and is a county lake (if that is what you mean by “lakes like this”)

I think the comment was in reference to panfish limits. Casey lake does have a special restriction, but it only protects largemouth bass under 18″. State limits and restrictions apply for all other species in that body of water.

Sean,

Yes the size limit is on bass. Having a restriction on the bass will keep the panfish population healthy and in check. I’d like to see a size restriction on the catfish as well. Having a good population of catfish and bass in these small lake works to everyones advantage by keeping the panfish numbers in check. This allows those that are left to reach a bigger size. There is a limited amount of forage for panfish in these smaller lakes/ponds and they will not produce large numbers of large fish. Allowing anglers to take small panfish is actually better for the fish that are left.

Keep in mind that we are dealing with a small body of water that can only sustain so much in the way of fish population.

It’s kind of like over planting a corn crop or lawn with seed. When it first sprouts up it looks great, lots of green healthy plants. But then all the plants stop growing and are stunted from lack of food. Go in and pull every other plant and they begin to grow again. Leaving the catfish and bass has the same effect as “pulling every other plant”.

I have yet to see a lake/pond in Iowa that is north of hwy 30 which will consistently yield large panfish. (Except far western IA around the lakes.) The lakes in our local area are just not fertile enough to compare with the waters in southern Iowa. I wish it weren’t this way but sadly it’s true.

I did have a good day on the river, see my other post from today.

All I know about this topic is that it is hard to make special regulations whether it be city or county implementing them. There is really no way to enforce such special restrictions. However, at my home town gravel pit/now city park, Ada Hayden in Ames, the city put up signs for catch and release on bass and 5 crappies per person. Most people that I know of abide by these restrictions and the fish are doing very well. Check my other post in this forum to see a nice 22″ bass i caught there last weekend.

I think your right on Andy with the states laws pertaining to size limits. I think that if they drew up special regulations for each small lake and county park area that its just to much overkill and trying to enforce those laws would be a nightmare. The dnr officers trying to enforce those laws county by county would be hard for them to do and another nightmare for fishermen who like to travel to other counties to fish, trying to keep track of all the laws would be hard. I think the dnr’s got it right by trying to keep the laws applacable to the whole state, keeping it simple instead of pages of nerve racking special regulations. I think this is an area to keep things simple so everyone can follow them.

I agree, but that being said… I would like to see a statewide limit on panfish so people don’t take 20, 30, 60 + fish for days straight out of fisheries that are vulnerable for a few days/weeks a year. Anyone else that shares this view, I suggest sending a letter or email to one of our state fisheries biologists such as Paul Sleeper.

The IDNR continues to insist that due to the high fertility of Iowa waters, it is impossible to over-fish crappie and sunfish, so it is fine to take thousands if you wish. This stance flies in the face of what Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland have found, which is that stricter limits on panfish harvest in many waters improves the average size of individual fish without hurting numbers. Minnesota has had good results with tighter panfish limits, too.

What makes the Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland examples notable is that those states have climates similar to, or warmer than, that of Iowa. The usual excuse given for why Iowa doesn’t need panfish limits like Minnesota uses is that Iowa’s longer growing season and high water fertility make panfish limitis un-necessary. Maryland, Illinois, and Nebraska’s results with tighter limits strongly suggests that Iowa panfishing would benefit from tighter regulations, too. But, implementing actual panfish harvest limits on some Iowa in-land waters would require thinking outside the box and breaking with tradition, and for whatever reason the IDNR is remarkably resistant to innovative behavior. I’ve e-mailed the IDNR on the issue of crapie and bluegill harvest limits in the past…don’t hold your breath on any sort of panfish policy change coming any time soon.

As for the problem of enforcing special regulations, I don’t think it is too much to ask that anglers actually read the free IDNR fishing regulations that are given out in any store that sells outdoors gear.

I’m happy to know others wish we had more ability to set harvest and length limits. Yes DNR is charged with statewide enforcement, but county conservation boards, sheriffs and even city police can write tickets and you can bet that I’d be phoning in anyone I saw keeping short fish or too many fish. One sad thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the fact that DNR’s budget is dependent upon license sales and it’s the higher up’s opinion that if we regulate the casual angler won’t buy a license. I along with a lot of others disagree, but I don’t see any evidence of minds being changed. What we really need is the “Hook and bullet” lobby to start agitating the legislators to allow DNR to do their thing. The research is out there, we could have healthier fisheries here in Iowa, but it takes active management. How many of us have been on a hot bite of big panfish only to see the crowds arrive and start hauling buckets full of fish out of the lake.? It doesn’t take long to deplete the fishery. That’s the scene I don’t care to be a part of ever again.

A 20 panfish limit is very reasonable in situations without panfish overpopulation. Unless you are a total meat monger who is trying to feed the whole neighborhood you can’t tell me that you need more than 20 crappie and 20 bluegill per outing per person. For those who disagree please go to MacBride and pull every 5 inch bluegill out of that lake and put them in your bucket and get your paper thin 4 inch fillets until your heart is content.

I agree and can see some lakes might need to be regulated, i guess it can go both ways. Why not try a few lakes and put a limit on size and numbers for a study, are they doing this already? If it works bringing up the quality of size of both crappies and bluegills then it could be done statewide with good results. I know more people would be fishing if they could go and catch bigger of both species and with limits maybe that would retain a decent biggger fish population statewide. Does anybody know if they have tried this already or are in the proccess of trying this in a few lakes to see what a 5 or 10 year study would do?