Macbride 1/22

I fished Macbride Friday morning, and all day Saturday. Came away with a few nice crappies, and caught a bunch of midget bluegills. I was fishing the tops of brush piles in 25′ of water, with the fish coming from 15’to 18′ down, on top of or in the brush. The bite picked up around eight in the morning, and tailed off right before noon. Early on, waxies fished on orange jigs worked best for me–other guys did well on Genz worms fished with waxies. Later on, waxies or spikes on a bare hook worked best. Saturday, the bite was going good at 2:30 in the afternoon, and took a nose dive after about 3:30. I thought it would get better after four, but it didn’t–there were no fish hitting then. Crappie minnows produced nothing at all when I tried them.

Hey Vike…

I was looking for Gianni and some the I/O guys out there this afternoon ; but I didn’t make it out til 2pm or so, I figured most had left by then. Sounds like the I/O GTG went well despite the rough weather yesterday. Hopefully next year I will be able to get to attend more of these things, it sounds like a great way to meet others that share a passion for fishing.

My son and I fished from 2 til 5:30 or so. We got into lots of gills, which kept him interested (he’s 5), though the screaming snowmobilers filled in nicely when things got slow. We fished close to shore in about 10′ of water over a rockpile and then gave a try offshore of one of the mansions in 20′ of water on the perimeter of a large grouping of other shanties. (we parked at the ramp in the north shore of the north arm)

Man, talk about losing your innocence. I picked up a Vexilar FL-8 yesterday and its like playing a video game or something. You see those little buggers come right up and sniff the jig, steal your bait, or get nailed! Last year, I fished without one; so there was a lot of time sitting at each hole. With the flasher, you get a picture of what’s going on down there and can see the effect of changing baits, jigs, or technique. My arms are sore from drilling so many holes today…heck, its not like I don’t need the exercise.

Orange and yellow ice jigs tipped with waxworms got us the ‘gills, including once very nice pumpkinseed my son pulled up in the shallower water. Crappies (I assumed they were) seemed suspended and would swim through every now and then, but heck if I could get them to snap at a Lil’ Cecil or Ratfinkee. While amongst the crowd in the deeper water, something very big swam through my cone from time to time. I’d like to think it was a nice walleye or bass. I dropped a buckshot spoon and gave it a few shakes, the large target rose and kissed it on the Vex, but that was it.

Regards,

Joe Jiacinto

Joe, were you out in the north arm. We were in the group of 2 green tents and a blue clam out in the deeper water. We did ok

‘Sup,

Might have seen you guys out there, were you the guys on the south shore of the north arm? I was in the lone blue fishtrap all the way on the north shore. I worked my way over to the grouping near the mansion.

Supposed to be pretty warm tomorrow. Might be a good afternoon to get out and get some fresh air!

Yep, that was us on the south shore. I tried last night for a couple hours, man, it was beautiful, but I only caught one fish.

‘Sup:

My arms are sore, I drilled so many freakin’ holes this afternoon and evening. With that new vex, you can tell pretty quick if you are just wasting your time in a given hole. My son and I fished the north shore of the south arm near the universal access pier late in the afternoon today. We had one hole literally stacked with fish in 15′ of agua just off the pier about 10 yards out, but they were not at all interested in our offerings.

I assumed it was probably a school of crappie or whites passing through. Beautiful afternoon, nonetheless.

Regards,

Joe

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‘Sup:

My arms are sore, I drilled so many freakin’ holes this afternoon and evening. With that new vex, you can tell pretty quick if you are just wasting your time in a given hole.

Regards,

Joe

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Joe,

If you dip the transducer of your Vex in water, and place it face-down on the ice, it will often give you a reading of what is down there without having to drill a hole. This works better on clear ice than on the milky stuff that is on Macbride now, but it still sometimes works under these conditions. It often works on the clear ice that forms as a hole freezes over. When it does work, it saves a lot of drilling, especially on a lake like Macbride where being on the right structure is critical.

I was down by the power lines last night, I caught a pile, but only kept 8 over 10″. THey sure wanted something big and flashy last night. Finding a brushpile in deep water was the key for my fish. Which vex did you get? hopefully an FL18.

I figured with the rest of the lake dead that the power lines might be the place where all the fish were.

How much ice was there Dave? Unsafe at any speed?

Can’t tell ya for sure, I didnt drill any holes, I just scavenged everyone’s opened holes that were there before me. I would say theres atleast 5-6″

Naw Dave, I went for the FL-8. The 18 is a little too nice right now; especially after buying a new minivan and garden tractor. It doesn’t have some of the features of the 18, but already in less than a week of ownership it has changed the way I fish.

I fished over by the ramp just across from the beach south of the power lines for a couple of hours this evening. There was a group of two shacks down in the area of the lines and the usual shanty town near the main ramp. Nothing but small gills for me. I worked some trees poking through the ice in a small cove along the shoreline in about 12′ of water. Maybe I need to work some deeper water? I have yet to catch any decent sized fish this year through the ice at Macbride…

One of these days it will all come together…

Regards,

Joe

Wouldn’t go icefishing w/out my FL-8 .

I think this group needs to do a mini outing on Coralville the 5th or 6th of Feb. I for one am soured on Macbride for this season…Took the long way to work for my weekly trip to IOT yesterday and saw a group on a likely spot on the ‘ville. I’ve never ice fished it but I’ve nailed some mongo crappie during the spring, summer and fall. Went through the maps I have of it and located a few other spots to target. Thoughts?

I’ve never seen people on C’ville during ice, but have heard people talk about it. Are they fishing down by the dam? In the marinas? How would one know the ice is safe?

This group was around the corner from Mehaffey towards the Macbride Spillway. I would guess drilling often and staying close to shore and away from the channel would be the best methods to stay safe. I also see people when crossing 380 on the east side. I would like to try the coves by Woodpecker trail as well. Have caught some monster slabs out of those in soft water. Lots of structure is dumped in those coves every year by DNR folk.

I’d be up for a mini-outing on Coralville–I have never ice-fished it, though. I would think the coves out of the current would have good ice. Right above the dam, there are several deep coves with brush piles in them–those might be a good place to look for crappies, if there aren’t springs out there.

I am going out to Macbride early tomorrow morning, so I will be starting a new thread if anyone is still trying to fish it.

I can’t make it to the GTG this year, with my wife’s condition. However, I can fish close to home. Anyone who can’t make the GTG this weekend up for an exploratory trip to Coralville sometime on Sat/Sun?

Other than the res idea, I was thinking of heading back to PC. I was at Fin n’ Feather over my lunch hour and the dudes were saying they heard news of people scoring on slabs in the cover up from the concessions stand in the timber and brush.

Regards,

Joe