Clear Lake w/ yellow Bass and good ice for now…

I just got back from fishing Clear Lake on 1/10/06 from 8am to dark with a lunch break from 2pm till 3:30pm. It produced 3 Yellow Bass and a moderate amount of small walleyes. I should have moved around a little bit more…

It appears the fish are scattered right now: I fished Tuesday in 11 to 12 f.o.w. and didn’t quite find them. I heard 1 other fisherman caught 7 and he was 12 to 13 f.o.w. and we were just north to northwest of the Island.

Do you want proof I was there, check out the front page of the Mason City newspaper, he caught my back side as I was headed out to fish…. I made the front page…

I fished this morning and was there to see a beuatiful sunrise (oh yeah the fish saw it too)

The bite started right at twilight and it was steady on my redish / glow tear drop hook. The gold and the silver sweedish pimple we’re not producing this time. However the newish bright neon green sweedish pimple (wow) it was doing a good job. I caught at least 8 fish during the 1st hour & half. Then the bite slowed till 11:30am, total count 15 Yellow Bass, 4 Small Walleyes, and 1 lost in the ice hole.

Note: I stayed at the first spot I started today. I tried to move, but each time the fish came back.

The ice is still in good shape I found 8 to 10″ everywhere I tried.

Good Luck and Let’s be careful out there….. Sorry No Pictures, found the camera after I cleaned the fish…..

Barbra

Hey Barb sounds like your getting Clear lake zeroed in green has always been a good color use alot of green jig heads in spring and a storm thunder stick in green also has been good. Kastmaster also makes a green colored jig that produces well if my cold continues toget better I plan on goingthis weekend a meal of yellows sounds good Thanks for reporting a few health issues have kept me off water and alot of people are keeping the IDA people informed Great report Thanks

Any updates on ice conditions on Clear Lake? I am thinking of a road trip up there this weekend. The lack of safe ice around Iowa City is driving me crazy, and my outboard is in the shop getting re-sealed, so open water is out.

I was there last saturday and therewas at least 10 in around island I would use caution but there is fishable iceMost activity for yellows has been west of island you will see others in area

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I was there last saturday and therewas at least 10 in around island I would use caution but there is fishable iceMost activity for yellows has been west of island you will see others in area

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Thanks–I have never ice fished Clear Lake, so I would stick close to the crowds. There are some tempting-looking spots farther off-shore on my lake maps, but I am not going exploring on ice I am not familiar with.

I fished CL a couple times in the summer, and I caught a butt-load of bullheads and mostly sub-legal walleye around the island, so I know the area being talked about.

I fished Clear Lake yesterday (Friday the 20th) afternoon and evening. I set up in 14′ of water, and found about 7″ of ice near the island. There was some open water on the west end of the lake, and a section of ice west of the island was posted with warning signs. A couple guys I talked to checked out the ice close to the posted area, and said they found about 4″ of ice there.

Anyhow, the yellow bass bite was non-existent for me and everyone I talked to out there. I marked fish all afternoon, but they would not hit anything I dropped in front of them. This was one of those days where an Aqua-Vu (spelling?) would have been useful. Around sunset, I pulled up a couple of cigar-sized walleye on minnows, and missed a few more strikes. After dark I caught two white bass on chartreuse Swedish Pimples rigged with live minnows. I packed up and went in at about 6:30. I did not move around at all while I was out there, as the other people around me kept drilling holes and moving, and they were finding nothing during daylight, either, so I decided to save my energy and stay put.