Iowa City Ice-fishing 2/13

There was about 2.75″ of clear ice on one of the ponds here in town, which I decided was just enough to fish on. The fishing was pretty good early this morning, and I came home with seven bluegills between 7″ and 8″, and threw back quite a few smaller ones. I also caught five or six bass, with the largest going about 14″. I’m not a big largemouth guy, but they are fun to catch on very light ice gear. By nine the fishing slowed down, and with the small cracks coming from the ice right beneath my 240 lb. butt, I decided it was time to leave. This will be my only ice-fishing trip around Johnson County until next week, as even a little warm-up like we are getting today and tomorrow (plus rain, possibly) will make this ice unsafe, IMO.

you gettin out this weekend? think i’m gonna get in the shack w/ the heater for a while this afternoon.

I’m getting out right at sunrise on one of the ponds–I just got back from checking ice around town. The ponds are mostly good to go, save for some sketchy spots.

I also checked Macbride–there is open water around the causeway, and a big open patch right south of the beach and boat rental shop. There is also a good-sized pressure ridge just north of the power lines, and a small patch of open water right under them, which is normal with new ice. There was good ice right by the main ramp, and along the west shore of the north arm. I didn’t bring my auger with me, so I can’t say how thick it was–just that it held me up, and I couldn’t break through to liquid with my spud bar. A couple guys were out fishing, and they said they were catching bluegills, but no crappies. I will probably give Macbride a try tomorrow afternoon/evening.

hey, maybe i’ll meet you at mcbride. let me know when you’re going out and where you’ll be so i can say hey. i’d love to get out there and find some walleyes and crappies. what do you mean by “main ramp”? is that the state park ramp west of the beach? what kind of hut do you have?

andy

I’ll probably head out to Macbride around 2:30 or so. I’d go later, but it is hard to predict just when the crappie turn on. I’ll be in a blue Clam 2000 with a black Otter sled sitting next to it, and I’ll probably be on one of the brush piles on the west shore of the north arm. I haven’t put in much time trying to catch walleye through the ice out there, but the old roadbed under the powerlines (not safe now) and the rock reefs are better for them than the brushpiles.

The main ramp is the boat ramp at the bottom of that long steep road. It is directly west of the beach and boat rental place. There was one guy out fishing off of there, too.

I didn’t know you could catch walleyes through the ice at macbride…

Did you do any checking on the south arm Vike?

The pond bite was a lot slower this morning than it was Monday–the fish were in what In-Fisherman likes to call a neutral to negative mood. Fish would rise up to my bait, look at it, and then usually swim away without touching it. I am guessing that fish in small bodies of water have not quite adjusted to the extreme weather swings of the last four days. I caught a couple of bass, one nice crappie, and a few small bluegills before I called it quits.

All I saw of the south arm on Macbride was what I could see from the causeway. The only open water I saw there was right around the culvert.

Vike- did you make it out to Macbride? I was out there for a bit, running some gas through the auger…trying to break it in- I only saw two guys (one truck) and they were leaving- then one other truck pulled up, looked like they were going out- There were also a few guys under the powerlines. I didn’t talk to anybody… so I don’t know if the fish were going or not.

Yup, I was out at Macbride this afternoon. There was about 6″ of good ice where I set up on top of one of the deeper brushpiles. There were plenty of typical Macbride bluegills biting early in the afternoon, but they slowed down later. I did get four eating-sized crappies (the biggest was 9″) spaced out between all the runty starving bluegills. I also got a 7″ bluegill, which is the Macbride equivalent of a 10″ bluegill in most waters.

I wonder if a squadron of northerns could put the starving bluegills out of their misery?

My understanding of the Macbride bluegill size problem is that it is due to poor habitat and shad. Despite its size, there is little plant growth in Macbride, which means there aren’t a lot of the small invertebrates (which need weeds) that bluegills eat. The presence of shad in the lake makes things worse, as the shad compete with bluegills for those invertebrates, and apparently shad are very good at it. As a result, the bluegill in Macbride just don’t have enough to eat. The large predator fish in Macbride also prefer to eat soft-finned shad instead of bluegills, which adds to the problem. In 2001 the IDNR thought shad had been eliminated through winterkill from Macbride, but a few survived, and shad multiply at an astounding rate. In the year or two before the shad bounced back, the fisheries staff at Macbride told me the average bluegill size in the lake increased by over an inch. Now things seem to be back where they were before, with no practical solution to the Macbride bluegill size problem.

The IDNR stocks around 4,000 Northern fingerlings in Macbride each year, along with the odd muskie stocking. I have never caught either in there, but last spring I had a 24″-ish Northern follow a small hooked crappie to boatside. I spend most of my time on Macbride fishing for crappie, so I am not surprised that I haven’t caught any Northern in it, but if there were good numbers of them I would expect to hear more about the bass guys catching them. For that matter, when I break out the trolling gear and go after walleye in Macbride, I have never had a toothie show up. If a water has a lot of Northern in it, you will quickly find them if you fish for walleye or bass, and that doesn’t seem to be the case in Macbride.

There aren’t many toothies in there- I bass fish that lake a zillion times every year, never hooked a snake- this past summer though, my dad caught and took pictures of two different 40″ snakes.

Yeah, its a tough call. I posted my northern observation more to stir discussion. I don’t pretend to be a biologist, by any stretch, but I am not too keen on stocking some of these lakes full of 3 or even 4 predator species.

I think PC is an example of a confused lake: walleyes, tigers, wipers, and bass. Not to mention perch, crappie, bluegills, and heavy duty fishing pressure. My first year out in Iowa saw me spend lots of time over at PC; and I did allright, but it seemed that the best fishing was at night.

I’ve wanted to spend more time at the Mac since its much closer to my house, but the motor reg is kind of a let-down. Not that I want to race across the lake at full bore, not at all, more of a nuisance on how much time I would have realistically fishing on batteries.

I’ve caught some really nice crappie in there, with my son nailing a fat 15″ last May. There’s a suspended crappie pattern that sets up in the north arm along the creek channel just ahead and after the spawn (or so it seems) that I have done pretty well with during the spring.

Still no walleyes on the board for me at the Mac, but I know they are in there. I have caught some dandy wipers while trolling for walleyes. A buddy of mine caught a musky in there last year, so they are definately around. I think it pushed just over 40″, so that adds some more fuel to what Luke’s dad has experienced.

Shortly in my first season out here, I discovered the Mississippi. Awesome, awesome fishery. I seldom go out to pools 14-9 and get dissapointed. Lots of room, lots of water, and lots of fish. With a busy work schedule and limited time on the water, anymore I schedule vacation and take a weekday trip to the river. Other than the high gas prices affecting my trip planning process, I pretty much stay away from the local lakes, other than during ice season or the spring crappie binge.

So, does someone want to show me how to catch walleye in the Mac later this spring?

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I think PC is an example of a confused lake: walleyes, tigers, wipers, and bass. Not to mention perch, crappie, bluegills, and heavy duty fishing pressure. My first year out in Iowa saw me spend lots of time over at PC; and I did allright, but it seemed that the best fishing was at night.

I’ve wanted to spend more time at the Mac since its much closer to my house, but the motor reg is kind of a let-down. Not that I want to race across the lake at full bore, not at all, more of a nuisance on how much time I would have realistically fishing on batteries.

I’ve caught some really nice crappie in there, with my son nailing a fat 15″ last May. There’s a suspended crappie pattern that sets up in the north arm along the creek channel just ahead and after the spawn (or so it seems) that I have done pretty well with during the spring.

Still no walleyes on the board for me at the Mac, but I know they are in there. I have caught some dandy wipers while trolling for walleyes. A buddy of mine caught a musky in there last year, so they are definately around. I think it pushed just over 40″, so that adds some more fuel to what Luke’s dad has experienced.

Shortly in my first season out here, I discovered the Mississippi. Awesome, awesome fishery. I seldom go out to pools 14-9 and get dissapointed. Lots of room, lots of water, and lots of fish. With a busy work schedule and limited time on the water, anymore I schedule vacation and take a weekday trip to the river. Other than the high gas prices affecting my trip planning process, I pretty much stay away from the local lakes, other than during ice season or the spring crappie binge.

So, does someone want to show me how to catch walleye in the Mac later this spring?

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Keep fishing the pre-spawn crappie bite on the north arm, and you’ll find some walleye in Macbride. That is when/ where I get most of mine. I put in some time in the summer looking for walleye in Macbride, but the amount of walleye caught didn’t justify the time I put in trying once summer rolled around (more on that below).

Walleye are no longer being stocked by the IDNR in Pleasant Creek, as they have changed their walleye stocking philosophy. Instead of stocking fry (newly hatched walleye), the IDNR now stocks fingerlings of approximately 2″. They have a much better survival rate than fry, but are more expensive to rear. So, the IDNR no longer puts walleye in lakes under 500 acres, and PC does not make the cut. There is some limited natural reproduction of walleye in there, as there is in Macbride, but it probably isn’t enough to sustain a viable population. So, don’t expect to find walleye in Pleasant Creek for too much longer. I’ve been told there have been some local/privately funded stockings of walleye in PC in the past, but I don’t know if that is true, or if such efforts will continue. At 900 acres, Macbride will continue to receive state stockings of walleye fingerlings.

I agree that a road trip to the Mississippi is a better fishing investment in the summer than the shorter trip to one of the local reservoirs. My first couple of summers in Iowa City I put in a fair bit of time on Macbride and PC, and while that saved me a little gas money, a trip to Muscatine put a lot more fish in the boat. The last couple of summers I have only fished Macbride or PC if the Mississippi is running near flood stage. I am probably moving back to Minnesota this fall, so I shouldn’t have to gripe about the fishing down here too much longer.

I think it’s too bad that there is no more walleye stocking in PC. i know from the year classes i’ve caught and the stocking reports that there has been some good reproduction in there. I don’t buy the acreage rule for walleye. i think it has a lot more to do with the conditions and balance of the lake that dictates whether or not the walleyes will thrive. As fo rthe mdbride eyes, they’re just tricky. try bigger bass plastics near bass water, but a little on the deep side. i’ve caught my two biggest using 7″ powerbaits on jigs around a lot of post-spawn bass activity. Nothing wrong with the bass you’ll catch too.

I’ve seen one northern caught there when it was way down for the rehab project. Crazy to hear how many are in there. Does anyone have links to the mcbride stocking reports?

Thanks,

Andy

The 500-acre cutoff for walleye stocking is a little arbitrary, IMO. But, in the IDNR’s defense (something I VERY seldom say), they have a limited amount of funding, and with only so many walleye fingerlings to go around, they have to find some way of deciding where they should go. It is too bad, as I have found that Pleasant Creek grows some nice-sized walleye, whatever their origins. Maybe some local conservation groups will take up the slack…

I should note that the IDNR’s shift from stocking walleye fry to stocking walleye fingerlings has paid off big-time where I grew up in Fillmore County, MN, just a stone’s throw from the Upper Iowa river. Growing up, I never heard of a walleye being caught out of the Upper Iowa (this is around Lime Springs, Iowa, and Granger, Minnesota/Florenceville, Iowa). I started hearing reports about walleye coming out of the Upper Iowa five years or so ago, and at first I did not believe them. Long story short, I got reliable reports on walleye in the Upper Iowa, and I spoke to the IDNR in Decorah about it. They told me that in 2001, the IDNR shifted to stocking walleye fingerlings in the Upper Iowa, and it dramatically improved the walleye fishery in there. It is not unusual now to hear about walleye catches in the Upper Iowa.

I did not think to ask them about this angle, but I wonder if the shift to stocking more expensive walleye fingerlings in the Upper Iowa and other interior rivers, did not come at the expense of walleye stocking in smaller lakes and reservoirs like Pleasant Creek–only so much money to go around, after all.

Yeah, I basically stopped fishing PC almost as soon as I had succeses on ‘eyes over there, this will be approximately 2 years ago come June/July of this year; this was after I heard about the stocking being stopped and my positive vibes with the Mississippi walleyes and saugers. Much of that credit goes to the folks on this site who were so willing and friendly when it came to sharing knowledge of the fishery on the Mississippi.

Other than one trip in early spring, I don’t think I dropped the boat in there again last year. As I recall, I had my best luck trolling for eyes along some of the drop-offs and a submerged point just off the beach in the late evening and night-time. Never had much luck on the sunken roadbed that gets lots of press.

The pressure on that lake is tremendous. I can remember several Saturdays/Sundays where I was the first one on the ramp (an hour or so before before dawn in the twilight) when in the time it took me to drive my truck and trailer back to the parking lot, there were 6 other boats lining up behind me. By sunrise, there were easily 20 boats out, and this was not a tournament day or club outing-just a run-of-the-mill weekend in early May.

As for the stocking ending, it probably has to do with money, like you guys say. They have to stop at some point. Also, that lake is managed for trophy bass (I think?), plus you have wipers and tiger muskies. It seems like an awful lot of predators in one small lake. But I am not a biologist, so maybe its OK? I dunno…

Just wanted to point out that in P.C., there are white bass (not wipers), and true muskies (not tigers as the tiger musky program was stopped around 1990 I believe). Also, the multiple large predators tend to be able to coexist and thrive in a place like that due to the lake having gizzard shad as a primary forage.

Do white bass reach over 20″ pretty regularly ? I am pretty sure what I caught in PC was not a white bass, since it was pretty darn big and looked more like a wiper to me.