our LONG weekend results

I fished all weekend long and SLOW is an understatement. We fished 3 days and caught a grand total of 8 fish. Worse than last year by 1 fish. I heard the guides have been taking their clients to minn. because that is the only place they can catch any fish. Pretty sad three big lakes and no fish we even fished silver and I talked to a guy there who fished it for 24 hours straight and they caught 3 walleyes all under 8 inches. I personally would not recommend ANYONE to waste their time up there. The best luck came from millers bay little millers to be exact. Saw the fish down there but they didn’t want to bite for us or anyone.

Honda,Ryan Hale here.Very sorry to hear about your results.

West Okoboji gills can be some of the toughest fish to catch in the mid-west.But with some help from a few good anglers or guides you can put fish on the ice.I’m a guide and I never take a clients to Minn. to catch fish.Don’t have to as most days we can get fish to bite,but it takes work and patience.

I’ve been on the ice 8 out of the last 10 days,some days great,others a little slow.

I’ve been doing line testing for Purefishing the last few week-ends so that means I keep track of all fish caught for my records.One day I got 83,the next 54,so you can get them to bite.These were gills and crappie.

Also my son and I have caught 10 eyes through the ice the last 2 nights,plus lost a few.

Not telling you what to do but if you guys need help next year just let me know,we’ll get you better results.

My pics are over the 100,000 byte limit.So I downsized these to get within the limit.Quality of course suffers a bit.

My good friend Paul B and his buddy Roger from last week-end.

Take care,

Ryan Hale

This is a group of anglers who traveled from C.R. to try their luck on these gills.
I fished with them on Friday and they listened to all the tips I thought would help them.By Sat they took it to the fish.
Terry,John,and Paul.What a GREAT group of guys.I had so much fun fishing with you guys!!They treated me like a king and kept me hy-drated and feed very well.Terry is one heck of a cook-thanks for everything Terry.John runs Four Season Bait and Tackle in C.R.I got a call from Terry tonight,they had so much fun it sounds like they are going to try to come bac in March again.He has fished many places and said this was in his top 10 for all time trips.
Ryan Hale

Pic fo CR crew from this week-end.
Ryan Hale

Cole with a gill from this morning.
Ryan Hale

nice pics ryan but I am not paying for a guide in Iowa to fish. I will just give up driving 3 hours for fish when i can go to beeds lake and volga lake and catch more and more quality fish.

None of the above people payed for my guide service.They stayed at my resort so I gave them all the help they needed to catch fish.

Ryan Hale

I am sorry you had bad luck up there. I was on west lake two weekends ago and saw more fish than I have seen in a long time. The biters were a different story. Actually we were fishing in 9 feet of water and the keeper fish were being caught about two feet below the ice up to about 1 foot below the ice. The gills were up to 9 1/2 inches long and the crappies were up to about 10 inches long. The quality of fish that we kept were as good as any for over all average. Our secret was to go as small as possible. I was down to using the smallest white marmooska made. I missed several biters because I was not waiting for them to take the whole jig in. If any part of the jig or spike was hanging out of their mouth you would swing and miss. I had three lookers for every one that would bite. We fished for two straight days (7:30am – 5:00pm both days)and caught between three of us about 150 fish each day. The second day was a little slower but the fish were still there. We were sight fishing. I do not know who told you the minnesota story but the bait shop we visited every mornign talked about the spot we were fishing and also mentioned the minnesota lake. They gave us accurate info and one of the guys working at the bait shop told us where he was fishing on the lake. We caught fish both days and like I said before between three of us we caught around three hundred fish in 18 hours of fishing. We figured the keeper ratio was about 1 to 3. We kept about 50 fish to clean in Two days of fishing. We were not meat fishing for the most part and returned lots of fish that we could have kept. The Bluegills we kept were between 7 1/2 inches and 9 1/2 inches. Most keeper were in the 8 1/2 inch range. We even managed a few keep crappies. About 10 I suppose. They were in the 10 inch range as well. I was fishing on a spot where two people that guide up there were fishing. So I do not know how many guides are going up to Minnesota to fish. I only heard of one guide taking people up to minnesota to fish and they were targeting perch. Liek I said we had no trouble finding fish or even finding buiting fish and I was on west lake okoboji. Two guides that guide those lakes were sptiing distance from my Ice tent.

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I forgot to mention that I stayed at Harbor view resort and Ryan Hale gave us great fishing information and had us on fish right away. That is me in the first Picture he posted with our fist days keepers.

well good for you I am just posting it as it was to our group and about 50 other groups we talked to on boji this past weekend. Next year going to fish minnesota. Hopefully find another cheap place like the resort we stayed at up there in boji. 3 night 5 guys with tax 216 bucks. Can’t beat that.

I live at the IGL’s and for day in day out steady fishing you cant beat it. Yes theres slow times but the good bite days make up for the bad. The guides work hard everyday to put clients on fish, I agree I woulnt hire a guide here in Iowa or in any state for anything for that matter but thats me. But they are wanted and needed by many.

The lakes here can and does humble many a good fisherman. I have spent day after day 18 hours a day chasing muskies without a follow yet go out another day and catch 5 in a few hours. Dont give up on a great fishery on a couple bad trips. You hit the mid winter bite thats normaly slow and factor in the cold weather. I personaly know a guy that limited Sat and Sunday on Perch all 9″ + of course he didnt call me

Hey Shaley,

That guy that limited on perch wouldn’t happen to be a guy by the name of Ron would he? My dad fished that bite and he couldn’t get them but he also said the size wasn’t great. He ended up getting 25 gills/crappies in about 3 hours on Sunday afternoon after he tried those perch. I for one love fishing the lakes and try to as much as possible. Did you get in on the wader bite on Spirit this past spring….phenomenal!!

don’t worry we are just giving up on it for ice fishing going to stay up there this summer for a week on spirit lake. Can’t remember the resort name though. Walleyes here we come

Honda do you realy catch 9″+ gills at beads and volga lake? I don’t fish either one very much, but I”ve seen very few that big out of either.

No guy wasn’t Ron. No I didnt get in on the wading I was to busy in the boat catching eyes. I’m on Spirit during open water as much as possible after season opens, logged almost 500 miles on there last year acording to the GPS. My walleye weekend being cut short due to my moronic fishing partner deciding to get married on opener. I think its in retaliation to my wedding on muskie opener

Great posts Ryan not only are u a heck of a guy for putting those gentlemen on fish but a great guide as well.

Thanks for the post……….

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I fished all weekend long and SLOW is an understatement. We fished 3 days and caught a grand total of 8 fish. Worse than last year by 1 fish. I heard the guides have been taking their clients to minn. because that is the only place they can catch any fish. Pretty sad three big lakes and no fish we even fished silver and I talked to a guy there who fished it for 24 hours straight and they caught 3 walleyes all under 8 inches. I personally would not recommend ANYONE to waste their time up there. The best luck came from millers bay little millers to be exact. Saw the fish down there but they didn’t want to bite for us or anyone.

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Handa

I live about an hr from the IGL’s and love to fish’em
Finding fish usually isn’t very hard but it may take some moving around… Getting them to bite is a matter of having patients and switching up your presentation until you get them to bite.

I would recommend going to the IGL’s any time of the year.

As far as guides taking clients to Mn thats very hard to believe………

For you guys that had a tough time on West Okoboji, did you have an underwater camera? I find it very difficult to hook these gills without watching them on a camera. Line selection is key in the clear water too.

For anybody looking to get in on the bite there, book a room at Harbor View Resort and Ryan will help you get on fish. Some of the little tips he will give you can make all the difference in the world.

Here’s my Fishing Report from the Harbor View ice tourney on West Okoboji in January. While some of us put the hammer to these gills, others got skunked (and they were some very good, experienced anglers too). Location, presentation, equipment, mood of the fish… it all matters. Small variations can have huge results.

I’d also suggest that folks take a look at the In-Depth Outdoors TV show, episode #2. Scott and James touch on some key principles for bagging these finicky gills in clear water.

Link to the TV Show

It’s worth repeating… If you want to get in on the big panfish on West Okoboji, book a room at Harbor View Resort. You can’t beat it!

Link to Harbor View

My name is Terry Lange: My friends Phill Boesenberg and John Zaspal owner of FIVE SEASON’S BAIT AND TACKEL in Cedar Rapids .Iowa We all know Scott Reed , employee of PURE FISHING lives in Spirit lake and always talks of fishin on West Okoboji. He say’s it’s not easy all the time but it’s doable.We took the challenge and set the dates of Feb. 9 – 11. Scott set us up with Ryan Hale , “guide service”,also owner of “HARBORVIEW RESORT “ where we stayed. Ryan was very knowledgeable of Okoboji. Talkin to Ryan , he said he’s lived there all his life.And fishin all my life , it sounded he knew his stuff. So we talked thurs. nite and Ryan agreed to meet us @ 7 am. To get any supplies we might need at “Oh Shucks” bait shop. They had everything you need ed and they were very helpful. We got some tackle and bait and Ryan took us fishin for the first time on “Okoboji”. He told us about clear water and how the fish were very smart. This time of year will be very tough to catch fish.We could see all types of fish and Ryan told us of various types of tackle that might work. Ryan said , “SLOW DOWN AND GET SMALL ON JIGS” AND WE USED 1# BERKLEY ICE LINE.Presentation was the key as Ryan said. Phill , Johnny , and myself worked very hard eventually caught 62 bluegills and 1 northern Sat. Feb. 10. 2007. I think Ryan Hale did a great job of guiding us. A lot of fisherman were complaining of catching no fish but we had no problem once we figured out the method.Out of the top 10 fishin trips I’ve had this was one of the best. Sight fishing was awsom.We’re planning to bring more fisherman from Cedar Rapids in MARCH OF THIS YR. TO HUMBLE OR REMEMBER A GREAT TRIP LIKE WE HAD THIS WEEK. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND RYAN HALE GUIDE SERVICE OF WEST OKOBOJI AND HARBORVIEW RESORT AND OH SHUCKSBAIT SHOP. It was a trip we’ll never forget.

TERRY, PHIL AND JOHN

well i see me thread here got jacked suprise suprise.

Honda….it’s looks to me like you should spend the money on a guide. I know if I drove from the border and spent what you did on your trip I’d sure want to catch fish!!

I drove 3 hours big deal. Spent time with friends and got great deals on berkley products out there. Big deal no paying for an overpriced guide. I will be there this summer staying at a resort on spirit lake. 5 guys for a week 500 bucks. Not to bad of a price at all. Buddy has been going there for the past 6 years.

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well i see me thread here got jacked suprise suprise.

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How did your post get “jacked”? I looked back through the posts and I see several people trying to help and offer you some good advice to improve your fishing success.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for but I’m left looking a little like this guy —>

(Except I’m much more handsome and I have a beard.)