Storm Lake IA walleye report, 5/18-5/19/07

You guys in northwest Iowa have a gem of a walleye lake in Storm Lake. This was my first trip there, and it will not be my last!

I spent two days on Storm Lake as part of a family trip to my wife’s grandparents’ farm. My host on the water was Bill Mason, my wife’s uncle and long time devotee of Storm Lake walleyes. Bill "hooked" me on the idea of chasing some Storm Lake eyes with tales of 30-40 fish days and a recent 30" piggie caught casting off the docks. Well, it didn’t take me long to find room in the family truckster for a couple of rods and a few boxes of cranks!

We spent our time on Storm pulling cranks in shallow water, 6-9 feet deep, near rocky points and dredge cuts. Our trip on Friday turned into a pre-fishing trip for the Storm Lake Kiwanis walleye tournament, which was held on Saturday. The pattern we put together during pre-fishing focused on one particular sheltered point, pulling hot steel and firetiger SR5s at 3.0-3.3 mph. During pre-fishing, we had around a dozen fish, including 3 in the Storm Lake protected slot (17-22") with the big fish hitting the tape at 19". We also kept busy with white bass, carp snagged through the dorsal fin () and even a bonus (?) bullhead. No trip to Iowa would be complete without at least one bullie!

Saturday morning was sunny and breezy. While I didn’t have the whole day to fish, Bill and I threw our entry fees into the hat and fished in the Kiwanis walleye tournament. The format of the tournament is to enter one fish, with the winner selected by length, and ties broken by time of entry. Sure enough, 20 minutes into the trip, we stuck the winning fish, a well-proportioned 23" eye (shown in the first picture) that smacked a hot steel SR5. We enjoyed fast action for the first several hours; when the action slowed we ran to shore and entered our catch. After registering and releasing her, we headed back out, and enjoyed several more hours of walleye action, finishing the day with about 20 eyes averaging 16". We also kept 3 between 16 and 17" for the pan. During the day, the best crank pattern evolved from hot steel to clown, but the speed stayed right up there in the low 3’s.

While Bill had a few doubts, our 23" fish held up as the winner, beating another 23" fish by a couple of hours. Bill, I can’t thank you enough for hosting me on Storm Lake and guiding us to a tournament victory. I’ll be back next year to help you defend your title!

As I said earlier, Storm Lake is a beautiful walleye fishery. I’m anxious to spend more time here in the years to come!