I hit the water Sat. April 19 prefishing for the I.O.W.A. tourney on Sunday.The fishing was awesome for 15 to 16 in plus fish.I knew these fish were not going to cash me a check but they still made for some fun time on the water with my son David.
Our game plan was to spend the day fishing the traditional spawning area,s rigging minnows and pitching jigs. After a couple of hours of fishing we found that a phelp,s floater and a spit shot about 16 inches above floater was putting alot of fish in the boat.Early in the day we found the fish in 3to 4 ft and out to 6 to 7 ft as the day wore on.Our biggest fish was 16 1/2 in. so we just kept moving and caught fish in most area,s just not the 18 to 19 in fish we knew we needed.
On game day we made the decision to try pulling cranks in hopes of getting some better fish and even though we still caught fish they still were not the size we needed.But when the sun came out on Sunday we caught everything huge silvers and yellows and even a short musky.We caught fish early Sunday in the 5 ft range and has the sun came out we moved out the 8 to 10 ft range and caught fish most of the day but still no 18 in plus fish.
To sum up weekend the fishing was awesome as we caught alot of walleye and as the water warmed on Sunday it turned into a multi-species day.I hope to make it out again shortly as I would like to give the yellows and crappie a try.I have heard of a few nice crappie being caught and with this beautiful warm weather everything ought to be biting.
Great report Joe. Sounds like a great time to get out there and get some eaters.
Thanks for the report Joe. My results are pretty similar to yours for the weekend. We knew going in it was going to take a big fish to cash a check on sunday, and thats what we shot for. Ended up not getting the one bite we needed at the end.
Your right, when the sun came out on sunday everything decided to bite. Sure is funny how an 11″ yellow bass can make you think you have a 5lb walleye on.
Check my reports in the Clear Lake Forum too, they pretty much mirror yours. Unbelievable fishing right now for legal fish, and I did get a 21 thrown in the bag the other day. Caught and released her. Starting to see some of the bigger fish come in too.
Nice report. I was down on Saturday targeting muskies to no avail but it looked like you walleye guys were doing pretty well in the shallows. What kind of bag did it take to win the tourney?
Took 12.7lbs for 5 fish to win. I caught a musky on saturday, but it was small.
Thanks for the report Joe. Great to see you are back on the water.
Thanks, Bill