Fishing near Ames?

[Swanson10]

Ok, so I am new to the Ames area as of January, and I was wondering where the good fishing spots around here are? I am not really into the catfish, so please no suggestions on those. I am into bass, walleye, crappie, bluegill, and others. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[HILLCYD]

Hickory Grove used to be good near Colo. Haven't been there in years though.

 

[cyco2000]

I have heard the bass are biting along the north shore of Ada Hayden, and there aren't many crappie in the lake. There are some bluegill of decent size. (Note: I fish with my 4-year old now, so my main goal is to catch as many fish as possible in a short amount of time, so I don't do much "real fishing" anymore).

I used to fish Little Wall Lake (north on Hwy 69 about 20 miles) and the bass fishing was pretty decent--almost always caught some.

If you can find the right pools, smallmouth can be found in the South Skunk River between Ames and Story City.

I've heard Hickory Grove is OK.

 

[heyguy85]

Hickory Grove is average. Fishing off the at Big Creek (near Polk City) seems to treat us pretty well almost every time. We have caught a lot of bluegills and largemouth there.

 

[ce1]

Hickory Grove used to be good near Colo. Haven't been there in years though.

I fished Hickory Grove a lot when i was at ISU, also (caveat: 20 years ago). Caught some nice LM Bass and bluegills...in fact, the biggest bluegill i ever got in my life ( 1+ lbs), i got out of here. I worked the SE corner of the lake a lot, using small spinners.

 

[isuno1fan]

Check your PM.

 

[h0mestar]

Here's another vote for Hickory Grove Park. I worked for Story County Conservation my Sophomore and Junior years at ISU. I was based out of Hickory Grove and would typically fish the lake a couple times a week after work (Free boat rentals for employees didn't hurt). Bass fishing is pretty decent, stick to the far east side or along the dam. The DNR used to raise brood catfish at HG, so there are some nice channel cats in the western end of the lake. I caught a 13 lb channel cat one summer there and I have seen the lake produce many more in the 15+ lb range. There were even a few walleye (4.5lbs by the spillway) and tiger musky (The one that got away) back in the 90's but I doubt those have been re-stocked.

 

[Swanson10]

Hey thanks to everyone who has reached out. I'll check out some of these spots in a few weeks when i get time between class and work and let you know how it goes.:smile:

 

[cj0227]

Has anyone tried the Trout ponds at Banner Lake south of Des Moines?

 

[SplitIdentity]

Has anyone tried the Trout ponds at Banner Lake south of Des Moines?

Yes. Don't.

 

[h0mestar]

Has anyone tried the Trout ponds at Banner Lake south of Des Moines?

Yeah, aviod Banner unless you find sport in catching "Pet" fish.

 

[Clonefan94]

Yeah, aviod Banner unless you find sport in catching "Pet" fish.

Wow, that's too bad. I used to fish Banner a lot when I was younger, in the 80's and early 90's, before they did the revamp. There always used to be some really nice bass and walleye in there.

 

[aweb84]

If you have a boat Don Williams over by Ogden is good.
I have heard people having lots of luck at Little Wall lake north of Story City.

 

[CloneIce]

I fished a ton around Ames a few years back when I was in school.

I caught some really nice (up to 17") smallmouth right in the middle of Ames, wading on the Skunk River and Squaw Creek. Below the dams is aways good as well. Also would wade north of town around the Peterson Pits area.

Little Wall is a pretty good lake, Big Creek is pretty good as well. Spillways from Big Creek and Saylorville can be reallly good at times...... probably not able to fish there now with the high water though.... but you can catch Walleyes in the winter there, a variety of fish year round.

Never had that much luck at HIckory Grove for bass (except little ones) but I caught some nice crappie and catfish there. Alot of the lakes in the immediate area get alot of pressure, it always seemed to me that HG was overfished.

When the water goes down, there are quite a few places to fish on the Des Moines River by Boone, never know what you'll get into on the river.

 

[mj4cy]

I used to catch decent size crappe at Peterson Pits. I have no clue now how the catch is there.

 

[CloneIce]

I used to catch decent size crappe at Peterson Pits. I have no clue now how the catch is there.

One time we went swimming at Petersen Pits at around 5 AM after an all-nighter. Two of us swam out to the buoys, then I started puking. Our other friend and a girl were busy having "relations" in the shallow end. Around this time we noticed there were two guys in a boat on the Pit doing some early morning fishing. They had to be quite amused at the situation.

 

[keepngoal]

you might want to try a fountain on the ISU campus.....

just sayin'.

-keep

 

[Kyle]

I haven't caught a whole lot of big fish around Ames, but there are plenty of smaller bass in Hickory Grove, McFarland Park (North by Peterson Pits), and Big Creek. There are probably a couple of big fish hiding out in those lakes too, I just haven't caught them. McFarland is also shallow enough in spots that I do a little fly fishing there on occasion.

 

[rbrook]

you might want to try a fountain on the ISU campus.....

just sayin'.

-keep

Be careful, you might get bit.