Where are the fishermen at?

FarmClone

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Anyone been out yet this spring?

I haven't been able to get out much yet but I got quite a few stripers down at Big creek the other day. I have been hearing the crappie spawn is going yet but that was a week or so ago.

Where is the fishing good? Anyone caught anything? Have at it.
 

nhclone

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Ada Hayden is really good early in the year for Largemouth. I know of at least 5 fish caught that were over 4 pounds. In most places, bass are on beds right now. This is about the worst bass fishing time of the year, IMO. Crappie and Bluegill are getting good right now though.
 

TheCaptain

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Fishing on the Mississippi has gotten alot better since the water levels finally went down.Have been doing pretty good on the walleye for the past 3 weeks or so but now that will slow down with the spawn pretty much over.
I'm shifting over to the crappies now as they are just starting to move into spawning areas.
 

ISU_phoria

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Apr 10, 2006
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Are you even allowed to catch Walleye right now? I practically grew up on a boat in Minnesota, but never did much fishing down in Iowa, since I couldn't find a place that I could catch many fish.

Walleye opener in Wisconsin was just this past weekend and in Minnesota it's on the 15th. I never was familiar with Iowa's reguations.

Looking forward to a weekend of fishing on Walleye opener here in Minnesota in just over a week.
 

cyfan964

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Oct 22, 2006
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Little Wall Lake has been great for me all spring for largemouth. I've caught 15-20 largemouth in th 3-5 lb range throwing a lipless crankbait from a boat at the shore.
 

crooksie_26

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Last week in June I go up to Cass Lake in Minnesota to fish for some monster Walleye/Northern/Muskie...And over memorial day i'll head up to Clear Lake, IA and hunt for some muskie, i'll post reports afterwards...
 

geburgess

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Yesterday some of my friends caught some medium sized bass at Hickory Grove over by Colo, short drive from Ames. Couldn't go cause of finals :sad:
 

TheCaptain

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Are you even allowed to catch Walleye right now? I practically grew up on a boat in Minnesota, but never did much fishing down in Iowa, since I couldn't find a place that I could catch many fish.

Walleye opener in Wisconsin was just this past weekend and in Minnesota it's on the 15th. I never was familiar with Iowa's reguations.

Looking forward to a weekend of fishing on Walleye opener here in Minnesota in just over a week.

Here is a link to Iowas Fishing Regulations

http://www.iowadnr.gov/law/regs/regs_fish.pdf
 

nhclone

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Yesterday some of my friends caught some medium sized bass at Hickory Grove over by Colo, short drive from Ames. Couldn't go cause of finals :sad:

Were any of the bass over the 15 inch minimum? The ISU Fishing Club had our spring tourney at Hickory last year and caugt a lot of fish, but only 4 that could be weighed in. Lots of bass in the 12-14" range. Moved to Brushy this year and had 5 or 6 limits weighed in. Good bass fishing at Brushy if you're willing to work for them.
 
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ca4cy

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Dec 6, 2009
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Fishing on the Mississippi has gotten alot better since the water levels finally went down.Have been doing pretty good on the walleye for the past 3 weeks or so but now that will slow down with the spawn pretty much over.
I'm shifting over to the crappies now as they are just starting to move into spawning areas.

Which pool?
 

GoCubsGo

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Jul 22, 2008
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The title of this thread is grammatically incorrect. Is should be:

Whither art thou fisherman?
 

HighOnCy

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Jan 6, 2009
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Out at Big Creek yesterday...caught about 30 crappies and a handful of bass in 3-4 hours. Small jig with a tube or nymph (white or chartreuse).
 

isuno1fan

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Mar 30, 2006
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What do you guys think about the bag limit for panfish?

I like it myself...I don't know why you need bucket after bucket full of crappie & bluegill.
 

fatkid1974

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van down by the river
We catch bucket after bucket of panfish because (1) takes alot of those little bastards to feed a family of four and (2) you clean them and freeze them to eat during the lean fishing times.

Walleye and catfish are hitting pretty good at Blackhawk lake and Storm Lake. Fishing in the Raccoon River is pretty much non existent right now, water is still to high and muddy.
 

CloneIce

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Apr 11, 2006
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What do you guys think about the bag limit for panfish?

I like it myself...I don't know why you need bucket after bucket full of crappie & bluegill.

I like it. Panfish are prolific enough that on a big body of water, it probably won't make much difference at all in the population, but on a small lake or pond it could really help out.

Plus, just personally can't stand it when people are hauling out every crappie or bluegill they catch, even ones too small to really clean (unless its a lake with an overpopulation of crappie). Alot of them just end up dumping their fish in the ditch when they realize how much work it'll be to clean all of them.