Clear Lake

[CrappieBuster]

Heck with walking out   Drive out theres more than enough ice.

[Huntindave]

I fished the main lake yesterday (Saturday Dec.28th)   Sixteen inches of ice and relatively little snow.  Drove my pickup in two wheel drive mode without difficulty.  Caught a few small yellow bass but nothing to write home about.  I don't know the lake so it was just a crap shoot but still better out on the ice than sitting at home.

[CrappieBuster]

It's been the slowest year I have ever experienced there been fishing the lake for 15+ years.  Sure it can be good if you want to catch itsy bitsy yellows all day that aren't even worth filleting.  Or them 8-10 inch walleyes.  Maybe get lucky and catch 5 or 10 6-9inch crappies. 2 or 3 years ago the yellows were actually decent sized which made it not half bad now not so much.  Last year there was a fair crappie bite for about 3 weeks.  Not really a lake to get your hopes up on anymore in my opinion.

[ranger185]

Looking to pinpoint some muskie. Right now I am positioned on the little lake and wondering if there is any on the little lake and an idea where at?

Are you serious? Surely you are kidding and you got me. Ha Ha. Good one!

[jagerdog]

I'm with you Crappie Buster on the lousy fishing on Clear Lake.  I have caught yellows for years on CL, but the tiny fish this year are rediculous.  What gives?  You think the fish are stunted?  Did the dredging affect things?  This lake is dismal right now....

[squ1rr31_]

Maybe the yellows are finally getting fished out. Just remember not to put them back!

[mjmeyer]

I doubt if they're fished out. The larger sized year-class that were being targeted may have been replaced by a smaller sized, but more dominant year-class. Soon those large numbers of small fish will be breeders and will lead to the next dominant year-class. Called recruitment.

[Oldbear]

Fished out never this is just their cycle.  I remember twice when they had extreme kill offs but they came back more than ever just a part of it.  Shore were lined with a white surf of dead fish which at  the time I had to help clean up.

[CrappieBuster]

I think the low water levels a few years in a row have something to do with it at least for the yellows.  And the DNRS budget isn't what it used to be so that means less intensive stocking I'd imagine.  Wish we could get a DNR fisheries biologist to become a member on Ice Shanty that would help answer lots of our questions.  And answer any questions about rules and regulations also.  As for targeting muskies on that lake thru the ice find adjacent structure setup off of it with large baits just right under the ice like 5 foot.  Muskies are the king ding a lings and always ride high in the water column.  Ive seen many come thru just right beneath the ice.  Hope this helps.

[jagerdog]

Sounds reasonable CB.  I still think there are yellows to be caught.  We did well in the spring on 7-8" fish, they just werent there this last time out.  I've just never caught these tiny ones in such numbers before.  As for walleyes, I think we are a long ways from decent numbers of legal fish.  It will take some extraordinary measures before this lake is what it was 10 years ago.

[ranger185]

Sounds reasonable CB.  I still think there are yellows to be caught.  We did well in the spring on 7-8" fish, they just werent there this last time out.  I've just never caught these tiny ones in such numbers before.  As for walleyes, I think we are a long ways from decent numbers of legal fish.  It will take some extraordinary measures before this lake is what it was 10 years ago.

It will take.....extraordinary measures.....before this lake is what is was 10 years ago. Hmmmm. Wonder, oh wonder why that might be?

Flash forward to Yellow Bass Bonanza 2015. The winners, Todd Bucketfiller and Jim Gamehog, are being interviewed.

Interviewer; Todd and Jim, your winning weight was 4 fish at 3.2 ounces. Tough bite today. How did you do it? Jim; well we drilled 25000 holes today. After our fifteenth set of blades we caught that last fish, a 2 incher, that put us over the top. We would like to thank our sponsor Stikemaster for providing us with the Super 98 auger which is capable of drilling so many holes on half a gallon of gas.

Interviewer; Todd and Jim, it seems the Yellow Bass bite has really dropped off in Clear the last few years. What are your thoughts on this? Todd; Well, years ago the ice fishing boom took off and we were determined to rid this lake of the invasive species known as Yellow Bass. Even though they had worked for this lake for decades, and thousands of people enjoyed them throughout the year, it seemed to be the right thing to do. So we ice fisherman encouraged everyone we could to come on out and catch these invasive fish that were ruining the lake. And, boy, did the ice fisherman show up. Hundreds, thousands of them. All with new gear, electronics, you name it. We even encouraged them to throw what ever Yellows didn't want to keep on the ice to feed the eagles and crows so that the lake would be free of them. Apparently our strategy has worked as we believe that we have caught the last remaining Yellow Bass in the lake. By our estimation, there are none, I repeat none, left out there. We would like to thank our sponsors for being able to do that.

Interviewer; Did you see any other fish being caught out there today? Jim; Yes. The new 6 inch keeper rule on walleyes is really paying off. We noted several limits being caught today. The DNR keeps pumping those small fish in there so we need to keep pulling them out so they don't get over populated. They are hard to fillet but if you get a pair of 3.00 readers you have a chance. Our sponsors sell those glasses so just go to their website.

Interviewer; Any other catches to note? Todd; Yes. the 8 inch crappie bite has been on fire a couple of years ago. Seems the dredging cleared up the water and led to a boom in weeds and crappies. I think we have those under control as well. The small crappies were seen as a stunting problem, even though the lake hadn't see them in years, so we had to get them out of there. Keep in mind that, according to Ice Team, you need your 3.00 power glasses to fillet those fish as well. Thank you to our sponsors for allowing us to do that.

Interviewer; Anything else to add? Jim; yes, we say a 40 inch muskies caught today. Fortunately someone ran over it with their ATV. After that they clubbed it to death. We don't want it eating those 6 inch walleyes.



Interviewer; Thanks Jim and Todd

[Crappyfishrman]

That was hilarious to read!! Lots of effort put into that post hahaha

[icefisher4]

Fishing seemed to be a lot better today. Caught some decent crappie few perch and couple yellows....

[luckydog35]

Dear Ranger185

I will start this off by saying I run LUND!!!!!! Was looking at switching over to a plastic boat, but I see it makes fishing skills diminish. Can't afford that!! I don't have much to start with.

I will guess you are fishing the same spot you caught fish last year.....
Water level has increase 3+ feet and all the fish in the lake are free to roam quite a bit more than last year. Makes it a little tougher when they are not trapped in the small lake.

The yellow size is down this year yes 7-8" (very cleanable). Blaming a 4 hour tournament for this....narrow minded to say the least.
If you were out early in the ice season you would have seen hundreds if not thousands of dead yelllows. These were the larger fish YOU desire. These were top of life cycle and some from a disease.
We have been reassured we are not harming the yellows one bit....many conversations have taken place and continue to on the harvest of our resource.
The last thing i would want regardless of proper opinion would be to crash the population of my favorite species to target on ice!!! As guides on this lake its foolish to think we would do something to jeopardize any fish in the lake.

Yes, we promote yellow bass fishing. We don't promote waste of this resource. We release all fish not kept for consumption. Oh, and my wife's Japanese fish prints ( pretty cool). Its an art thing.

So move your shack out of the 20' holes in the little lake and explore all 4000acres of clear lake. Don't blame others for your poor catches.

Walleye fishing has been much better this year. They are over 6" too...more like 14-18" and fat!!  Cleaned 100 yellows yesterday. Caught and released several perch and crappie this year. Don't see any reason to keep a few of those with my bucket of yellows.

That is my fishing report. Get out and look the fish are there!!!

I almost forgot thanks for the free plug.

2015 YBB DATES WILL BE ANNOUNCED FEBRUARY 8TH!!!!!
AFTER THE WEIGH IN.

I know not written as well....guess I like fishing more than writing.

 Good luck the rest of the season
 Chris Scholl

[icefisher4]

Luckydog35 check your pm.

[esox_magnum]

I'm sure fishing pressure has nothing to do with low numbers of gamefish, remember the walleye bite a few years ago....As for the yellows they will always be up and down years, IMO I wish we didnt have any,Clear is one of a few lakes thats able to somewhat control them and maintain a decent fisherie...I have never fished it other than for muskies, but will be attending the 2nd annual Yellow tourney....BTW I live on the Iowa Great Lakes bite is poor at best here to, fish are hard to find and even harder to make eat, this by far is the worst ice season I have ever had.... Ihave put in alot of time out already with minimal results... Even some of our normaly hot crappie spots up north is slow at best....

[Big Blue]

Before the Big Dredge a lot of guys used to fish for yellows between the northern most tip of the island and Dodges Point. Now you hardly see anyone out there.  I drove by yesterday and only one shack was up. I used to catch quite a few of them there. I don't ice fish anymore because of health, I sure do miss it.

[SpoonieLuv]

I always wanted to fish around the Island and Dodges, not sure where to put in at though. I do have a UTV so could drive a ways, just not sure where the best place to get on the ice is at.

[Big Blue]

I always wanted to fish around the Island and Dodges, not sure where to put in at though. I do have a UTV so could drive a ways, just not sure where the best place to get on the ice is at.

Go to Google maps and enter Clear Lake, IA. Click on the + sign to get a closer look. On the south side you will see Woodford Island. Just to the south of the island you will see South Shore Access. Good luck.

[icefisher4]

thinking about moving over to the big lake. right now i am on the little lake and its seems slower then last year. it has its days but nothing like last year. who knows maybe it will get better. Where are the majority of people at on the big lake? im heading over tomrorow morning to go check out the big lake. how is farmers doing? wanting to catch some walleyes
 .

[CrappieBuster]

HA! We were on the big lake and moved back to the small lake.  Lots of people scratching their heads.  It's been a poor bite at best all year even early ice was nothing to write home about.  Brutal cold isn't helping either. When its -10 to -15 everynite and barely makes it above 0 during the day the fish get effected also.

[MelroseHawkins]

Hey locals, can we get an update on the accesses & snow cover on the lake? Huge 4x4's needed or what? Can smaller vehicles traverse the pond? Thanks & good luck all!!

[IAEYE]

I seen small 2 wheel drive cars on the lake today. Both big lake and little lake. 

[jagerdog]

I fished Monday from 1p.m. to dark and did pretty well.  Lots of small yellows and crappies, but I did catch a mess of nice crappies and some decent yellows.  Small jigs and spikes were the best, but I got plenty on gulp minnows, grubs, and honey worms.  I didn't keep any, but had a blast.

I was in 22 feet of water and my Marcum LX-7 was lit up the entire time.  Almost everything was suspended, up to 6ft down.  Crappies were all 19 feet or so, yellows up higher.  All in all agreat day, but the 4 inchers can be trying.  In a few years, they will be incredible though....

[icefisher4]

Whats the good word on clear? havent been over that way for about 2 weeks.....i know something has got to be wrong but ive been to busy! hoping to get over there soon! last time i was over there people were moving wheel houses back and forth to little to big lake not knowing what to do.

[Trump]

Lookin for some info is it worth coming up for a day

[MelroseHawkins]

Yes any info please. I will be taking my 6 yr old boys for their first ice fishing trip and with Grampa (my dad who introduced me to ice fishing 38 or so yrs ago). They are so excited & can't stop asking question, particularly the one boy. The other is pretty apprehensive I think. Anyway, I don't need spots. Just wanting to know if it's been active enough to keep them interested. Most likely on the Little Lake. I don't want them to get turned off on the first trip. Thanks.

Is there 15-16" of ice yet?

[IAEYE]

The bite has been good.  We have been finding some fish in the little lake and on the west end of the big lake.  If you are willing to work hard you should be able to catch 50 pretty easy.  There has been a couple crappies caught in the deeper water of the little lake.  22 to 26ft

[26perch]

what depth are the yellows

[MelroseHawkins]

The bite has been good.  We have been finding some fish in the little lake and on the west end of the big lake.  If you are willing to work hard you should be able to catch 50 pretty easy.  There has been a couple crappies caught in the deeper water of the little lake.  22 to 26ft
[/quo

Thanks so much eye. My bud & i usually set up in 22-25 ft of water & get a variety. Of fish including crappies perch & few walleyes. Glad tovhear there is action for the boys.