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Author Topic: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.  (Read 7503 times)

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« on: Dec 31, 2022, 05:34 PM »
Ritz has a lot of bluegills and crappies with a lot of sorting, dirty water. Smith Bay has a lot of people but I fished several holes and never saw a fish over 4 inches, clear water.  Emerson is like the Ritz, only with clear water.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline drunkfisherman88

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #1 on: Jan 01, 2023, 09:16 AM »
Fished Eagles point Friday night, No fish. went to Smith yesterday morning marked a few fish but no bites. Fished just west of stony point in the 20 foot section caught a lot of small Perch and walleye nothing over 6 inches. Finished Saturday night at Emerson with a giant crowd I was right and we need to find weeds. People are catching bluegill and I saw some small Pike on Tips. This morning we’re on Pocahontas . 9 to 12 feet of water lots of weeds marking fish but only two 9 inch bluegill.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #2 on: Jan 01, 2023, 06:53 PM »
Fished the north end of West today. Bite is good, sorting there also, I was in the crowd, maybe 15' of water, probably a little less. Water pretty clear, you could see your bait disappear and kinda see the fish. Millers has a few fish but not many and not very big. I tried several places looking for fish but I never found very many.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline drunkfisherman88

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #3 on: Jan 01, 2023, 07:12 PM »
We ended up at Pocahontas point from 2 to 7 PM limited out on bluegill minimum 8 to 10.5 between two guys, caught a fair amount of bass n small crappie too.  9 to 11 feet of water in heavy weeds

Offline Fish Butcher

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #4 on: Jan 03, 2023, 09:09 AM »
We ended up at Pocahontas point from 2 to 7 PM limited out on bluegill minimum 8 to 10.5 between two guys, caught a fair amount of bass n small crappie too.  9 to 11 feet of water in heavy weeds
Like to see pictures of over 10 inch okoboji bluegills please.

Offline bigtt

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #5 on: Jan 03, 2023, 01:12 PM »
Like to see pictures of over 10 inch okoboji bluegills please.




Offline Ice_Fly_Guy

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #6 on: Jan 03, 2023, 03:10 PM »
Keeping 10.5" bluegills?  ???

Offline Buckshots

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #7 on: Jan 03, 2023, 03:12 PM »
Keeping 10.5" bluegills?  ???
Jealous? Maybe he is getting it mounted. Maybe he’s going to eat it. It’s his to do with as he pleases.

Offline Fish Butcher

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #8 on: Jan 03, 2023, 04:22 PM »



That’s a nice bluegill, for sure. Subtract near an inch for starting near 1.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #9 on: Jan 03, 2023, 11:38 PM »
I haven't seen a 10" bluegill on Okoboji in years. I mean looking down the hole seen, they haven't even swam under me. You just don't see the size you used to but the average is way bigger now that 20 years ago. It's easy to limit on bluegills over 8.5" now. Back then you would see mostly dinks up to 7". Then there was not many until you got up to 9" and then you would see some whoppers. I remember having 2 coming in, and the smaller one which was much smaller grabbed the bait unfortunately. I landed that one and it was 10.25". I've wondered how big was the other a few times. Good luck to everyone.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Dwedemeier

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #10 on: Jan 04, 2023, 08:38 AM »
Any estimates on how much snow is on the lakes now?

Offline Ice_Fly_Guy

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #11 on: Jan 04, 2023, 09:03 AM »
Jealous? Maybe he is getting it mounted. Maybe he’s going to eat it. It’s his to do with as he pleases.

Nope.  I guess I'm not surprised either.  Every decent fish in my lake gets the hot grease so why not there, too.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #12 on: Jan 05, 2023, 11:20 PM »
Keeping 10.5" bluegills?  ???

It's the IGL. Plenty of bluegill that size come out every year. It's not uncommon.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #13 on: Jan 07, 2023, 08:16 AM »
Fished on smith’s bay last night in buddies ice castle. Few nice gills. Most fish wouldn’t bite. Was slow

Offline hoppy63

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #14 on: Jan 20, 2023, 06:13 PM »
Coming to fish 1st week in Feb. Any recent reports on action, ice thickness, how much snow on ice???? Millers Bay in particular......are trucks able to get out safely?
Thanks for any info. PMs welcome

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #15 on: Jan 21, 2023, 02:58 PM »
Tons of ice, thousands of people on the ice. Literally thousands. If everyone is catching fish there won't be many left because every bay is covered with humans. Trucks, SUVs, sleds, two seat whatever you callems, I even saw a Wilcraft for the first time. I didn't fish, just got bored at home and went for a drive.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline hoppy63

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #16 on: Jan 23, 2023, 12:05 PM »
Tons of ice, thousands of people on the ice. Literally thousands. If everyone is catching fish there won't be many left because every bay is covered with humans. Trucks, SUVs, sleds, two seat whatever you callems, I even saw a Wilcraft for the first time. I didn't fish, just got bored at home and went for a drive.

Thanks for the reply.

Offline Zadane

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #17 on: Jan 24, 2023, 04:23 PM »
New to the area. Is Silver lake any good or any of the other smaller lakes in the area? I’ve fished several bays on west lake and a few spots on Spirit. Looking to get away from the crowds this weekend especially with winter games this weekend.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #18 on: Jan 24, 2023, 09:33 PM »
Sorry Zadane, that information will be hard to get. I know a lot of fish get caught out of silver but not by me so I couldn't say. If you want to bend your pole and don't care what it is, Lost Island Lake has a gazillion fish in it. Mostly yellow bass, some of everything else. Good luck
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Ice_Fly_Guy

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #19 on: Jan 27, 2023, 09:27 AM »
5 Island may also be a good option, hearing there's a million yellow bass in there and they can be found in the dredge cuts.

Offline ClamGuy

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #20 on: Jan 29, 2023, 04:58 PM »
Anyone know of an ATV rental place in the boji area? Headed up to fish this weekend and would like to eliminate all the walking. Thanks

Offline Fish Butcher

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #21 on: Jan 29, 2023, 07:26 PM »
What vehicle are you bringing up?

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #22 on: Feb 04, 2023, 10:07 PM »
Fished Miller's bay today.  Found a few keeper Perch in 21 feet of water.  Died off around 11am. Ice thickness 19". Snow drifts hard to see in flat light of mid day. Some caution and common sense go a long way.

Offline ONFISH

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #23 on: Feb 05, 2023, 01:27 PM »
Selfish you got time to post reports you got time to drill more holes!!!!

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #24 on: Mar 15, 2023, 02:15 PM »
ONFISH And I will be up for the weekend,  look for a report Saturday night.

Offline Buckshots

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #25 on: Mar 15, 2023, 06:51 PM »
Went fishing up there today on a mission for Northern. Ended up with 6, two of which were silver northerns. It was a pretty nice day for fishing. Still plenty of ice. I was surprised to see the lake covered in about 4” of snow. The season is far from over.

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #26 on: Mar 18, 2023, 10:42 PM »
Ended up fishing Southern East today, my Vexilar took a crap on me so it was like fishing in the old days again. Managed to catch a few fish, five species for the crew. Just not many keepers. Measured 24 inches of ice, varying degrees of quality. Guys are driving out. Access seemed good. Trying Spirit tomorrow.

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #27 on: Mar 20, 2023, 12:28 AM »
This morning we hit Spirit. Ice was 20 + (didn't officially. measure) Found fish in nearly every hole drilled, determined most were shiners and small perch. Wandered out a little deeper, size got a little better. We caught enough for a good meal for the young lads back home.  If it lasts 2 weeks longer🤞, I'll give another report.  To the bitter end!

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: 2023 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #28 on: Apr 01, 2023, 07:05 PM »
Fished in Miller's Bay again today,  despite the dire warning from the bait shop guy as to conditions on area waters, we found the ice in excelent condition considering,  and would have driven an ATV out had we brought one. Tomorrow is going to be warm and windy so hope to end our season on a high note. Good luck to any still at it.

Offline Dwedemeier

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2024 Okoboji Area reports.
« Reply #29 on: Jan 03, 2024, 08:36 AM »
Has Minnewashta or any of the other lakes capped over? Anglers Bay on Big Spirit? East? West appears to be wide open from what I can see online.

 



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