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Iowa => Ice Fishing Iowa => Topic started by: spoofhoundicefisher on Dec 08, 2019, 08:46 PM
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where is the most southern fishable ice in iowa. anyone care to chime in. i am in serious need to make a road trip this next weekend somewhere i am going stir crazy down here.
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As of right now Clear Lake. They are reporting 2"-4" and are estimating safe ice all around by Thursday. I doubt if you will find any safe ice south of Hwy 20.
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Nothing is even locked up here, and I'm a few miles south of Hwy 20. This crazy wind today isn't going to help get anything solid.
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Here in S.E. Nebraska not even the skinny water yet. Hopefully by the first of the year. Sooner the farther north. The temps for the rest of the week looking promising.
Keep it safe! JDL
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Probably be a couple weeks yet. Wind took out what we had last week. Highway 30 area.
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thanks for the replies guys.
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We had ice and ponds locked up before thanks giving with cold temps, then they opened back up and have stayed open. It was 40 just on Sat. Today it was pretty cold, so we should lock up and have a few inches by this weekend with temps if we are lucky. Overall......I wouldn't drive from Missouri up here to fish just yet....I think we need about 2 weeks so we can have a consistent 5in+ so a guy can take the atv out.
I don't think the IGL is even close to being locked up yet.
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Ponds iced over last night in Linn County, just like they have been doing most nights for the last couple weeks.
This new ice will last for a few days, but I don't think we're going to have safe ice this far south in Iowa soon. The cold temps we need to do that just aren't going to stick around long enough here.
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ponds locked up here last nite. bad news is it is supposed to be in the 50's the next 2 days.
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Checked a pond in Crawford county this morning. 2 inches of ice. Should be a go next weekend!
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There is some fishable ice out there in Northern iowa, just be careful its not consistant
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ponds have been capped for a few days now but only about 1" to 1.25" at most so still not a go. we are getting snow now and predicted to get between 3-5" today and into tonite so that will now help matters out much either. also gonna get back up in the upper 40's this week too. hoping to be on ice before x mas but that might be a stretch.
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I drove up the Mississippi on Friday starting at Marquette, and found about 4" of good ice on a shallow backwater by Lacrosse. Caught a bunch of perch and few nice bluegills and crappies to go with them until a band of snow came through later in the afternoon and the bite shut down.
There were a couple guys on the ice in the marina at Lansing, right beside the docks. Those were the first people I saw on the ice, and I did not see any more until the state line at New Albin. They were on some super shallow backwaters that I have not done well on, so I went a little farther north.
The snow is going to miss us here in Linn County today, and we are not supposed to get above freezing until Thursday, with lows in the teens. I think small ponds around here might be fishable with a little caution by then. Gonna be a while before bigger waters like Macbride in this part of the state are fishable.
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Was out on a pond by town today. Had 4-6 in on it. Pulled the clam flipover out on it, and fished with by middle boy. The Gills were on fire and caught quite a few.
Ice varied and where there was snow.....about 4in were there was no snow 6-7in.
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There should be a couple days this week where small ponds around Cedar Rapids are fishable. Use caution.
I checked a couple small ponds in Linn County yesterday afternoon. About 2 to 2.5 inches of good ice near shore. If I were 100 lbs lighter I would have fished them. ;D As it is I decided to wait.
We got a dusting of snow last night, but I don't think it will hurt ice formation much. Lows in the teens tonight, around ten tomorrow night, and not getting above freezing until Wednesday, so I am pretty sure I will be on at least one of those ponds fishing mid-week.
Then back to highs in the forties here. >:(
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A couple of shacks were set up Friday afternoon in the marina at Black Hawk Lake. Also, it appeared that a shack was out off of the Ice House Point boat ramp Friday night. It just capped over around Wednesday, so that is a little too soon for this guy.
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Saw a couple guys out on the Mississippi backwaters in Southern Jackson county yesterday, no idea on ice thickness, but they were in a spot that is traditionally one of the first safe places to freeze up.
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I fished today near Cedar Rapids on a smaller lake. Caught 10 fish before noon, ~4 nice keepers (if I were keeping them). 3 inches of ice but I would not recommend going out after today. The last hole I drilled today really made the ice crack all around me which freaked me out enough to get off the lake. Good day of fishing but scary once it warmed up.
(https://i.postimg.cc/YhP5P3bK/75-B076-C9-5-FA9-455-C-9-FA3-2-D713132-CD5-D.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/YhP5P3bK)
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I fished McBride yesterday 3inches where I was very slow fishing!!!!!
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Fished Beaver Lake in Dexter Sunday afternoon and this morning. Ice 3" - 3 1/2". Fishing was slow both days.
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Fished 2.5-3" of good clear ice in Southeast Iowa yesterday afternoon. Most of the small ponds is Des Moines county froze late last week but haven't made much ice due to the few inches of snow that quickly covered them when they locked up. Everything will probably be open again by the weekend with this warm snap coming in. Southern portion of the state likely won't have good ice again until the first week of January if we are lucky. Headed to Clear Lake to scratch the itch this weekend. Be safe out there and tight lines!
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3.5" of good ice on a pond in Johnson County last night. I started fishing right at sunset and caught some bluegills until the bite stopped a little after 5:00.
That ice was in good shape, but like someone else said it won't last too long. Highs in the forties starting today and staying like that for quite a while in this part of the state, it sounds like. I won't be able to get out again until Sunday, and while I will probably go look at some ponds around here I doubt if the shorelines will still be safe by then.
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I looked at a couple of small ponds in Cedar Rapids on my lunch break today. I do not think I will bother checking for safe ice this Sunday down here. ::)
If we had started with six inches of good ice yesterday before this warmup we would be alright for a few days yet, but 3.5" or 4" of ice doesn't leave much room for error when you get this kind of warm weather.
Guess I'll be driving north or waiting for the next cold snap...whenever that is.
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I fished north of Oskaloosa last couple days. 3-4 inches of ice and did very good on gills. Will be going again today as this might be it for a while.
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Clear Lake has about 8” as of today. Warm weather this week won’t help much however.
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Ice does not look good in central Iowa, I have not checked anything but color is black
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Looks black but it’s clear hard ice on ponds I fished yesterday and today. 5-6 inches. Hoping this warm spell don’t last long
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I really wanted to go today and test it in a couple places, but I wasn't willing to chance it alone.
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The ice has started pulling away from the shorelines on small ponds in CR and IC. The ice beyond that does not look good at all.
We're done ice fishing here for a little while.
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We have rain coming Saturday, not going to be good around central Iowa for a few weeks.
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anybody getting out in north central iowa. looking to maybe tag along somewhere this weekend or next week with someone who has some room to spare.
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anybody getting out in north central iowa. looking to maybe tag along somewhere this weekend or next week with someone who has some room to spare.
What are you looking for? Blue gills? Crappie? Bass? Perch? Walleye? Pike?
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anything really. have never iced a northern that would be pretty cool. just looking to get out on some ice. ponds or lakes. have chased mostly crappie and bluegills down this way. got out on a pond today in a boat and was not really happy about it but at least got to feel the thump a little.
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Dont get me wrong I love ice fishing but you can't beat this nice weather to get out after some open water walleye.
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Dont get me wrong I love ice fishing but you can't beat this nice weather to get out after some open water walleye.
Someone get this wise guy outta here! ;D
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We're probably not just done in central Iowa for a little while. An inch of rain on Saturday followed by wind and highs in the mid forties on Sunday in northeast Iowa right up to the Minnesota border.
Get out the long rods. :-\
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After the rain and temps this weekend, we will be waiting for first ice again in Linn and Johnson Counties. Ponds are mostly open here.
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I dont think we are far off now guys!! I was planning on camping and shore fishing at Icaria this weekend and cancelled them. I think Friday and Saturday it is going to cap. Shutting down all shore and ice fishing. I am totally okay with that!!!!
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Yep, it's about time. I am sure I can hop on my home lake on Sunday at the latest.
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One more weekend of sitting around. Cant wait till next weekend. Ice fishing every weekend after that!! Been sitting around since mid december waiting to ice fish!!!
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I'm hitting Black Hawk or Storm Lake hard on Sunday AM. I haven't decided which one yet.
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Don't know what either is like. Spirit lake had 8-12 inches on it though whit little snow. Hope it gets cold with no snow so I can take the ice castle out.
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We've been having first ice every couple mornings in east central Iowa.
The rain yesterday around CR and IC should be a good thing, as it may have cleaned up some of the skim ice that keeps forming. It is finally going to turn cold this week, and open water will freeze quicker than water with a few inches of snow on top of skim ice.
I am pretty sure ponds around here will be good next weekend. Just depends how much snow we might get this week.
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Hey all- I live in KC but my folks farm where 20 and I-35 meet. They a have a nice farm pond that we hit- Just seeing if anyone has heard about ice conditions in that area. Plan on being up there this weekend.
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You will be good, Wednesday into Thursday has a forecasted low of -3. I am right on Hwy 20, but west of where you'll be.
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That's what I was thinking, thanks!!
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3.5" of good clear ice on a pond just south of I-80 in Johnson County this morning. Fishing was terrible. ;D
The snow could mess with things down this way. That 3.5" of good ice I was on could get blanketed and insulated from this cold spell, as is all the other new, and pretty thin, ice this far south.
Be careful when you head out after this snow is done--no matter how many times I see it, I am always surprised how well a few inches of snow can insulate ice from cold temps like those coming this weekend.
Hopefully the wind clears a lot of the snow off the ice tomorrow. Then we would be in very good shape.
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had between 2.5" and 3" of good solid black ice today. with the snow cover the ice making will be very slow going.
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Had 6-7 inches on a Jasper county pond today. The heavy winds had a good portion snow free. We caught a dozen with a couple good Crappie. Good luck to everyone :tipup:
(https://i.postimg.cc/tnzbXmn8/20200119-114635.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/tnzbXmn8)
(https://i.postimg.cc/HJfd3MCv/Resized-20200119-115016.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/HJfd3MCv)
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The snow blew off most of the new ice that I have checked around CR and IC--I had probably 5" of good ice under me on a different pond last night than the one I was on Friday morning. This pond takes a little longer to freeze, but is usually better fishing at first ice. That was the case last night. Caught some nice bluegills and removed a bonus crappie as well.
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Yesterday's warm sunny weather has made getting on and off some ponds in Linn County a little sketchy.
The small pond just south of Cedar Rapids I was on this weekend had probably 7" of good ice on Saturday. That had turned to 2"of slush and 4" of decent ice by yesterday afternoon. I ended up getting a wet boot when I left yesterday evening and broke through right at the shore.
This pond has a decent amount of runoff going in it, which made the ice conditions worse. For the most part we still have safe ice around here, but use caution, especially if there is water running in to the pond you are on, and keep an eye on the shorelines. My boot liner and sock should be dry by tonight. ;D