IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Iowa => Ice Fishing Iowa => Topic started by: Shack man Shoney on Feb 03, 2018, 09:25 PM
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I'm headed to West Okoboji and Spirit Lake area next weekend and was wondering what the lake conditions were going to be like (ice thickness & snow cover). I have been hearing about anything from quads to trucks going through and was just wondering from some guys who have been on the lakes what to expect. Any information is greatly appreciated...
Tight lines,
Shoney :tipup:
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Been on the bays of WEST only. Ice is 17”-18”. Snow is packed and easily manageable. No vehicles going through.
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I wouldn't drive on Spirit. That's where the bulk of the people going through are happening. Most of the accesses are junk from heaves and also people chewing the ice up when they come on and off. Long story short, Spirit sucks. Unsafe to drive on and the fishing has been crappy this year. Lots of dink perch and if you're after walleye Silver is by far a better bet and has bigger limits/no slot. In recent years there's no reason to go up Spirit when you have West, Center, East, and Silver to play on with better fishing and safer access.
West on the other hand is totally fine. The ice on Emerson and Triboji is 20" plus, Miller's is the same. There is decent snow cover everywhere but it's packed and I did fine both days this past weekend with a 2WD pickup. Not sure what your experience is on West, but do NOT drive bay to bay unless you're ok with dying. Smith's, Triboji, Emerson, and Miller's all have access you can drive on from, don't risk it. If you want to move get back on land and go to the next spot.
As far as fish, that you'll have to figure out. ;D Stop into Stan's and if you spend some cash they'll be more than happy to help you out.
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Did they get snow today? We got over 4" in Sioux Center today. That hard pack from yesterday might be a fluffy mess now.
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I was wondering about the snow today as well... We're in the process of getting 3-5 inches as we speak here in central Iowa.
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Ugh, there is snow 3 more times in the 7 day forecast. Might be tough dragging by next weekend. And its cold too. Last this time ice was melting off.
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Ugh, there is snow 3 more times in the 7 day forecast. Might be tough dragging by next weekend. And its cold too. Last this time ice was melting off.
Anything to keep the trucks and idiot 6 year-olds on quads off the ice :)
I don't know if you use a harness or not but a deer drag was the best thing I ever bought for my ice fishing experience.
Makes the half mile from the Emerson ramp to little Emerson an easy walk.
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Anything to keep the trucks and idiot 6 year-olds on quads off the ice :)
I don't know if you use a harness or not but a deer drag was the best thing I ever bought for my ice fishing experience.
Makes the half mile from the Emerson ramp to little Emerson an easy walk.
Or you could just pay the nice people at the church camp $15 to park there.
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Or you could just pay the nice people at the church camp $15 to park there.
I thought they shut that down...
The last time I remember parking there it was $5 in a drop box but they stopped doing it because people weren't paying.
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You have to stop in the office and buy a hang tag for $15.
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Looks like it could snow for the next 3 days.... ugh, this could get a little more interesting than i really wanted for driveability...
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I got totally stuck on the ice once. Took a long time to dig out because of old crusty snow. We look back and laugh now. Someday you will too.
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I wouldn't drive on Spirit. That's where the bulk of the people going through are happening. Most of the accesses are junk from heaves and also people chewing the ice up when they come on and off. Long story short, Spirit sucks. Unsafe to drive on and the fishing has been crappy this year. Lots of dink perch and if you're after walleye Silver is by far a better bet and has bigger limits/no slot. In recent years there's no reason to go up Spirit when you have West, Center, East, and Silver to play on with better fishing and safer access.
West on the other hand is totally fine. The ice on Emerson and Triboji is 20" plus, Miller's is the same. There is decent snow cover everywhere but it's packed and I did fine both days this past weekend with a 2WD pickup. Not sure what your experience is on West, but do NOT drive bay to bay unless you're ok with dying. Smith's, Triboji, Emerson, and Miller's all have access you can drive on from, don't risk it. If you want to move get back on land and go to the next spot.
As far as fish, that you'll have to figure out. ;D Stop into Stan's and if you spend some cash they'll be more than happy to help you out.
Whoa! A shout out to Stans! That’s the best bait shop around. The out of towners always think Kabeles is the place to go... big mistake. The Spirit bite sucks. Has all year. Go to Stans if you want a true report.
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The new owner of Stan's has made that shop much nicer. I am very surprised to see that. I really like John and the shop before but now I like Stan's even more. Shucks is great too. Kabele's is ok.
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I love the okoboji area and our family has a vacation home condo there for summers, but damn are the locals nasty. You can sure tell when they post on forums. Fishing always sucks, stay away 😉
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I love the okoboji area and our family has a vacation home condo there for summers, but damn are the locals nasty. You can sure tell when they post on forums. Fishing always sucks, stay away 😉
Disagree. I never said the fishing sucks to stay away. The fishing is great on West and East. Spirit is a Dead Sea. Dont believe me? Go waste a day there. I’m my experience we are all more than happy to help out of towners out here at the IGLs. Just ask. Don’t go getting us mixed up with SD residents...
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Disagree. I never said the fishing sucks to stay away. The fishing is great on West and East. Spirit is a Dead Sea. Dont believe me? Go waste a day there. I’m my experience we are all more than happy to help out of towners out here at the IGLs. Just ask. Don’t go getting us mixed up with SD residents...
Lol, sorry to offend. Definitely don't want to group you with SD residents.
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Disagree. I never said the fishing sucks to stay away. The fishing is great on West and East. Spirit is a Dead Sea. Dont believe me? Go waste a day there. I’m my experience we are all more than happy to help out of towners out here at the IGLs. Just ask. Don’t go getting us mixed up with SD residents...
What do you think the reason is for Spirit being down?
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Where is Stans located? I definitely want to go check it out!!!
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I believe it's in Milford before you reach the Perkins.
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What do you think the reason is for Spirit being down?
The lake is so full of shiners and small 5” perch that the walleyes are full. It makes them hard to catch. Come prime time, the walleyes will show up and come through just like you’d expect them to but they won’t bite. Some nights they will but not very often. You could sit out there ten evenings without a bite then all of a sudden have a good night. Not worth my time. And there hasn’t been a good ice perch bite on Spirit for at least a few years. Kabeles is located out of the way up towards Spirit and the only way the can get business is by saying the bite is good on Spirit and stop in for bait and info. Otherwise it’s way out of the way for most people. Notice how no other bait shops are posting on social media?
Stans is located in Milford just south of the highway 86/71 intersection. Good bait shop and always a busy place.
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The lake is so full of shiners and small 5” perch that the walleyes are full. It makes them hard to catch. Come prime time, the walleyes will show up and come through just like you’d expect them to but they won’t bite. Some nights they will but not very often. You could sit out there ten evenings without a bite then all of a sudden have a good night. Not worth my time. And there hasn’t been a good ice perch bite on Spirit for at least a few years. Kabeles is located out of the way up towards Spirit and the only way the can get business is by saying the bite is good on Spirit and stop in for bait and info. Otherwise it’s way out of the way for most people. Notice how no other bait shops are posting on social media?
Stans is located in Milford just south of the highway 86/71 intersection. Good bait shop and always a busy place.
Either that or it gets the piss fished out of it every summer because it's easy to fish and there are way fewer pleasure craft. Last winter was a great bite for perch on Spirit.
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Not like it was 5 years ago.
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Where is Stans located? I definitely want to go check it out!!!
Wow....never been to Stan's ........one of the better ones.
Here Is how I'd rank the bait shops.
1 Stan's
2 shuck's
3 Kabel's
4 pure fishing
5 Vicks corner
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I love the okoboji area and our family has a vacation home condo there for summers, but damn are the locals nasty. You can sure tell when they post on forums. Fishing always sucks, stay away 😉
I'll concur with Buckshots. Spirit does suck. Unless you talk to one of the Kabele's fanboys :)
The perch bite is good on West with a few walleyes thrown in at night, and the gills are fantastic every year if you work at it. No legit reason to fish Spirit, especially since you can barely drive on it.
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Bags are packed and gear is loaded, Thanks for all the good info guys. For the past few years this has been my last trip of the year, with work and life lately, it will be my only trip north this season. Ice has been good in central Iowa this season, but fishing has been TERRIBLE.... So this trip is a little bigger than normal. Thanks again to ALL who weighed in :)
Tight lines, :tipup:
Shoney
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Bags are packed and gear is loaded, Thanks for all the good info guys. For the past few years this has been my last trip of the year, with work and life lately, it will be my only trip north this season. Ice has been good in central Iowa this season, but fishing has been TERRIBLE.... So this trip is a little bigger than normal. Thanks again to ALL who weighed in :)
Tight lines, :tipup:
Shoney
Beat of luck up there!
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Bags are packed and gear is loaded, Thanks for all the good info guys. For the past few years this has been my last trip of the year, with work and life lately, it will be my only trip north this season. Ice has been good in central Iowa this season, but fishing has been TERRIBLE.... So this trip is a little bigger than normal. Thanks again to ALL who weighed in :)
Tight lines, :tipup:
Shoney
Good luck. What are you targeting?
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Got home today from my IGL trip, and my luck continues this this year, but I will give a short report anyway. I went with a few other guys targeting mostly Perch and Walleyes (we also tried yellow bass and Gills/Crappies) We fished hard Friday, Saturday and Sunday on East and West Okoboji, Big Spirit and even tried a few hours on Silver Lake. Fishing was tough as we saw a lot of fish on camera in Emerson and Miller bays but only managed a few keepers. Final tally for me was a dozen Perch (1 keeper) and a dozen Yellows (all dinks) and (1) 4" walleye. Like I mentioned we saw lots of quality fish on Camera but 99% had a vicious case of Lock jaw!!! I threw everything in every different color I had in the tackle box at em, and tipped with spikes, waxies and minnows... Still no takers. I still had a good time with the guys who made the trip. Despite our poor showing some people did OK according to the guys at Stans (sounded like mostly on yellow bass on East O). I will be back next year hopefully we get a better bite and size then. Thanks again to all!!!
Tight lines,
Shoney :tipup:
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Got home today from my IGL trip, and my luck continues this this year, but I will give a short report anyway. I went with a few other guys targeting mostly Perch and Walleyes (we also tried yellow bass and Gills/Crappies) We fished hard Friday, Saturday and Sunday on East and West Okoboji, Big Spirit and even tried a few hours on Silver Lake. Fishing was tough as we saw a lot of fish on camera in Emerson and Miller bays but only managed a few keepers. Final tally for me was a dozen Perch (1 keeper) and a dozen Yellows (all dinks) and (1) 4" walleye. Like I mentioned we saw lots of quality fish on Camera but 99% had a vicious case of Lock jaw!!! I threw everything in every different color I had in the tackle box at em, and tipped with spikes, waxies and minnows... Still no takers. I still had a good time with the guys who made the trip. Despite our poor showing some people did OK according to the guys at Stans (sounded like mostly on yellow bass on East O). I will be back next year hopefully we get a better bite and size then. Thanks again to all!!!
Tight lines,
Shoney :tipup:
Shoney,
It's a tuff body of water don't feel bad. Just a question. When you were fishing what kinda line did you have on? Also, what were u using for a jig. Just interested, because when I used a small tungsten mooska jig and clear 3lb line it made a huge difference. After seeing it on camera......all my rods open water and ice get clear line now.
I also gotta ask about silver.....I've only ice fished it once in all my years. Besides the two small points and the Island it's a pretty bowl shaped type of lake. We've done pretty well open water on it trolling for walleye and have got a few good sized fish out of it & lots of eaters mixed in with a few nice perch and crappie. I've thought about trying it on the ice.....but I'm afraid it take a lot of drilling and moving to find much.
Also, how was the snow? Did you see many full sized trucks and wheel houses. I've been planing on taking the ice castle over but haven't gotten over there yet.
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I was on silver at lake park Saturday late afternoon into the evening. Heard some promising reports from a friend but didn't have any luck. Snow cover was probably in the 6-8 inch range and I didn't have any issues with the utv. I did get the truck stuck on Emerson earlier Saturday tho.. that was embarrassing!
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I fish suffix orange and clear 4lb usually with small tungsten 5mm and smaller and i did try different colors and sizes as well. I agree with the smaller presentation. Silver was a ghost town, there was plenty of ice 20-24" but only 2 shacks on it. The snow was concerning and we didnt want to get stuck. We drilled a few holes in the middle and gave it a hour or so. Water clarity was terrible probably due to the bubbler. Just stayed close to the beaten path due to snow depth but saw nothing and no bites. We went by the east access and i wondered if near the river channel by the bridge was even safe... but we were the only ones there, thats a fact.
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Still lots of ice on both Okobojis if anyone cares. Fishing has been OK. Going to get real good here soon.
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Lots of ice on the lakes. Fishing continues to improve.
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Going up early Saturday morning. Last ice trip for the season.
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Supposed to rain or snow Saturday. Should be a great day for fishing, if you have a shack.
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Ice is still safe on West. Fish are biting pretty good, too.
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How much ice is left?
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I was on West on Sunday. Access was froze solid to shore and ice was 18-20”. I could of taken a wheeler!
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I've been fishing Millers and the conditions are exactly what Buckshot says. Where have you been Buckshot?
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Triboji
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I'm heading up Thursday and Friday. And that is probably it for me for the year.
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i was on spirit lake Saturday afternoon. 24" of SOLID ice. we fished the northwest and southeast part of the lake and ice was good everywhere we were. fished from 5ft to 23ft. might have to watch a were you get on though. i did not bring the ranger or the wheeler but would have used it had i brought it with. ice was not slushy at all anywhere on the lake were we fished. who would of thought the ice would be this good this time of year!! not complaining at all though! ;D ;D
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I changed my plans and went today because Friday sounds awful. Ice is deteriorating pretty quick. It was coming out in small chunks. It appears that i am done for the year. I have had a great season. Today was excellent.
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Weather forecast calls for a 56 hour below freezing temp. starting at 6 am Saturday morning. Tuesday, April 10, may not have been my last day. We’ll see come Sunday morning when spud bar hits the ice.
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Anyone in the neighborhood want to give us a heads up on ice conditions. I don't want to drive to find out myself. Thanks
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Anyone in the neighborhood want to give us a heads up on ice conditions. I don't want to drive to find out myself. Thanks
It’s over.
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Thanks