Author Topic: Clear Lake (Read 431490 times)

icefisher4 · « **Reply #1830 on:** Jan 13, 2013, 08:29 PM »

this isnt as active as it has been in the past. dont know if thats a good thing or bad thing.anybody hooking any walleyes on the little lake? if so what depth?? Mcintosh access is better today. altough stick to the sides and not down the middle. however its problably froze by now. always keep a look out!

crappie98 · « **Reply #1831 on:** Jan 13, 2013, 08:50 PM »

Fished the little lake today. Had decent luck from sunrise till about 10:30 then it really really slowed down. Caught maybe 5 fish from 10:30 to 3pm when we left. We were in 8 FOW. Kept yellows, crappies, and perch. Caught some real small eyes as well.

luckydog35 · « **Reply #1832 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 08:29 AM »

Hey

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icefisher4 · « **Reply #1833 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 01:38 PM »

Planning to head out tomorrow morning. Well that's the plan anyway.

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jigspin · « **Reply #1834 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 05:54 PM »

I'm new to ice fishing in this area...how does one go about catching yellow bass on Clear Lake? What depths are typically good for yellows and what kind of baits are you guys catching them on. Thanks. I've combed through some of this thread and found some useful info already but could use anything.

DAN03REV · « **Reply #1835 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 08:16 PM »

Quote from: jigspin on Jan 14, 2013, 05:54 PM

I'm new to ice fishing in this area...how does one go about catching yellow bass on Clear Lake? What depths are typically good for yellows and what kind of baits are you guys catching them on. Thanks. I've combed through some of this thread and found some useful info already but could use anything.

Northland forage minnow jigs 1/16 or 1/8 oz. .. i use the orange and the green mostly .. minnow heads or whole .. i ran out of minnows one day so i cut the eyeballs from the fish i had and kept on catchin em

hnd · « **Reply #1836 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 10:02 PM »

its pretty easy. the other night i was on my way up to mn for work from the quad cities. i stopped at the mcintosh landing and walked out and drilled some holes around the 2 cluster of shanties out there on the little lake. every hole had fish in it. every hole had the same size fish in it for me....you had to hop around until i found decent size fish.

big diamond stuffed with spikes or a spoon with minnow heads and you'll catch them all day long.

jigspin · « **Reply #1837 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 10:20 PM »

Thanks guys,

Sorry what do you guys mean by little lake or big lake?
Also a few more ???s...any bait shops around clear lake or any gas stations carry live bait near?
are most guys driving out or walking?

26perch · « **Reply #1838 on:** Jan 14, 2013, 10:26 PM »

west end-- from Mc Intosh Woods to the grade at Ventura

jigspin · « **Reply #1839 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 01:56 AM »

Can you access Farmers beach area from Cedar Ave on south side of big lake? (can you drive onto the lake from Cedar Ave or do you have to walk).

notime · « **Reply #1840 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 05:25 AM »

Yes you can. Drive right on the lake at the end of the road

BojiHawk · « **Reply #1841 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 10:25 AM »

150,000 views on a thread starting half a deacade ago??? Holy Crap...LOL....maybe a new thread is in order or.....something. But that 5hit is impressive......150K.. ..wow.

squ1rr31_ · « **Reply #1842 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 12:16 PM »

I like having the history to see how the fishing was, new thread would be redundant

coldfisherman · « **Reply #1843 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 12:24 PM »

Drove my wife's car on at Farmers Sun and drove all the way to Macintosh. Easy traveling. Careful if you cross the cut. Stay on the beach.

jigspin · « **Reply #1844 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 12:42 PM »

someone mention that there are areators on lake...where are they located? and can you clearly see open water where the areators are.?

641cfrank · « **Reply #1845 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 02:20 PM »

Quote from: BojiHawk on Jan 15, 2013, 10:25 AM

150,000 views on a thread starting half a deacade ago??? Holy Crap...LOL....maybe a new thread is in order or.....something. But that 5hit is impressive......150K.. ..wow.

I think we need to have some kind of party for the 100 page anniversary when we get there! Lol

Big Blue · « **Reply #1846 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 02:26 PM »

The first aerator is on far east side of the lake in front of the water tower right in downtown Clear Lake, nobody fishes near that one. The other one is located on the west side of the lake southeast of the pump house. You can see the open water and they have signs posted all the way around it to warn people. Everybody seems to be fishing on the Little Lake. You can access the lake at the boat ramp at McIntosh State Park. There's a few houses out on farmers.

luckydog35 · « **Reply #1847 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 05:32 PM »

Back to fishing.....fished for 3 hours this afternoon caught over 100 yellow kept 72.

All on big lake. spikes and mudbugs

good luck

buckeye24 · « **Reply #1848 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 07:58 PM »

Kept 36 yellows and one 18 in walleye! Threw at least 2x back. Fished Big Lake.

dragscreamer · « **Reply #1849 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 09:03 PM »

All these people keeping Crappies and Perch are pissin me off so much I'm not goin fishin out there again this year. My dad used to call Clear lake the Dead Sea and it will be well on its way back to that once everyone keeps all them crappies and perch before they get bigger. I wouldn't keep a crappie or a perch unless it was 12'' . So for all you guys keeping those fish just remember why you don't catch many keeper walleyes through the ice over there it's because 4-5 years ago all those big walleyes were biting and eveyone was keeping them.I know this post won't make a difference but that's my opinion .

crappie98 · « **Reply #1850 on:** Jan 15, 2013, 09:18 PM »

Quote from: luckydog35 on Jan 15, 2013, 05:32 PM

Back to fishing.....fished for 3 hours this afternoon caught over 100 yellow kept 72.

All on big lake. spikes and mudbugs

good luck

To bad you didn't keep them all. Everyone we catch we keep. Big or small it doesn't matter to us. Just one less to reproduce in the lake or one less for someone else to take and release in another lake and ruin it.

Big Blue · « **Reply #1851 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 12:46 PM »

Quote from: dragscreamer on Jan 15, 2013, 09:03 PM

All these people keeping Crappies and Perch are pissin me off so much I'm not goin fishin out there again this year. My dad used to call Clear lake the Dead Sea and it will be well on its way back to that once everyone keeps all them crappies and perch before they get bigger. I wouldn't keep a crappie or a perch unless it was 12'' . So for all you guys keeping those fish just remember why you don't catch many keeper walleyes through the ice over there it's because 4-5 years ago all those big walleyes were biting and eveyone was keeping them.I know this post won't make a difference but that's my opinion .

Drags right. Little lake looks like the island did 4-5 yrs ago. With temps going down this weekend the inlet between the big and little lake will be froze to the bottom. The boats were dragging bottom going through there this fall. So with all the pan fish being trapped in the little lake it won't take long for all the crappies and perch to get fished out of there. All I 'm saying is use a little commom sense so theres fish to be caught next winter.

luckydog35 · « **Reply #1852 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 03:58 PM »

F.y.i not all the perch and crappy are in the little lake.
I have got them in several places out on the big lake this winter.

But it would be nice to use a little restraint. people don't need to be taking 25 home every night. especially when you have 40 yellow bass you really don't need to keep 3 or 4 crappies and18 inch walleye.

We had around 40 nice yellow bass today. made the other guy i was with throwback the crappies.

MelroseHawkins · « **Reply #1853 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 07:03 PM »

Seriously, for you guys that get to fish it every other day & keep pulling 50 - 75 fish out of there, how do you eat them all?! Yes, you freeze them, but seriously, what happens to all the fish the diehards get during a season? I've always wondered. So, I agree, if the yellows are biting good, they're great eating, so keep them & maybe save a few crappie & perch for a change of taste/texture. But, release the majority of crappie, perch & walleye to get the fishery up to par.

Has Clear Lake ever been this type of crappie fishery that we have seen the past couple years? Just wondering.

jagerdog · « **Reply #1854 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 07:46 PM »

I guess I'll weigh in on the fish issue and give my uneducated opinion after fishing CL for 12 seasons.

In my opinion, Clear Lake has only two species of game fish that are reproducing naturally - yellows and yellow perch. I have caught a ton of 3" yellows and perch this season. not one mini crappie. The small walleyes are all planted fry in my opinion. I don't keep walleyes, because I eat yellows. I like them more than crappies, walleyes, or even perch. I keep 20 fish (when I keep fish) because that's all I care to clean, I don't think they freeze well, and I can catch more (generally) whenever I want.

Keeping ice caught fish does not, in my opinion, impact the walleye fishery. I say this because in the summer, when every man, woman and child on the lake is pulling a crank bait with three trebles, dead walleye fry litter the lake come Monday morning. many more short walleyes die on a July weekend than keepers come off the lake in January. In my opinion.

My only gripe on fish coming off the lake are the guys who have a big fish fry for the softball team or the guys at work, and cook 1000 fillets in a crack, keeping everything they catch for weeks on end. But, it's a free country. I ate fish tacos twice this week and yellow bass creole three times. I take 50 meals of fish out of Clear Lake every winter. I'd rather not fish it in the summer, with all the pleasure craft and drunken sailors about. Just my opinion.

I doubt if CL will be a decent perch fishery, based on the fact that I have caught a lot of 7" perch that have to be 3 year class fish. That means they would have to be at least 5 years old to reach 12". It won't happen in my opinion. Just my 2 cents. I'm a fishermen and I fish that lake hard in the winter. I can tell you I have caught a couple thousand fish this winter, kept a couple hundred, released the rest. And I marked 10 times as many fish as I have caught. If I kept them all, I doubt it would make much difference in the reproduction of the lake game fish.

crappie98 · « **Reply #1855 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 08:25 PM »

This weekend will be a zoo on the lake. They are having some snowmobile race and ride all around the lake. I think I might avoid this weekend and go to the Mississippi river!

MelroseHawkins · « **Reply #1856 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 09:03 PM »

Do you know if they are running the race on the big lake? I assume they are.

crappie98 · « **Reply #1857 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 09:35 PM »

nope out of the state park on the little lake. The only problem is they will be all over even without snow.

MelroseHawkins · « **Reply #1858 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 09:39 PM »

Oh cripes! Thanks. One of only a few weekends I may be able to get away & get up there & there's that. Thanks for letting us know, though! I appreciate it.

icefisher4 · « **Reply #1859 on:** Jan 16, 2013, 11:48 PM »

i dont understand that....basically all of the permys are on the little lake. if anything they should all go off on dodges point. they can park on the frozen sand and they would have the whole lake to themselves! but i suppose they wanna swerve in and out of permys....i suppose i should go buy a fence to put 30ft around circumfrence of my permy haha
tight lines

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Author Topic: Clear Lake (Read 431490 times)