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Author Topic: Iowa Great Lakes  (Read 17869 times)

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #60 on: Jan 29, 2021, 11:37 PM »
I did go today. It was pretty tough sledding. Few guys on Smith


Glad I didn't go.......guessing the bite sucked?

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #61 on: Jan 30, 2021, 05:07 AM »
The fish bit good but there was times when there weren't any coming through. Like none for a half hour. I should have been further south or SW of where I mostly fished but I was too lazy to move. My own fault.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline JacksFisher

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #62 on: Feb 04, 2021, 01:15 PM »
Kabele's is a nice place. Great bait store and lots of good tackle/items. People are mostly friendly. Here is the problem with Kabele's. They are pretty fake about a lot of things.......actually most things if I am truthful. Anything they do is to get you INTO the bait shop to BUY stuff. I understand, that is how you make money and They want people to stop in. What is a joke.....how they do it and approach stuff. They "claim"they want to help people be safe....yet it's has to do with coming into their shop for info.....95% of the fishing info is NEVER accurate typically even false besides ice conditions reports

For example they complain people were calling in for ice information.....they were to busy you need to stop into the shop....yet they  do a weekly posting on FB.....but a weekly ice report on the phone is dangerous because things change in an hr....I mean here is the reply they gave me when I mentioned it.


I mean Stan's no problem.....he'll give ice reports and information.....if you want to "know" about the bite....he simply says you need to stop and look at the board. Thing about Stan's.....his board is usually pretty close to what you experiance.

This has been more or less my experience as well.  Kabele's literally told me to find the village of trucks on Spirit last year for fishing advice.  Stan's has treated me better IMO, but I'll still shop at Kabele's.  My guess is that Kabele's doesn't scout regularly enough to develop their own fishing reports and thus have little to offer the customer and the guides that they buddy up with don't want that info public.  I like their store and they have a good selection of bait and gear.  I actually enjoy seeing the pictures of the fish they've been getting in on FB.  One can kind of get a feel for how and where the fish are active by looking at them.  Last winter seemed to be a better perch bite on Spirit and we saw gobs of perch pictures.  This year it seems like there are more bluegill pictures, which likely means more East and West O action and less Spirit perch.  I could be wrong on that though.  I don't really have a problem with them promoting their 74 element stuff, b/c it's like you said, they're in business to make money and they obviously profit more on their proprietary brand. 

Offline Buckshots

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #63 on: Feb 05, 2021, 05:42 PM »
They have posted plenty of old pictures too. They’ve posted up fish pics that they’ve posted on previous years. They haven’t lately since they got called out on it pretty bad last year. They would post a bunch of perch pics and it worked-folks would flood em. Then they head out to the lake and not catch crap. Kabeles is out of the way for 95% of the fisherman at the IGLs. They do what they have to do. They say stop In for a report, only there is no report other than “people are catching them at place X.  Some days are better than others and you got to be willing to move around”. Well no sh@$ Sherlock.

Offline Nacaboose

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #64 on: Feb 05, 2021, 07:12 PM »
They have posted plenty of old pictures too. They’ve posted up fish pics that they’ve posted on previous years. They haven’t lately since they got called out on it pretty bad last year. They would post a bunch of perch pics and it worked-folks would flood em. Then they head out to the lake and not catch crap. Kabeles is out of the way for 95% of the fisherman at the IGLs. They do what they have to do. They say stop In for a report, only there is no report other than “people are catching them at place X.  Some days are better than others and you got to be willing to move around”. Well no sh@$ Sherlock.

Uffdah, yeah, that’s a quick way to earn a bad rap. 

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #65 on: Feb 05, 2021, 09:50 PM »
They have posted plenty of old pictures too. They’ve posted up fish pics that they’ve posted on previous years. They haven’t lately since they got called out on it pretty bad last year. They would post a bunch of perch pics and it worked-folks would flood em. Then they head out to the lake and not catch crap. Kabeles is out of the way for 95% of the fisherman at the IGLs. They do what they have to do. They say stop In for a report, only there is no report other than “people are catching them at place X.  Some days are better than others and you got to be willing to move around”. Well no sh@$ Sherlock.

My favorite....they cry not to call the shop for ice info because they are busy......reply and say we can’t do a weekly ice report on the phone it changes to fast and is unsafe...then say on face book for ice report refer to our posting last week.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #66 on: Feb 12, 2021, 07:19 PM »







Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #67 on: Feb 12, 2021, 07:19 PM »
Out for the weekend.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #68 on: Feb 13, 2021, 07:09 AM »
How thick is the ice?
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #69 on: Feb 13, 2021, 11:40 AM »
16-17in.

Fishing at worth a chit. My buddy set up in 10ft. All dinks

Offline Buckshots

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #70 on: Feb 13, 2021, 12:00 PM »
So use chubs and get some pike. Guaranteed they are in those shallows feeding on them.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #71 on: Feb 14, 2021, 10:26 AM »
Well we had fish on the cameras non stop. Talked to others out fishing. Nobody was getting much.

Had a green led light down the hole at night. Lit up the entire area and allowed us to use the camera all nite in my buddies shack.

I got tired of trying to keep the holes open at 2am. 8in holes were down to about 4in. And was tired of dumping boiling water down them to keep open. So pulled the sleeves and put the caps back on the holes.

Woke up  at about 6:45 & tried to start the pickup. Just didn’t have quite enough to start. Luckily I had a lithium jumper in the truck so thawed it out in the shack and jumped the truck. Just barley started. Was -20*f with a wind chill of close to -40*f.




Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #72 on: Feb 15, 2021, 09:24 PM »
Fishing in this cold is too much hassle. I've done it but I realized last time that I'd rather just sit home than deal with the headaches.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #73 on: Mar 05, 2021, 11:25 AM »
Anybody still after em? I've been on Smith, Emerson and Spirit. Bite is real good and gonna get better.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #74 on: Mar 05, 2021, 12:50 PM »
Be up this weekend. Is the water clarity only 10 feet (on west) this year as the DNR site would have me believe?

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #75 on: Mar 05, 2021, 03:26 PM »
I could see my jig in 20 feet on Smirh but not the fish
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Selfish Shack

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #76 on: Mar 05, 2021, 08:04 PM »
Perfect! You only need to see The Jig disappear. Fish On! Good luck.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #77 on: Mar 06, 2021, 01:38 PM »
If it wasn't for MN and WI people, the lakes would be pretty empty. The bite was on fire today.  Bluegills on Emerson.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #78 on: Mar 11, 2021, 07:03 PM »
I found a box with a bunch of tackle at the lakes recently. If anyone can describe what's inside and is willing to bark like a dog in public, they can have it back. No bark, no box.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #79 on: Mar 11, 2021, 09:43 PM »
Is it a smal vexilar tackle box with raps and spoons in it. It’s a soft side vexilar tackle box with three plastic small boxes

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #80 on: Mar 12, 2021, 12:38 AM »
Wow, whoever found that had a good day. It wasnt me.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #81 on: Mar 16, 2021, 03:53 PM »
Yep it was a lot of money in that little box

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #82 on: Dec 07, 2021, 09:56 PM »
Well getting fired up.....not the lakes but local pond is capped and has some nice gills....thinking this weekend.

Offline drakevh

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #83 on: Dec 14, 2021, 02:46 PM »
Anyone been out on East or Spirit yet? I've been watching the Park's live camera and see East being locked up! I'm sure the warm spell tomorrow won't help any, but after that, the forecast looks pretty good!

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #84 on: Dec 14, 2021, 05:08 PM »
Anyone been out on East or Spirit yet? I've been watching the Park's live camera and see East being locked up! I'm sure the warm spell tomorrow won't help any, but after that, the forecast looks pretty good!

I haven’t been that way…but the local protected pond in town was capped….got snow on it and had a hole open up. Pretty unsafe. At this point I hope it melts all off and re freezes fresh. I can’t think the lakes would be any better.

Offline Fish Butcher

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #85 on: Dec 14, 2021, 08:43 PM »
They were not much better but keeper fish were caught.

Offline Mr.Seaguar

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #86 on: Dec 16, 2021, 01:10 AM »
I was looking at the webcam from The Garden and the water is so clear we could see the weeds and bottom out front right on the webcam.
Every plastics manufacturer claims plastics outfish livebait. So now I use livebait just for the increased challenge.

Offline Fish Butcher

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #87 on: Dec 16, 2021, 11:48 AM »
Been gin clear on West”0” all through this year and should continue into the winter. If I remember correctly, zebra mussels help to clean the water.

Offline IceAddict87

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #88 on: Dec 16, 2021, 02:34 PM »
I do enjoy watching fish on a camera in clear water. The only benefit fo those things

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Iowa Great Lakes
« Reply #89 on: Dec 16, 2021, 05:21 PM »
Been gin clear on West”0” all through this year and should continue into the winter. If I remember correctly, zebra mussels help to clean the water.

Yep. Storm lake use to be like milk chocolate. Now it’s so clear u can see 8ft down. Bad part is the weeds took over the lake and trolling is about impossible.

 



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