The Great Lakes of Iowa

Pam with a nice white bass in South Dakota

I rarely fish any Iowa lakes.  There is the old axiom of the 50 mile expert is the one you should always contact for ideas and to give direction and meaning to what you need to do.  I hate to admit it but I have traveled over 300+ miles only to get skunked.  After all it is called fishing not catching.  The same saying applies to hunting.  That is why it is called hunting not shooting.

This photo of Spirit Lake is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This has been the summer for trying out new ideas and visiting new places.  Results have been acceptable considering you are just getting the feel of the place initially.  Every week the state of Iowa puts out a fishing report on lakes in the different areas of the state.  As a boy, I fished one of the lakes in the region and the results were very good, but that was 60+years ago.  This year I noticed that Spirit Lake in the Great Lakes Region of Northwest Iowa was getting good results for walleye catches and good catches of other fish.

After scoping the internet, I just didn't have the feel I was getting good information about Big Spirit Lake.  With that in mind, I said to my wife Pam,"It is only a little over 3 hours up there, so let's go up and check the area out."  In this fashion, we will find places to stay that cater to fishermen and women.  We like to eat well and at our age, you never know if this will be your last chance at a great meal. So we check out all the places that will give us the opportunity to dine well.  The two most important items are the boat ramps and the fish cleaning stations.  We have put our boat into some places that I thought, good grief, how am I going to get this thing out?  An 18.5 foot Crestliner is not light, and I have one too many scratches and bumps on this boat.

To learn about the town of Spirit Lake, Iowa go to their website.

https://www.cityofspiritlake.org/

The first motel we spotted was the Northland Inn, just as we entered the town.  The motel had what we expected, but we needed to check out the rest of the facilities in the town.  Super 8, Ramada, and a couple of private motels were available, but we went back to the Northland to meet the owner. This lady was a peach and a plethora of information.  Yes, our catch of fish could be frozen at the motel.  Yes, they have an area to clean fish.  The next thing she said was, "Would you like to see a room?"  "Of course," was our answer, and the room was perfect for us and really neat and clean.  I have to admit, that I have taken my wife to some places that I was not pleased with in South Dakota, but this room was excellent.

https://www.northlandinnspiritlake.com/

This is a resort area with Arnold's Park and Lake Okoboji and the lady had many suggestions of basic to fine dining.  We now had our place to stay. A place to clean and freeze fish.  She suggested just to drop the boat on the grass in the front of the motel.  We could use our truck to get around and not have the problem of parking a trailer in a tight parking area of the eating establishments.

Next we scouted out a couple of bait stores and took a drive around the lake.  The people at the bait stores were very informative as they always are.  They want us to catch fish and buy bait. This lake is really big and based on the reports, is an excellent fishery.  We scouted it out in its entirety.  The lake is almost entirely surrounded by private housing and many of the areas are private.  Therefore, you cannot enter by car to check out the banks.  No need to do that as there are some excellent maps which the state of Iowa has supplied to obtain information about the lake.  At the south end of the lake is a state fish hatchery.  We did not stop to visit, but the next time up we will make it a must item on our list.  Walleye is stocked into the lake.

This photo of Spirit Lake is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The boat ramp and parking area is excellent and totally out of the wind.  That is nice as I like to get my boat on straight.  We did not find one fish cleaning station, however the motel will supply that item.  There are two things that concern us right now.  We think the lake is heavily fished and we might not have great success just due to the pressure.  There is a slot.  You must throw back live all walleye caught that are between 17 and 22 inches. The daily limit is 3 per license, and you can keep one fish over 22 inches.  I will take all the sixteen inch fish I can catch, and if I caught one 22 inches long, that would be a bonus.  Their requirements on the lake tell me the state is going to manage this fine fishery to give everyone good fishing.

The lake also has a good mix of other very eatable fish.  Perch, small mouth bass, and northern are also in the lake.  For a bonus you have the fish of 1000 casts, the musky.  We will take all the northern pike that are of decent size and filleted out with the Y bones removed.  They are excellent eating.  If we get a good break in the weather, and Pam and I will take a trip and try it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS_cHdKS-_A

Click on the link to see how to take out the Y bones

This is the entrance to the boat ramp and if you go straight ahead you will be on private property.  Don't do that. 

Good ramp and out of the wind.  Ample parking behind me.  

Here is the slot for walleyes.  Look at that musky requirement.  I want to catch a 40 inch musky just once. 

I marked on the map areas recommended by the bait shop to hammer the big fish.  I did not mark the east side north of the bay and there is a stand of cabbage weed.  That probably is a good place for the fish of 1000 casts, the Musky.  I am sure there are plenty of northern pike in the cabbage weed.  

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

Click on this link to buy Hank's book. 

Beautiful Morning on Lake Manawa

My wife feeds Hummingbirds and with fall approaching they are feeding heavily.  Fun to watch. 

Lake Manawa, an old oxbow lake, was an outstanding fishery when I was a boy and fished with my dad.  There were no outboard motors to push us around the lake so he would rent a wooden row boat from Campbell's Marina and we would row or I would row the boat all over the lake.  It was work! Then my parents joined the Council Bluffs Fish and Game Club and they had aluminum boats.  We still rowed, but it was a lot easier than the old wooden boats.  What was really interesting was we did not wear life preservers and did not know that any existed at the time.  The other interesting item is that the boats would sink if they filled up with water.  There was no flotation built into the boats.

Later when I carried papers, I was able to save up enough money and bought a used 7.5 horse Scott at Water outboard motor.  It was a two cycle and the gas/oil mixture was built into the top of the motor.  For a 12 year old boy, I was in hog heaven just having that motor to push us around the lake.  We still did not have any life jackets and there was no regulation that required us to do so.

Where is all this going?  The lake silted in and over the years became more of a speed boat and recreational boating lake.  I always visited with the Park Rangers at sport shows and asked about the fishing.  It slowly came back and the boundary areas were generously made into no wake sections, but it was still shallow not being much over 6 feet deep with a few deeper holes.

Walleye were stocked in the lake and there were reports of catching them on the west side of the lake.  Some had luck, but most had little or no action.  Then came the big announcement.  The lake was to be dredged.  There is a God!  Everyone I knew hoped the whole lake or at least the west side would be dug deeper.

The dredge material was to be used by the Iowa Department of Transportation as fill where they were building highways and other structures needing fill dirt.  As the dredging took place, it was noticed that the dredge was in one general area and not moving around the lake.  The spot was on the point sticking out into the lake.  Material was taken out of that area and it made a big hole in the lake bottom.

When I talked with the Park Ranger one afternoon, he said to fish that hole as he knew of people that had picked up some nice fish.

Pam and I loaded up one morning and went out to find the hole.  The state has provided the fishermen and boaters with three really good boat ramps with good docks and ramps.  At my age, I will no longer struggle to get an 18.6 inch boat off a trailer and get it back on again.  We used the boat ramp on the west side of the lake.

Good dock with side rail padding  so you don't bang your boat and a good concrete ramp with a gradual drop into about four feet of water.  

Pam is in charge of the boat.  Please note over Pam's left shoulder in the background are restroom facilities provided by the state of Iowa.  This is one of those modern no flush toilets. 

You drive under the road to the main body of the lake.   The water here was about 3 to 4 feet deep and I kept the motor tilted up.  Closer to the tube the water went down to 2 feet, but once inside the tube it went down to 4 and to 5 on the outside.  If you use this boat ramp, just beware there is shallow water getting out of the bay right before the tube.  

Once onto the main body of the lake we headed over to the point sticking out into the lake.  This was the general area where the dredge was located.

Two years ago this was the location where the dredge was located.  It is not hard to find.  They pulled up the material all around the front of this peninsula and ran pipes on the bottom of the lake pumping water and material to an area south of the lake. 

That piece of equipment was anchored and pumped the material from the dredge through a series of pipes to the dirt pile south of the lake.  

Moving slowly we watched the graph and Wow! It went from 5 feet of water right down to 10 feet and gradually deeper. It was a vertical drop so this was the place.  Instantly, after clearing the drop off we started graphing fish in 8 to 10 feet of water.  The deeper we went the more fish we graphed.  The picture below shows a good place to start.  It is a no wake buoy just off the tip of the peninsula.

I am looking straight west and the buoy is in the background.  Notice the large white house off to one side.  If you see the buoy and the house you are in the right place.  Start fishing right at the buoy.  On the shore there is a large log about 6 foot long.  When you see the log you will be in 14 feet of water and will be about 10 yards from the shore.  

The water was greenish brown so I used a spinner with a crawler (we used to call them worms) and dropped it down to the bottom and pulled it up a foot or so, The spinner had a little brownish color on it moving to chartreuse.  It does not take long to make it across the hole.  You will know it when you reach the other side as the water goes up to about 5 to 6 feet. 

The buoy is on the east side of the hole and when you reach that spot you will run out of deep water.  

We worked the hole first with the multicolored spinner back and forth a few times and switched to a chartreuse spinner with crawler.  Each of us had a couple of smacks, but nothing took hold.  We then added bottom bouncers to make sure the bait was well down to the bottom and worked that setup.  We got nothing.

Next we switched to one of my favorite lures, the Berkley Flicker Shad.  This lure is better known as the "Finger Shad" by my wife and I. The reason for renaming it to the Finger Shad is because its many little hooks tend to hook fingers easily.  We have learned from experience! We tried to move closer to the edge of the hole and circled around allowing the lure to do its magic.  Nothing.

By now the sun was up high and it was time for lunch, and we folded our tent.

Heading back into the tube under the road.

Inside the tube.

There is a large dead tree close to the tip of the peninsula and at the top was an eagle.   Sorry this picture is so bad, but we took it with our I-phone and there was a lot of distance.  We forgot to take our good camera that would have brought it in really close.   The I-phone just doesn't do well with distances.  

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank