Three days of Walleye, Day 1

For the last two weeks, I studied weather patterns in eastern South Dakota waiting for the right time to head north to Webster, SD and pound the lakes there for walleye and whatever else was swimming by our lures.  The windy conditions just kept prevailing and would follow with storms and torrential rains.  None of this is good for fishing.  There is one thing a person fishing the glacial lakes can depend on; the wind will always be blowing.  The velocity and the direction are the next two variables.

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My wife, Pam, and I found a three day window where it looked really good.  Forecast winds were not in access of 15 mph and the skies were generally clear or partly cloudy.  High pressure was in the forecast.   With all this in mind, we called up to the motels and to my amazement two of the three were full.  The Circle Pines in Waubay was available and it is a good place to stay.  We just have to do some extra driving which is a minor inconvenience.  The good news is it is walking distance to the Purple Cow Ice Cream Parlor.

As we drove up, we had northwesterly flow and our fuel consumption was not the best pulling a boat.  In South Dakota the speed limit goes up to 80 mph on the interstate.  I drive 70 mph for fuel economy as the faster I go with the truck and boat, my fuel consumption goes way down.  The natives paid no attention to the 80 mph as they flew by me.

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Eastern SD has had a lot of rain.  The corn was way up with a dark green color.  Even from the interstate as we sped along, we could tell the plants were really healthy.  Barring any unforeseen weather that would spoil it, this area should have bumper crops.  Now if the price was only decent.

 Arriving in the little town of Waubay by noon, we checked in at the Circle Pine Motel and headed to Webster 11 miles away.  After a quick bite at the local A&W, we headed over to Sportsman's Cove to pick up some bait and get the latest news on where to go.  The first recommendation was Bitter Lake south of the town of Waubay, but there were a lot of boats fishing the lake and the water level was way down.  I do not know the lake well and with low water that made me nervous about smacking a submerged rock or reef.  The state of South Dakota on these lakes do not mark the shallow spots with buoys and every time I go up there I plan to write to the DNR and complain.  The out of state people spend a lot of money there.

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Anyway, our plan was to fish Lake Waubay.  We put in at Kanago access.  Wind was out of the northwest so we launched there.  Putting the boat back on the trailer will be no problem with wind.  There is a good parking lot with good ramps and dock.  Plus there is a modern no flush toilet compliments by the state of South Dakota for your convenience.

We boated around the reefs toward Breski Bay and stopped on the northerly side of one of the islands.  At this location we drifted with the wind pulling spinners.  Pam had a minnow, and I put on a crawler.  We had a multitude of light hits and picked up some 13-14 inch walleye.  We threw them back even though you can now keep a 14 inch fish on Waubay.  It was just too small so we kept 15 inch or bigger which is still small, but we could get a decent fillet out of it. Fifteen inches two years ago was the minimum length you could take and now the state has lowered it. What does that tell you about the glacial lakes?

Working the bay produced nothing.  The fish had definitely gone deep.  We never got one hit in the 10 to 15 foot range even with all the cool air the area had enjoyed.  Moving out to the 15 to 20 foot range was where we picked up the hits.  The breeze produced just the right amount of drift to turn the spinner blade.  I changed to leeches just to see if I would pick up some hits.  After graphing fish, Pam would pick up a hit or a small walleye on a minnow or crawler.  I would get nothing, so after an hour of this lack of action, I went back to the crawler.

We were finally able to pick up one limit of fish, but not two, and this was a big disappointment.  The sky had gone totally void of clouds, and with the nice breeze we wanted to try out another location.  Straight south of the boat access was a series of points along the south shore.  In past years, fishing had at times been fast and furious.  We moved to this location and started working the points out to 20 feet of water.

We got the same action.  The hits were light and it was not a good indication of feeding fish.  Still we continued to work the areas, but it was not productive.  I have always been amazed how one day you can be on a hot spot and the next day it is like there were never any fish there to begin with.  It is called fishing, not catching.

Still, we had a really successful day and caught a lot of small fish with one limit of fish with a 15 inch minimum.  The people at Sportsman Cove said we would have to do a lot of culling.  The water on the lake was the clearest I have ever seen it and with the high sun, may have driven the fish to a deeper part of the lake.  That is probably the reason we were in 20 feet of water to catch fish.  It was a good day.

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

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Beautiful Icaria

Icaria is an island in the Agean Sea 10 miles southwest of Samos.  It is also a lake four miles north of Corning, Iowa and about sixty miles from my home in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

We had tried the lake a couple of years ago, and now it was time to hit it again.  One of my friends in the hunting club I belong to told me he was given some hot tips on how to fish the lake for walleye.  Fish attractors had been placed in the lake at multiple locations and were marked on a map up by the Iowa DNR.  The state does a great job on helping sportsmen harvest game with plenty of stocking and providing good fishing locations.  The recommendation was to get on top of the fish attractors and jig up and down.

We were concerned that it might be a little late. It was the middle of June and water temps in the surrounding lakes and ponds were getting warm.  The plan was to follow the hot tip and put the boat on top of the fish attractors and jig with a chartreuse jig.  Also we would work around the attractors jigging the lake in five to fifteen feet of water.  

We had been there probably twenty years ago.  It was a deep clear lake but it was packed with people fishing.  Several years ago it was drawn down to clean out the rough fish and re-stocked with crappie, bass, catfish, and walleye. I have caught a lot of fish up at Webster, SD, but a location close to home was welcomed. 

We started out early with a big breakfast at the Council Bluffs Fish and Game Club, grabbed some crawlers, and headed over to Corning, Iowa.  Four miles north of Corning lies Lake Icaria.   We were really impressed with the campgrounds and parks the state of Iowa had completed in the area.  Several boat ramps were available, and if you own a motor home or 5th wheel camper, there are some really nice options.

A road bed extends across the lake at this location and we worked both sides.  The graph just hummed with targets and we had some hits, but they were really soft and nothing was boated.  To each side of the roadway, water depth was about fifteen to sixteen feet. 

The water was clear and the bank plunged down to fifteen to twenty foot depths.  Our only drawback was the surface temperature was 72 degrees.  We put on spinners and dropped them to the bottom, reeled them up a foot or two and back trolled against the wind and then drifted with the wind depending on where we were on the lake. The wind was starting to pick up in the 20 to 25 mph area, but in a small lake surrounded by hills, it was not a problem.   Near a submerged roadbed called Kale Road, we picked up some hits.  We could feel the light bite, but we were not getting good hook sets.

Spillway area at the dam, and looking southwesterly.  Close to the dam the water was only fifteen feet, but out 20 yards it dropped right down to 20 to 25 feet.  To the left of the picture the bank is really steep and the water depth is in the thirty foot range.

We got on top of the fish attractors and jigged up and down letting the boat drift  out to fifteen feet of water and then moved back over the top of them again.  Good drift produced a lot of hits and we would pick up a fish or two, but they were all small.  I would almost classify them as bait size.  Still catching fish is what it is all about and we were doing it.  I changed rods to ultra light for both Pam and myself and that helped feel the nibble.  Still we the fish we caught were not in the keeping range. 

Map of the lake.  The fish attractors are marked on the map and we worked all of them plus along the face of the dam. 

We had also purchased a book called "Sportsman's Connection" for the state of Iowa and it provided an excellent drawing of the topography of the lake.  I am going to check this book out for other states that I fish, mainly South Dakota and Kansas.  You can review what they have to offer for your state at their website www.scmaps.com. 

Both graphs were humming and we showed a lot of fish with the majority below ten feet.  With the heat that had taken place, it was not surprising that the walleye had probably moved into deeper water.

Northern shoreline close to the dam. 

The wind had picked up considerably but with a smaller lake to fish on, it was not a problem.  We moved to the face of the dam.  At this location and out about 75 yards, we graphed a lot of fish suspended just off the bottom.  Toward the southwest shore the water got deeper down to thirty feet.  Out from the face of the dam at least ten yards, the water was twenty to twenty-five feet deep.  The bottom third of the graph was packed with fish.  

Southern shoreline showing a road that disappeared under the lake.

We changed from jigs to spinners and back to jigs and moved to the north shore letting the boat drift with the wind and kept the jig almost on the bottom.  Sometimes we would let it fall to the bottom and jig it up and down, but there was no action at all.   The weather turned warm and it was definitely time to go home before the sun beat us to death.

This is a beautiful lake and in July, we are going back down and fish for bass with some top water lures in the early morning. 

 

Good fishing, good hunting, and good luck.  Hank

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