brushy creek

[trapper1]

any body out there mastered (or at least one a battle or two) on Brushy Creek. I have fished it twice but have not had much luck.
(slip bobber for gills, top water for small mouth......) i know deep water warms slow, but if i guy was to sneak over there for a day does anybody have any tips?? (after ice out) the DNR makes it sound like it's the next 3 mile, is it just still a year off??

[minnphatts]

I've fished it twice, any done reasonably well both times. We were primarily fishing for bass and got both smallies and largemouth.

There was a good prespawn bass bite in both of the north creek arms, and the smaller bay near the west boat ramp, jerkbaits, 1/2 bass jigs, and plastics all produced.

The other time I fished there was 2 years ago in July. I could find fish in all parts of the lake, probably boated around 20 bass in 6 hours of fishing. Keying on the heavy timber in 6-12 feet of water produced most of the fish.

They aren't kidding when they named it "brushy" creek, fishing in the thickest timber has been where I've found the most fish.

That's my experience, I really like the lake!

[jr712]

The largemouth fishing is outstanding although I don't usually target them, when other things are slow, I have had good luck flippin plastics around shallower timber also.

The riprap along the dam has been my most consistant spot for walleye and some smallmouth, trolling & casting various baits, June - Sept. I haven't fished the lake during spring. Otherwise, walleyes for me have been slip bobbers / livebait or casting, along treeline edges, rock piles and rocky points...... but always a challenge to find which have these areas are holding fish at a given moment. It would take several days to cover all these area's once fishing with these slow-mo presentations types. Vertical jigging or trolling has not been effective for me... except along the dam. maybe water is too clear and way to many snags.

This year, the 2nd year classe of crappies should reach an excellent size and I expect crappie fishing to become much more productive and popular with 2 year classes of nice sized fish in the lake. Except for the May spawn, they can be very difficult to locate also with all the timber but that will get easier as the population increases.

[This message has been edited by jr712 (edited 03-06-2004).]

[iowaboy]

Brushy's crappie were really nice this winter running from 11-14 inches. I would expect the spring bite to be excellent. The eye's are tough in open water. As stated in above post the best luck I've had is a leech on a slip bobber. The jetty points always draw a big crowd.

[trapper1]

THANKS FOR THE REPLYS!! Maybe when it gets closer to May we can compare notes again. I live on the banks of the Miss. so it is a bit of a cruise for me to go to Brushy. Sounds like it really got pounded this winter. Is there a good place to stay in that area? (motel....) other than the state park.

[jr712]

nearest motels are in Ft. Dodge and webster city.... both 15 - 20 miles. I have seen a ouple of them doing some advertising towards visiting fishermen so there at least a couple who are angler friendly.

Where do you live at on the Miss? I used to fish it some during the 80's when ex-inlaws lived in the quad cities area. walleye fishing mostly.

May should be a good time to visit brushy.

[trapper1]

I live between DBq and Bellevue. All most always head north when i fish the river. We fish Saguema, 3 mile, little river......also doing 2 trips to MN and a bear hunt there this year. first time we will try Waterville
Spicer area. You do get spoiled lake fishing after growing up as a river rat.