Bass Lakes..mid-late april

[Fishinglund]

Walleyeking!

If you want to drive all the way to south-eastern Iowa, then I would have to say try Lake Sugema. I usually fish there about that time of year as it coincides with spring turkey hunting. There is nothing like getting up early, bagging an old longbeard, and them hitting the lake all day.

There is a lot of standing timber to fish. We usually use white or chartruse jigs, and catch bass, nice crappies (some over 12"), walleyes, and big bull bluegills.

Always have good success in the spring, and it seems the nastier the weather, the better the fishing is.

See ya on the water!

Fishinglund

[jr712]

Never bass fished south of the TC. You're going to enjoy the wood down here, lol.

Brushy Creek is an excellent new bass lake. Stocked in '99. In the central part of the state abhout 30 west of I-35. A deep, clear, HEAVY timber lake.

All the other good bass lakes are in the southern 1/3 of the state. South of Des Moines near I-35 there is 3 Mile, the best of several in that area. Little River is near the Missouri border right on I-35. West of 3 Mile a short ways is Green Valley, one of our (1) fish over 18" bass lakes.

Going east from I35 in the southern part of the state are several smaller lakes before you get to Sequema, which is a few years older than Brushy.

For nummbers of fish in the 2-4+lb. range, Brushy and Sequema would be your best bet. For a larger bass but fewer fish, one of the others I mentioned. But most of our trophy fish come from the numerous private ponds in the south.

Go to the Iowa DNR site. You can download maps of these lakes (none show all the standing timber). Also visit thier 2004 fishing forcast section, a listing of better lakes by species across the state.

[walleyeking]

I live in Minneapolis, And I am looking to plan a trip to Iowa in Mid-Late April to do some early season Bass Fishing.. Any suggestions? I've never fished south of the Twin Cities..

[TMBeard]

Walleyeking,

If your looking for quality fish, you will definately want to come over to the eastern portion of Iowa. As stated before, Seguma, Brushy(Seems to be the talk of the state).

Before all these people start in on me about how their side of the state is better than mine...Im not here to argue. Just want to pass along some advise. Im sure no matter where you choose to go to, your gonna find fish.

Some more overlooked lakes would be Hannan, McBride, and my personal favorite Pleasant Creek.(Plus with Pleasant Creek, you can fish for Eyes, and maybe get a occasional ski to bite.) Did I say ski....In Iowa??? Cant be......

Just remember...Figure 8 when your on Pleasant Creek

Let me know if you have any questions regarding the Cedar Rapids area lakes etc.

Travis

[This message has been edited by TMBeard (edited 03-09-2004).]

[CamperJack]

Browns Lake & Snyders Bend are both good Bass lakes here in western Iowa. Caught nice Bass in both lakes that time of the year. Good Luck Jack remmber (C.P.R.) catch,photo relise

[track_superstar_1]

the pit thats all im going to say is the pit the pit will get er done

[walleyeking]

Thanks for the advice guys..I'll let you know how I do..

Track- What is the pit? Is this some sort of small lake somewhere? Can you get a Ranger boat in there??

[mrkastni]

Camper Jack, ready to go to Browns/Snyder's yet? I was down there a few weeks ago on the ice, but I haven't checked to see if the water has softened up since... We bounced messages last year when I moved down from Minnesota. I'm going out after a trolling battery this week and would like to go as soon as the lakes are ready.

I have an old white 16' Bluefin behind a Green Tahoe. If you spot me come on over.

Mike

[mrkastni]

Walleye King, head to Spirit/Okiboji area, or maybe swing down into the Brown's Snyder area if you are going to be near Sioux City. They all can handle your Ranger just fine.

Good luck, and let me know when you are coming down, I might swing over and say hello.

Mike

[Fish Head]

Great to read the posts here. I also live in the Twin Cities and I am thinking of doing the same thing. I am looking to take my 11 yr old son bass fishing in Iowa sometime in late April/early May. I am mostly a walleye guy but my young son just lives for bass fishing. I was looking for a place in northern Iowa, but it sounds like most of the best lakes are south of Des Moines. I appreciate all the help and info!

[iowaboy]

Brushy is an super fishery for bass both large & smallmouth, excellent crappie up to 14 inches nice gills. Their is a excellent population of eyes up to 26 inches can't really troll the lake because of all the timber but a leech on a slip bobber usuallt does the trick. Also a decent population of muskie up to 20-25 lbs. Brushy is an excellent lake located west of Webster City about 15 miles just off of HWY 20. There is a bait shop in the small town of Dumcombe just to the north about 3 miles.

[carlcmc]

what do you guys think of lake rathbun in appanoose county?

[goodyy7]

Great advice here.....I guess your only question is how far do you want to travel. The lakes area is great, and mirrors the fishing you would use up north. However, once you get down around Brushy, Pleasant Creek, and the southern reservoirs like 3Mile, Little RIver, Seguma, etc., your tactics will turn to the trees and old creek channels...a whole other type of fishing than casting weedlines and reed beds!!!

Checking the DNR site is a great bet and if you start to narrow your search, we can narrow our advice Happy hunting!

goody

[Fish Head]

How is it a whole other type of fishing than casting weedlines and reed beds? I don't want to sound ignorant here, but I haven't done it before. I would assume I just fish around the trees instead of the weeds. Not so? Isn't fishing cover, fishing cover?

Also- My first thought was to stay in northern Iowa. However if the fishing is better an hour or so away, it would make no sense for me to stay north. I would be willing to drive a little farther if the fishing is better.

[minnphatts]

I live in Minneapolis (but grew up in Iowa), and I'm heading down to Brushy Creek for some spring fishing, for the 3rd year in a row. I go with a group of guys, some prefer walleye fishing, others bass.

It's a fun lake to fish while the season up here is still closed. My first impression of Brushy, I was a bit shocked! Imagine a fairly dense forest filled with water! Standing timber throughout the entire lake, not much shallow water that I've found (the reservoir was finished filling in 1999). It's a fairly typical smaller Iowa reservoir, but fishes unlike any Minnesota natural lake.

If you like fishing bass in heavy timber, or a new challenge for fishing walleye, then I think you'd like it. It certainly isn't lazily dragging lindy rigs on mud flats (which I enjoy)!

I'll post our report following our trip April 2nd!

[walleyeking]

Minnphatts, with all of the standing Timber in Brushy, can you bring in a full size boat? My buddy has a new Ranger and we are looking for a place to fish before the season opens in MN? From the posts on here, it sounds like a great lake..

[minnphatts]

The boat ramps on the lake are very nice new facilities, you certainly can bring any type of boat, and you see all types of boats on the lake.

However, you probably won't be using your Ranger to it's full potential, meaning there's so much timber that you won't be opening it up much, we tend to stay at fairly slow speeds or idle around the lake quite a bit, but since it's 690 acres it isn't much of an issue. Hope this helps!

[walleyeking]

Minnphatts- Thanks, that actually helps quite a bit.. Let me know how you do next week. Also can you send me some info on a good place to stay, and what kind of techniques work best? Live bait, Plastics, Topwater, ect...

[email protected]

[jr712]

Actually Brushy is a no wake lake so I hope you're keeping things pretty slow, phatts. lol. But yes, you can get around pretty good in the ranger. There are a couple of the larger coves that you will have to work a little to get into and to the back off but is worthwile. having a paddle or oar handy helps sometimes to move around, push off of timber to get through a tight spot.

Lots of the wind exposed shorelines and points around cove mouths have been riprapped. many of these shorelines (and lake bottom) are steep so they had to bulldoze narrow roads before the lake filled to move in the riprap. these roadways give you a 10 - 15' path right along shore without trees to manuver your boat along. cast forward parellel to shore or with someting that runs a little deeper along the timber edge or flip into the timber on the lake side. oneside of the boat maybe in 3-4' of water and 3-4 ft. from shore and the other side, if it is off the edge of the roadway maybe in 10 - 15'. But the bass like using the tree line edge and the riprap bank (if it is warm). also check out some of the small bay like areas on the west side....several have a more gradual sloping bottom... draw a lot of fish in April as does areas on the north end that are shallower and less infected with trees.

Hope ya hit some warm, stable weather. The lake is deep and warms slower than many of our other bass lakes, but warm trends will draw them shallow during April.

[This message has been edited by jr712 (edited 03-24-2004).]

[jr712]

Fishhead - Fishing at brushy is different becasue you are not fishing around trees you're fishing through trees. Imagine fishing a spinnerbait through a pile of bed springs 10 ft. deep and 30 ft. long. then just for fun, add another couple dozen bed springs suspended 5 - 10 ft above the water you want to fish.

In April you want to have lots of small plastic baits rigged texas style. Mostly flippin and vertical fishing.