fishing reports Lake Macbride Fishing Reports

[JIvers]

Macbride was mostly in better shape than I expected tonight. There were some people out pretty far on the south arm, but being by myself I played it safe and stuck to a community brushpile in the "sailboat cove" of the north arm.

The shoreline ice there is pulling away in some spots, and I'll bet the south-facing shorelines are in worse shape, but I found a place to get on the ice and keep my feet dry.

There was a band of nasty black ice out roughly thirty feet from shore that was more than a little sketchy. It was pulpy, soft, and cracked a bit as I walked on it. My spud bar would not break through to open water, but the divots I made had water seeping in to them. I would NOT walk out across that band of ice tomorrow.

Aside from that stretch of black ice, the white and slushy stuff was in decent shape, with about six or seven inches of good ice beneath the inch of worthless stuff on the surface.

Last year at this time that cove looked like the surface of the moon, but aside from the crappie cribs in 20'+ of water it doesn't look like there has been much action there.

Nothing much happened until 5:00, and then the bluegill onslaught began. I caught probably thirty or forty, with eight of them making seven inches, and thus having a date with my skillet.

I haven't found a consistent crappie bite on Macbride this winter in the last two weeks, and with the forecast I may not have a chance to find it before the lake is completely open. I can't make it out tomorrow, and the ice is going to go downhill at a quick rate through the weekend. I may give it a look Thursday if I have the time, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[JIvers]

I'm done fishing on the ice here for now.

I think, if I had been careful, I still could have found my way out on Macbride this afternoon and stayed dry, but I decided that five or six decent bluegills and twenty runts weren't worth the effort and risk.

After the rain, snow, and highs in the forties forecast for the next three days in Iowa City, I do not believe there will be any safe ice-fishing left in this part of the state. What's more, the forecast for the next week or two calls for continuing warm temps, but not warm enough to completely clear the lakes for boats.

It is only February 2, and in a normal winter I would say "there is no way we won't get another arctic blast before the end of the month to freeze things back up." The way this winter has gone, I am not so sure of that, but I still think we have a good chance of getting some safe ice again on the ponds around here before March 1. With a little luck in the form of very cold weather we may even get out again on larger lakes like Macbride.

[JIvers]

A head cold kept me off the ice until today, when I hit Macbride for the first time in almost two weeks. There was about 8" of good ice in the spots I drilled, and it was popping and heaving while I was out.

Today's report can be summed up quickly: murky water, slow bite. The murky water is from the runoff during the warm spell, and I suspect the slow bite is due to both that and the high pressure that settled in over Iowa City this weekend.

The good news is I caught more walleye than bluegill: the bad news is that at 6" or so, the bluegill was almost as big as both the walleye.

It looks to me like however much ice we have tomorrow will be as much ice as we're going to see around Coralville this winter before it goes out. Two weeks of more ice-fishing around here? Judging by the forecasts, three weeks seems pretty optimistic, and ten days the worst-case scenario.

Since I hadn't fished in almost two weeks before today, I am going to hit some ponds tomorrow.

[JIvers]

I just got back from Macbride; I am going out on a limb and saying we are done ice-fishing in Johnson County for the year. We could still get near-record cold temps to start March, but I am not counting on it.

If someone was very careful and/or a little crazy they could maybe still fish spots near shore tomorrow, but I am not that person. Highs in the upper forties tomorrow, and rain tomorrow night, should keep even the brave/crazy people off Macbride.

I was able to get out about ten feet off a north-facing shoreline, but that was all the farther I went. There was a couple inches of white mushy ice on top, and so far as I could tell a couple inches of clear ice below that. There were several wet cracks I could see, including one that stopped me about ten feet out. There were also some dark patches farther out that did not look good at all. This was on the north arm, where there was about eight inches of ice last Tuesday.

Where the shorelines faced the south, one would need a plank to get out, as there was usually a couple feet of open water.

I did not see anyone fishing on either arm, although in a few days it may be possible to launch a boat east of the causeway, as that is already about a third open.

[JIvers]

I made my first open-water trip to Macbride for the year this morning with my boat. The fishing was a little slow, but it was a nice morning out.

Early on, the wipers were busting up shad on the surface; I managed to catch two of them on minnows. The bigger was a 21" I caught on an ultralight rig with 4 lb. test and a #8 Aberdeen hook, since I was looking for crappie. That was interesting:

The wiper bite, such as it was, stopped by 8:00 AM. After that, I only got one crappie, although it was a decent fish:

I had to leave after 9:00, as I had other things to do. I would give a water temperature report, but either my digital thermometer wasn't working right, or the surface temps were 85 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.

I don't know, then, how close the walleye spawn might be, or if it has passed, but there were two or three boats and at least a half dozen shore fishermen working the east side of the causeway on the South Arm when I crossed it at 6:30 this morning. That is a good pre-spawn staging area for walleye, although I didn't fish it myself, as I avoid crowds as much as possible.

There were some coots on the lake this morning. Those are the first coots I have seen on Macbride in the spring. I usually see a few loons out there in April and early May, but I didn't see or hear any today.

[gloomiseye]

Great report!

[JIvers]

Macbride can be a tough lake to fish some days--nothing seems to work, and the fish are nowhere to be found.

Today was not one of those days.

I hadn't been out to Macbride in a few weeks, but decided to try it this evening with the weather coming, and the Iowa River still muddy from last weekend's rain. Long story short, the crappie were hitting from the moment I got out.

I kept eight fish, with the best being this 13" white crappie:

Everything else I got was a black crappie, which is typical for me on Macbride: most crappie I get are black crappie, but the white crappie tend to be larger. Here is the 13" white crappie with one of the 10"-ish black crappie I kept:

The fish I cleaned had eggs in them, except for a couple of males noticeable by their darker color. Most were caught on wild shiners; I didn't have many shiners, so I tried plastic and hair jigs on one line, but the fish clearly preferred live bait tonight.

The surface temps were around 56 degrees. That puts the crappie still in pre-spawn, but everything I got was found in 12' of water or less near structure or cover of some sort. Tonight, at least, they moved in from the channel edges where I usually find crappie on Macbride when the water temps are in the mid-fifties in the spring.

I didn't catch any walleye tonight. With the Iowa River likely to come up more after the rain tomorrow and Thursday, there may be some good walleye spots there coming in to play. Choosing between the river and Macbride may be difficult next week.

[JIvers]

I've been busy, but finally got out to Macbride again last night; the crappie are still biting. It wasn't a furious bite like the last time I was out, but I still caught quite a few nice fish. What I got came drifting a minnow on a jig, or a minnow on a bobber.

The trolling bite for walleye and crappie should be on by now, but my main purpose last night was getting a 1976 Evinrude I just bought running. As such, I either anchored or drifted while tinkering with the outboard. I finally got it running at dark when I figured out the choke lever does not/should not need to be all the way out when cold-starting the motor. Two hours of work went in to getting it running because I didn't try that sooner.

With only a trolling motor for most of the evening I didn't try more presentations, and I still caught fish. I didn't bring my thermometer, either, so no water temperature read. The crappie I cleaned last still had eggs or milt in them, which I would expect, but the spawn isn't far off now. Last night's fish came in 10'-15' feet of water, usually around cover or structure.

[JIvers]

Did you know Macbride is stocked with musky? This 13" walleye I caught tonight knows it--look at the quarter-inch divot of flesh missing on his side, and the teeth marks surrounding it.

I caught several of these smallish walleye trolling on structure. No crappie, and no larger walleye, so I switched to fishing shiners on bobbers. That was frustrating.

I caught a couple nice crappie and a spotted bass, but I bet I missed twenty strikes on my live bait rigs tonight. Maybe those were Macbride bluegill, or the crappie were hitting light.

The surface temp., after a hot sunny day, was 68.5 to 70 degrees. The crappie I caught were around timber, and while both had eggs in them I suspect the crappie spawn is very close. Usually it peaks around Memorial Day on Macbride, but once again this is not a normal year.

There was at least one loon cruising around on Macbride tonight and calling. I did not get close enough for a picture, but every spring a few loons rest up for a bit on Macbride before continuing north.

[kiowa]

So far this spring I have had all my success with crappie and walleye in water deeper than 7ft. However the last time I was out I only saw a lot small bluegill making my bait nervous. I think the crappie have moved close to shore on structure preparing for the spawn.

I also saw my first muskie this year too, it must have been stocked this year or last, it was only 10 inches or so in length, but it was really cool to see fry and even small bluegill jump out of the water trying to get away from it!

[JIvers]

Did someone say Macbride musky?

Here he is in the boat:

I hit up a couple of shallow brush piles early looking for crappie. There were fish stirring near the surface, but all I caught was a largemouth and this very fat 16" channel cat:

I actually caught more musky (one) than crappie (zero) this morning.

Trolling somewhat deeper structure produced the baby musky, and my first decent Macbride walleye of the spring. I would have done more of this, but for now I'm limited to a trolling motor.

Early on there was a pair of loons near me. This is the "best" photo of a loon or loons I've been able to get out there this spring:

Surface temps over deeper water were 59 degrees at sunrise, and 60-61 by the time I got off the water. I would think the crappies are on the very edge of spawning mode, but if they are they aren't hungry. I talked to a couple other boats out there this morning, and four anglers reported a total of one crappie.

[kiowa]

The crappies weren't biting on Sunday night, between my buddy and I we only got one keeper. We did catch 5 walleyes between the two of us though, 2 being keepers. We found them all over the lake, I think we are going to see a boom in the walleye population in the next year or two. That musky looks about the right size as then one that was terrorizing the bay I was in last week, very cool pics.

[JIvers]

Slow morning on Macbride today.

I got a 14" channel cat and a small crappie (maybe 7") trolling crankbaits over structure, and a couple bluegills fishing crawlers around the same structure. Nothing on wild shiners.

I started out one more time hitting shallow timber with shiners and plastic, and that produced nothing. The surface temps at 6:00 AM were 65.6-66 degrees, according to my digital thermometer.

With those temps and the fishing pattern of the last week, I now think the crappie spawn came and went, and I missed it.

If I'm right the crappie should be moving back to the deeper structure for a few weeks, but if they were there today they weren't biting. The weather didn't help, as in my experience cloudless blue skies and high air pressure seldom make for good fishing on Macbride. This was the morning I could get out, though.

[JIvers]

Just a reminder for everyone that the 10 HP outboard limit is now in effect on Macbride, and remains in effect through Labor Day. No motors over 10 HP may be used on the lake until then. http://www.iowadnr.gov/Destinations/Stat...x?ParkID=610119

Note: this is not to say I support the motor restriction or the reasoning behind it.

[JIvers]

Speaking of Macbride musky (again) I came across this article from last fall while looking for something else: http://thegazette.com/2011/09/29/muskies-make-a-mess-at-bass-tournament/

According to this, which quotes Paul Sleeper from the Macbride fisheries station, the IDNR now stocks one 12"-14" musky fingerling per acre in Macbride every other year. That means about 900 musky fingerlings go in there every other year.

The IDNR has been stocking musky in Macbride since the late 1990s, but apparently switched to the present stocking system in 2006. Before that, IIRC, Macbride was the state's "oveflow" musky stocking lake. If there were fingerlings left over after stocking designated musky lakes, Macbride got them. If there were no leftover musky fingerlings, Macbride didn't get any.

Finally, it sounds like the musky in Macbride use the same habitat as the lake's largemouth population. That part of the article matches up with what I have heard around here from other anglers. It also explains why I seldom see musky on there, since I never target largemouth on Macbride, or anywhere else for that matter. I may have to start casting big crankbaits and spinnerbaits around some brushpiles in the bays on Macbride, though.

As an aside, I know the IDNR used to stock several thousand Northern pike in Macbride in the early 2000s. Apparently they no longer do so. I saw one 22"-23" Northern caught on Macbride eight or nine years ago, and had a hammer handle Northern follow a small crappie up to my boat at about the same time. That is it for what I've seen or heard of Northern pike in Macbride.

I've not heard of Northern being caught on Macbride for years, which suggests to me the IDNR made the right call pulling the plug on Northern and switching to full musky stocking, even if the financial cost of stocking musky is higher.

[JIvers]

I got my copy of the North Johnson County paper today; a blurb on the front page notes that there will be fireworks over Lake Macbride on the Fourth of July after a boat parade at the causeway. The boat parade is "open to everyone".

Does this mean the 10 HP motor limit is suspended for one day this summer?

As for fishing out there, it has stayed slow for the last month or so. I've been out a couple times and managed to pick up a few white bass and wipers trolling crankbaits, but that is pretty much it. Judging by the low number of boats I saw I'm guessing I'm not the only one not catching much on Macbride recently.

[JIvers]

As my budget a little limited for making it to the Mississippi on a regular basis, and the Iowa River is VERY low, I've been hitting Lake Macbride once or twice a week. The bite is a little slower than I'd like, but usually worthwhile.

I can usually pick up a few wiper and/or white bass trolling shad-colored crankbaits, with a channel cat ot two to go with them. This morning, I got my best channel catfish of the year so far on a crawler fished off the edge of a rockpile. He went 28":

Here is a 16" wiper:

And a channel cat that smacked a crankbait:

I get a crappie (usually decent-sized) once in a while, as well as the odd largemouth, spotted bass, or bluegill.

What I haven't seen out of Macbride since at least early June is a walleye. I caught plenty in April and early May this year, and I usually hit walleye well in to July on Macbride, but not this summer.

[JIvers]

The good news from this morning's Macbride outing: I got my first walleye on there since early June, if not May.

The bad news: he was only a few inches longer than the crankabit he hit, and he was the only fish I got this morning, which was my worst Macbride trip of the year.

To be fair, the weather was not favorable today. Like many other lakes, clear, cloud-free blue skies, cooler temperatures, and high air pressure right after a front moves through usually do not make for good fishing on Macbride. If I had been able to make it out yesterday morning or evening, I bet I would have done better.

It may be time to try the Iowa River again. It is still very low, but the deep pools should be productive. In a month or so, the fall bite on Mabcride should get underway for crappie, white bass/wiper...and muskie.

[JIvers]

The Iowa DNR's fishing report says there has been "very little fishing activity" on Lake Macbride this week: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/FishingReports.aspx

There won't be any more fishing activity from me on Lake Macbride until some time after Labor Day. I went out there this morning, and while it actually took longer than normal, Macbride finally seems to have hit its normal August flatline. I didn't catch a thing out there trolling crankbaits and fishing crawlers around the cover, structure, and drop-offs.

I did lose a very large...something. I hooked it (or snagged it?) on a shad-colored crankbait right about sunrise, and got it to boatside. Then my decision to use 6 lb. mono and a rather light trolling rig came in to play.

I did not dare horse the beast in the last few feet to my net, and spent several minutes trying to wear it out so I could get a pass at it. The good news is my knot and lines held; too bad the hooks gave way. Not that a hookset can't come loose in a fish's mouth, but that makes me think it might have been snagged, not hooked in the jaw.

My guess is a BIG channel cat (I caught a 32" channel cat on the same sort of rig on Macbride in 2008, and this thing felt bigger than that fish), but it could have been a flathead (I've caught a few in Macbride over the years), a musky, or a big carp or buffalo. If I'd gotten a look at it I could lived with losing it, but now I'll be awake at nights wondering what it was.

[Bait_Waster]

I just came back from fishing at lake Mille Lacs.

While on a Twin Pines fishing charter, I was taught a slip bobber style of walleye fishing that I've never done before.

You just set a slip bobber so your leach is about 8 inches off the bottom.

Anyone tried doing this for walleye on Lake Macbride?

[JIvers]

I have tried leeches on Macbride: I caught fish, including a few walleye, but shad-patterned crankbaits always out-performed them: shad are THE forage fish on Macbride. Plus, leeches are difficult to find in SE Iowa.

If anyone uses slip bobbers to fish anything on Macbride during the summer months, do not set your bait below 9', regardless of how much deeper than that the bottom might be. Macbride stratifies at about ten feet every summer, so you won't find any fish below that depth.

As far as live bait on Macbride goes, from early June through Labor Day, I only bother bringing crawlers.

Open water in the spring and fall is live minnow time; I much prefer catching my own wild shiners, fatheads, dace, and chubs.

Through the ice, I bring waxies, which usually work best for bluegill and crappie on Macbride in the winter, and spikes in case the panfish want something different.

For walleye and wiper in the winter, I bring fresh dead fatheads, or live ones from the baitshop. Live or dead doesn't matter, as I just pop the heads off to tip my bait anyway. Live minnows just didn't produce enough for me to bother bringing them out there anymore for anything except tipping lures.

[Bait_Waster]

I have tried leeches on Macbride: I caught fish, including a few walleye, but shad-patterned crankbaits always out-performed them: shad are THE forage fish on Macbride. Plus, leeches are difficult to find in SE Iowa.

If anyone uses slip bobbers to fish anything on Macbride during the summer months, do not set your bait below 9', regardless of how much deeper than that the bottom might be. Macbride stratifies at about ten feet every summer, so you won't find any fish below that depth.

As far as live bait on Macbride goes, from early June through Labor Day, I only bother bringing crawlers.

Open water in the spring and fall is live minnow time; I much prefer catching my own wild shiners, fatheads, dace, and chubs.

Through the ice, I bring waxies, which usually work best for bluegill and crappie on Macbride in the winter, and spikes in case the panfish want something different.

For walleye and wiper in the winter, I bring fresh dead fatheads, or live ones from the baitshop. Live or dead doesn't matter, as I just pop the heads off to tip my bait anyway. Live minnows just didn't produce enough for me to bother bringing them out there anymore for anything except tipping lures.

Thank you sir.

[JIvers]

Welcome to HSO.

Crawlers mostly catch channel cat and pesky Macbride bluegill for me during the summer months when I fish them below slip bobbers. The walleye want shad-looking crankbaits then.

Pitching or trolling crawlers in the spring will produce walleye, especially on a slow-death type rig, but I don't do a lot of that because on Macbride, no rig is "snagless" when dragging it through walleye habitat.

[Bait_Waster]

Thanks again for all the help.

I really love good sized bluegill to eat, but most of what I've caught has been very small in Macbride.

I've fished for them on the north side, right off the road, between Solon and North Liberty. Someone sank some cedars trees in this area for cover. I think it was the DNR? I've never taken my boat on Macbride. Don't they have a motor size limit or something?

I see you also hit some other areas I've been.

I've caught some huge cat in the spillway in a heavy current, but I needed an 8 oz weight.

I also used to go right next to the River Power Restaurant and cast into the rollers for stipers and walleye. I just used shad looking lure.

P.S. There are some big cats laying at them rollers also. I helped a guy bring in about a 15 pounder one night. He didn't have a net or anything. I thought the line would break before we pulled it up to the bridge, but it didn't.

[JIvers]

If you want nice-sized bluegill in the area, look at the public ponds--we have a lot of them.

As for Macbride bluegills, they're much better size-wise than they were ten or even five years ago. The last two or three winters I could go out there and reasonably expect to catch enough 7" bluegills to make it worth my while, and that was never the case before. I wonder if the IDNR efforts to control the shad population are having some effect.