Adleyfishes Posted May 7, 2017 Posted May 7, 2017 Tell me where you think I should fish next in Iowa. Quote
KCFinesse Posted May 8, 2017 Posted May 8, 2017 I could only help with Southwest or immediately around Ames- I fished Anita this weekend and caught a bunch of males without finding anything super solid. If you're in that end of the state, I hear Green Valley is fishing well, and 12 Mile has previously been a good lake for me around this time of year. Good luck! -Jared Quote
Super User Hooligan Posted May 9, 2017 Super User Posted May 9, 2017 Green Valley is good, 12 Lake is good. Boji is excellent, Rathbun is great, Anita is rock Solid, Blue Lake is very consistent, Icaria has kicked out some 8# plus fish of late, Brushy Creek is phenomenal, big creek has a very good bass population. 1 Quote
KCFinesse Posted May 9, 2017 Posted May 9, 2017 Is Blue getting renovated again as a result of the 2012 floods? I haven't fished Blue in 15 years or so, but it used to be a pretty fun lake... There just doesn't seem to be much information on that lakes current status other than the reno-project reports. -Jared Quote
Black Hawk Basser Posted June 11, 2019 Posted June 11, 2019 I am in Lake View, home of Black Hawk Lake. It is a serious up-and-comer for lots of species after its fairly recent renovation. It is absolutely loaded with bass, and grass - Bring your T-Rigs! Quote
Dirtyeggroll Posted June 11, 2019 Posted June 11, 2019 3 hours ago, Pickle_Power said: I am in Lake View, home of Black Hawk Lake. It is a serious up-and-comer for lots of species after its fairly recent renovation. It is absolutely loaded with bass, and grass - Bring your T-Rigs! Fished a tournament there last year and every boat culled. That lake is gonna be hot stuff. Its seems to be pretty popular in the summer time with pleasure boaters AND when I went back there in July it was super grassed in. Quote
Zangof Posted January 10, 2020 Posted January 10, 2020 On 5/8/2017 at 9:49 PM, Hooligan said: Green Valley is good, 12 Lake is good. Boji is excellent, Rathbun is great, Anita is rock Solid, Blue Lake is very consistent, Icaria has kicked out some 8# plus fish of late, Brushy Creek is phenomenal, big creek has a very good bass population. I am only about 20 minutes from Big Creek. It was my primary fishing lake this last year and its probably me but I did not have a day where I caught over 4 fish of any species specifically targeting bass. I have always heard there are good numbers in there of bass and crappie and you just have to figure it out but I have not figured it out yet. This is primarily fishing off a boat as well so I am able to move around a lot. Quote
Hawkeye21 Posted January 21, 2020 Posted January 21, 2020 If in eastern Iowa a trip to the Mississippi River is a must. Pools 9, 10 and 13 are great spots. Lake Delhi is not very big but has some good large and small mouth bass along with walleye. Lost Grove is a great fishery and has some monsters in it. Quote
Ogandrews Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 Lived in Ames for 2 years, brushy creek is an awesome lake I still make a trip down every spring before the mn season opens up. Right around now the musky should be turning on, prespawn and fat. Some great sized bass in that lake. If you do try to fish muskies right now focus on the northern part of the lake around the creeks coming in. Not Minnesota sized fish but there’s fish in the 40” range and numbers of them. Super pretty place as opposed to other parts of Iowa. Right now the walleye fishing should be pretty good on the Des Moines river and I would assume the other bigger rivers. I never had any luck in the Ames area ponds I really would not bother trying to fish them honestly. Quote
Smjunior25 Posted April 28, 2020 Posted April 28, 2020 Lake Darling is good for bass and crappie. Coralville Reservoir can be really good in the spring if the water doesn't get too high. Pleasant Creek was recently renovated and they added a ton of structure plus they stocked smallmouth in there too. And of course the upper Mississippi!! Quote
Armtx77 Posted May 4, 2020 Posted May 4, 2020 Lake Hawthorne was really good before they let people keep the fish. I had my best day fishing ever about 4 years ago there. My dad and I stopped counting at 200 and every single one was about 14" long. Quote
Hawkeye21 Posted May 4, 2020 Posted May 4, 2020 15 hours ago, Armtx77 said: Lake Hawthorne was really good before they let people keep the fish. I had my best day fishing ever about 4 years ago there. My dad and I stopped counting at 200 and every single one was about 14" long. To me, that is not a good lake. I know it can be fun for the casual fishermen but catch the same size fish over and over again every trip can get redundant. I think keeping bass is what is needed on a lake like that because it sounds over populated. A good bass fishing lake should have a variety of sizes in it. My local sportsman's club lake is like that. You can catch a ton of bass there but nothing over 14". It's fun for a family outing but not great for someone who wants to catch large bass. They've never been able to get that lake figured out properly. Quote
Armtx77 Posted May 5, 2020 Posted May 5, 2020 6 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said: To me, that is not a good lake. I know it can be fun for the casual fishermen but catch the same size fish over and over again every trip can get redundant. I think keeping bass is what is needed on a lake like that because it sounds over populated. A good bass fishing lake should have a variety of sizes in it. My local sportsman's club lake is like that. You can catch a ton of bass there but nothing over 14". It's fun for a family outing but not great for someone who wants to catch large bass. They've never been able to get that lake figured out properly. Didn't know that. My dad has caught several in the 4lbs range the past couple of summers at Hawthorne. Im a numbers guy, but understand that is not everyone's take on it. With the state record being around 10lbs...your best bet is going to be stumbling on it in a farm pond. I grew up fishing the Mississippi all the way to LaCrosse WI and you will be hard pressed to get them consistently over 4lbs. To each his own. The OP asked what to fish next...Hawthorne will get you on some fish with an outside chance at one in 4's. Quote
Hawkeye21 Posted May 5, 2020 Posted May 5, 2020 13 hours ago, Armtx77 said: Didn't know that. My dad has caught several in the 4lbs range the past couple of summers at Hawthorne. Im a numbers guy, but understand that is not everyone's take on it. With the state record being around 10lbs...your best bet is going to be stumbling on it in a farm pond. I grew up fishing the Mississippi all the way to LaCrosse WI and you will be hard pressed to get them consistently over 4lbs. To each his own. The OP asked what to fish next...Hawthorne will get you on some fish with an outside chance at one in 4's. I know some guys that fished there over the weekend and did well. Sounded like they caught some decent size too. Quote
Armtx77 Posted May 5, 2020 Posted May 5, 2020 6 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said: I know some guys that fished there over the weekend and did well. Sounded like they caught some decent size too. It is a cool little lake. The times I have fished it, I always think of it as really, really small version of Table Rock. We crushed them on Watermelon and red flake Gander Mountain Stick Baits, but it was like I was catching the exact same fish over and over and over. I think once they opened it up to keeping some fish about 4 years ago. It really helped get some size going. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.