Muskies take over Macbride bass tourney

SOLON - Muskies hogged the spotlight at a charity bass tournament last weekend on Lake Macbride.

While 25 two-angler teams struggled to catch small, timid bass, large obstreperous muskies attacked typical bass lures like hooks were their preferred forage.

At the weigh-in Saturday afternoon, which did not take long given the scarcity of good bass, the main topic of conversation was the astonishing number of large muskies making themselves conspicuous in a lake not widely known as a haven for the toothy, top-of-the-food-chain predators.

Clete Sharp and Shawn Nelsen, who finished seventh in the tournament with one bass weighing 3 pounds 4 ounces, caught five muskies, two of which in their estimation exceeded the 40-inch minimum size limit.

Vance Gordon and his partner, Kevin Klug, caught one bass that exceeded the 15-inch minimum size limit and three times as many muskies, including one that Gordon estimated at more than 15 pounds.

Greg Johnson caught one muskie that he estimated at 40 inches and had another much larger one blow up on his plastic tube without managing to hook itself.

Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist Paul Sleeper said Macbride's muskies first started making their presence known this spring.

Although muskies had been stocked in Macbride since the late 1990s, Sleeper said they never really flourished until the DNR began stocking 12- to 14-inch fish about five years ago.

Since then, he said, the DNR has been stocking those year-old fish, at a rate of one per acre in the 940-acre lake, on an every-other-year basis.

With an ample gizzard shad forage base, the muskies typically double in length after their first year in the lake, Sleeper said.

“We have seen them up to 48 inches, and we are seeing lots in the mid-30s,” he said.

Sleeper said word of bass anglers catching muskies by accident has been spreading and that anglers “are just starting to fish Macbride specifically for muskies.”

Organized by the Bear Creek Bass Club, the tournament raised more than $1,100 for the Aiming for a Cure Foundation, which in the past eight years has raised more than $1 million to help childhood cancer patients at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.

Included in those proceeds was a $250 donation from Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable, who spoke about the worthiness of the cause and his passion for fishing during the 6:30 a.m. send-off of the anglers and at the 2:30 p.m. weigh in.

Top finishers in the tournament were Al Mart with bass weighing 9 pounds 4 ounces, Jerrid Tolley with 9 pounds 2 ounces, Jeff Pelley with an even 6 pounds and Greg Johnson with 5 pounds 8 ounces.