Prime ice-fishing weather on the horizon

By Orlan Love, The Gazette

With nothing but ice-making weather on the horizon, Iowans are on the threshold of an exceptional ice fishing season, Department of Natural Resources officials said.

'I think it's going to be good,” said Jim Wahl, fisheries supervisor for the DNR's northwest district.

Ten-to 12-inch yellow perch, the tastiest of all fish, will attract anglers to lakes across north-central and northwest Iowa, Wahl said.

After an absence of several years, chunky perch are back in abundance in the Iowa Great Lakes and, especially, in Big Spirit, Wahl said.

Two recently rehabilitated shallow lakes in north-central Iowa - Rice and Silver - will consistently produce 25-fish limits of perch this winter, he said.

Large numbers of yellow bass, a reliable favorite at Clear Lake, are in the 8- to 10-inch range, according to Wahl.

'There won't be a lot of sorting or throwbacks required this winter,” he said.

Chris Larson, fisheries supervisor for the DNR's southwest district, said anglers in that region can choose from among several hot lakes this winter.

'With so many options, anglers can spread out and not overfish a given lake,” he said.

Crappies and bluegills in the 9- to 10-inch range will be prevalent across the region, according to Larson.

'We had some good hatches a few years ago, and they are just coming into angler-acceptable size,” he said.

A cluster of three small lakes in Adair County - Mormon Trail (33 acres), Greenfield Reservoir (56 acres) and Nodaway Pond (25 acres) - all have strong panfish populations, he said.

Other area lakes deserving ice angler attention, with county and acreage in parentheses, he said, are Viking (Montgomery, 137), Anita (Cass, 171), Prairie Rose (Shelby, 218), Badger Creek (Madison, 276), Beaver (Dallas, 34), Summit (Union, 250) and Little River (Decatur, 743).

On the Mississippi River, excellent panfishing this fall bodes well for the ice fishing season, said DNR research biologist Scott Gritters.

The big perch that have rewarded ice anglers in recent years have been supplemented by another strong year class, he said.

Though fewer crappie were recorded in test nets this fall, 'bluegills and rock bass are doing great up and down the river,” he said.

The exceptional ice fishing will not likely extend into Eastern Iowa, where DNR fisheries biologist Paul Sleeper expects 'decent” fishing on Pleasant Creek Lake in Linn County, Lake Macbride in Johnson County and Lake Iowa in Iowa County.

With Pleasant Creek drawn down substantially for a rehabilitation project, 'it's hard to say” how fish will bite this winter, 'but it should be pretty good for perch,” Sleeper said.

Macbride has a strong year class of 7- to 9-inch crappie, and Lake Iowa has plenty of keeper-size crappies and bluegills, he said.

l Comments: (319) 934-3172; orlan.love@thegazette.com