Wall to wall walleye

CLEAR LAKE — As fish stories go, this one is no tall tale.

It's the true story of what modern fisheries management can do when vision, resources and cooperation come together in an effort to overhaul a fishery in distress.

It's the story of Clear Lake in north-central Iowa.

What was largely considered an aquatic wasteland overrun with carp and bullheads in the 1980s and ’90s is back in a big way and providing some of the best angling in the state for multiple species.

Just last weekend, 28 two-person teams hit the water for the one-day Cedar Valley Walleye Club tournament on Clear Lake. It was a record field that enjoyed record results, which speaks to the popularity of the third-largest of Iowa's 34 natural lakes (3,684 acres) these days.

Jeremy Ruehle of Algona and Jim George of Emmetsburg weighed a five-walleye limit of 27.13 pounds to win. Every team caught tournament-legal walleyes (14 inches or bigger). It took more than 19 pounds to make the top five. Seven walleyes topping five pounds were caught.

"Those are more like Lake Erie weights than Clear Lake weights," said Waterloo's Tim Ahrens, a longtime board member and current president of the club. "It's really a tremendous fishery."

Doug Bonwell of Cedar Falls, who teamed up with Jeremy Geisler of Waucoma to place third with 19.99 pounds, also was impressed.

"I honestly had over 40 fish on Thursday by myself," said Bonwell, who trolled crankbaits like many of the anglers in the tournament, although jigging, slip-bobbering and drifting with live bait also were successful techniques. Of Bonwell's 40-some walleyes, most were 17 inches or larger.

"Clear Lake used to be a place where if you wanted to catch all the 13- and 14-inch walleyes you wanted for fun, you could," Bonwell said. "Now it's become a really nice fishery. It's fun to catch all those 17- to 21-inch fish.

"I remember going up there probably 40 years ago and all you could catch was bullheads."

These days you can catch a variety of quality fish — from crappies, yellow perch, white bass, yellow bass and bluegills to walleyes, muskies, northern pike and catfish. A 40-boat muskie tournament also took place last Saturday while the CVWC gang reported catching at least a half-dozen muskies from 34- to 44-inches in length.

It hasn't happened by accident.

"It's a pretty complex situation," said DNR fisheries biologist Scott Grummer. "To really set the stage, the lake kind of went into a state of imbalance after a drastic winter kill. I think it was the winter of 1977-78. It was prior to my career in the fisheries bureau, but I was a young resident at the time and that seemed to really imbalance the fishery.

“It became a lake that was heavily dominated with carp and bullhead post-winter kill."

Many of the carp have been removed by commercial fishermen while a project in the Ventura Marsh area connected to Clear Lake is helping limit reproduction.

"What sets the stage for them to be consistently low in numbers is their recruitment or year class strength, which has declined," Grummer said. "That comes back to a couple of things.

"We had quite a water quality project here in like the 2007 to 2012 period. That was a multifaceted project. One thing we did through that project was restore Ventura Marsh, which is a 400-acre wetland on the upper end of Clear Lake. Carp love wetlands to spawn, and that was becoming a consistent carp nursery up there.

"The biggest thing we put in there was a pumping station, which was a joint project between Iowa DNR, the Army Corps of Engineers and the local communities. By putting the pumping station on that 400-acre wetland, we've been able to manage the wetland much better and not allow a high density carp population to develop there. In essence, it gives us the ability to simulate a drought when we need to remove carp from that nursery area which is a detriment to the lake fishery and the water quality."

Dredging also has made a difference in water quality, which in turn promotes the growth of vegetation and leads to stronger panfish populations.

"It's about as healthy, probably, as the crappie population has been here for maybe 50 years," Grummer said.

As for the bullheads, their numbers have declined slowly over time as a result of the improved water quality and the increase in predator numbers.

"The carp population is not gone, but it's at a low to moderate level, and the bullhead population has really cycled down to historically low levels," Grummer said. "The remaining fishery has filled those spaces vacated by carp and bullheads with those more desirable game fish species.

"To keep that going, the year class strength of all those species has been good year after year, so it kind of seems like the lake is back to a balanced fishery that was probably historically there in the mid 1900s."

A slot limit for walleyes also will help ensure a strong population into the future. Since Jan. 1, 1922, anglers must immediately release all walleyes 17 to 22 inches. The daily limit has remained at three with no minimum length, but protecting the most prolific and successful breeders bodes well for the years to come.

"We use the wild population in Clear Lake as the hatchery source for our walleye eggs," Grummer said. "We weren't seeing the adult walleye numbers we would like to see. The slot limit does a much better job protecting female walleyes. A female walleye won't hold eggs until they are about 17 inches. Under the minimum length limit we had for about 30 years, there was just too much opportunity there to kind of cull those fish before they became sexually mature.

"Now if you reach 17 inches and you're a female walleye, you're protected for about three growing seasons until you come out the top side of the slot at 22 inches."

While there is some natural reproduction, aggressive yearly stocking still continues with walleye fry and fingerlings while muskies and channel catfish are stocked every two years.

"The top end predator species just need a little hatchery help to maintain the densities we need and anglers expect," Grummer said.

Overall, Grummer likes what he sees these days.

"I'm a 30-year employee, and it's probably as healthy as its been definitely during my career, and it's all the species across the board," he said. "The panfish diversity has really improved over the years, the consistency of the walleye fishery has been pretty much unprecedented during my career as a fisheries biologist, and then we have a real strong muskie population.

"It's in really good shape."