Iowa Great Lakes

Ice Fishing Guide to Iowa's Great Lakes

By Larry Myhre, Journal Editor | Email

West Lake Okoboji can be a thing of beauty in the graying light of January's predawn. The lake at this time is a great slab of ice, caressed by shifting drifts of windblown snow and ringed with shoreline lights outlining its great shape.

In the inky blackness, hopeful walleye anglers begin venturing slowly out onto the ice like the beginning of some weird migration. The whine of gasoline-powered ice augers pierce the darkness with an unholy sound so foreign on nature's winter stage, yet so natural in this land of lakes.

January cold is a biting demon before morning's sun. It penetrates even the best of modern-day clothing, and chills your toes encased in an inch of felt in winter boots designed for just such work.

With the chore of drilling holes now over, the anglers perch on plastic buckets and drop baited jigging lures into the freshly-drilled holes. Then the wait begins. The walleyes. Will they be here this morning?

Most likely they will. Walleye fishing on the Iowa Great Lakes has been improving and this winter may just be one of the better ones on record. West Lake walleyes are running 17 to 19 inches with bigger ones, fish up to 10 pounds and over, caught each year. Big Spirit is probably the best walleye lake in the region right now with lots of fish in the 2 to 2 1/2 pound range. The lower third of East Lake annually produces the area's first ice fishing for walleyes with two pound fish common.

But walleyes aren't the only game fish which northwest Iowa anglers will score well on. Perch are probably more popular as an ice fishing target than walleyes here and this panfish has long drawn a very faithful corps of anglers who fish perch almost to the exclusion of other species. Big Spirit Lake has been the perch headliner recently but West Lake Okoboji is not far behind and while numbers are fewer in East Lake there are jumbos available.

Could it be that slab bluegills are overlooked by local anglers? That's what a lot of people say. Seven to 8 1/2 inch 'gills and no one seems to bother with them. West Lake is the hot spot but bluegills can be found in Minnewashta, a 122-acre lake between Upper Gar and Lower Gar lakes. Anglers Bay on Big Spirit also hosts a few bluegills.

Northern pike are another fish which is found in plentiful numbers here but sustain only light fishing pressure. Fish will run 5 to 7 pounds and are found in all the bays on West Lake Okoboji. While Spirit Lake is overlooked by northern fishermen there are good numbers of fish available in this lake as well. More northern fishing efforts here should produce better catches.

While crappies are not a big wintertime draw, they are present in all of the lakes and are caught from time to time. However, serious crappie fishermen should concentrate on Center Lake, a small, 220-acre lake between West Lake and Big Spirit. This lake has a high population of crappies, although they currently are running on the small side.

There are basically seven lakes in the area known as Iowa Great Lakes region. The primary lakes are West Okoboji, Big Spirit and East Okoboji lakes. Below East Okoboji is Upper Gar, then Minnewashta and finally Lower Gar. Center Lake is not connected to the chain as the others are but lies in its own lake bed just between West and Big Spirit.

The flagship of the region is West Lake Okoboji. This 3,847 acre, blue water gem is 134 feet deep. It offers many types of structures: steep dropoffs, sunken reefs, rock piles sand and gravel beaches, weed lines and flats.

Big Spirit Lake is the largest natural lake in the state. It is 4,160 acres in size but only about 24 feet deep. Its structure includes rock piles and rock points, sand and gravel beaches and weed lines and flats.

East Okoboji is a relatively long, narrow lake, fed at the north end by waters overflowing from Big Spirit. The lake bed swings to the south and finally curves west to connect with the southeast end of West Okoboji. At the very south end of East Lake, a bridge connects to 36-acre Upper Gar which in turn connects with 122-acre Minnewashta to the south and Minnewashta to 251-acre Lower Gar which completes the chain.

The smaller lakes such as Upper Gar and Minnewashta are the first to freeze but they offer only limited fishing and then mostly for the occasional bluegill. It isn•t until the waters of East Lake turn solid that serious ice angling in this region begins to take place.

Once East freezes over, Spirit Lake is not far behind and the major bays on West Lake begin to ice over as well. The most popular early ice spot on West is Smiths Bay and some fishermen lay planks on the ice or push small boats ahead of them to reach the prime areas. Once West Lake freezes over completely, serious walleye anglers move to traditional hotspots to take advantage of walleye populations.

WALLEYES

Walleye populations are currently strong in West Lake, East Lake and Spirit Lake. Open water fishermen experienced good success on all three lakes during the open water period with Big Spirit offering the finest angling.

Tom Gengerke, northwest area fisheries supervisor for the IDNR, says Spirit Lake is probably the best of the three lakes for walleyes.

He notes there is a strong population of walleyes in West Lake with most fish averaging 17 to 19 inches.

If there's one walleye ice fishing lure which can be found in just about every walleye chaser's tackle box in the Iowa Great Lakes region it would be the Jiggin' Rapala in black and silver color. And for good reason. The lure produces fish here.

Most walleye fishermen begin their search at about the 15-foot level in East and Big Spirit and perhaps a little deeper in the clearer waters of West Lake. The Jiggin' Rap is fished on 6-pound-test line and most often is tipped on the bottom treble hook with a walleye or perch eye, a minnow or two, or simply a part of a minnow to add some scent to the presentation. On the smaller Jiggin' Raps, the treble hook at the bottom of the lure is often too small for effective hooking of larger walleye. Many anglers simply replace the small treble with a larger treble. Round bend, fine wire trebles are preferred for this alteration.

Jiggin' Raps are easy to fish. Drop them to the bottom and reel in a little line so they are suspended about six inches off the bottom. Twitch the rod tip up sharply a foot or so and drop it back to where you started. This movement will cause the Jiggin' Rap to respond in a circular, pendulum motion in ever decreasing circles until the lure comes to rest. Then the action is repeated.

Jigging spoons such as the Kastmaster or Swedish Pimple are also effective in a wide range of sizes. The general rule is to use the smaller size spoons in shallow water and the larger spoons in deeper water. One-eighth-ounce spoons are effective in water up to about 12 feet with 1/4-ounce sizes preferred in water from 12 to 20 feet. Deeper water usually requires a 3/8-ounce size. Most anglers choose chrome jigging spoons; however, brass colors or combinations of chrome and green or chrome and blue should not be overlooked.

The treble hooks on these spoons are often replaced with a single, gold hook by anglers who feel they get a better hooking percentage on the single hook. Use a size six hook on the smaller lures and a size 2 or larger on the larger lures. Tip the hook with an eyeball, a bunch of wigglers or meal worm grubs or a minnow part.

These lures are fished in a jigging and wiggling fashion within 6-inches or less off the bottom. If fish are particularly finicky, the spoons may have to be fished just an inch or two off the bottom. Sometimes the interest of lethargic walleyes can be stimulated by "flashing" the spoon. This involves sweeping the rod tip high over your head and letting the lure settle back to the bottom. The result is often a bite by a walleye which has observed this action and decided to investigate.

Jigging spoons are fished by snapping the rod tip sharply to raise the spoon a foot or so and then let it settle on a slack line to the starting position. Be alert for a hit on the fall because when walleyes are aggressive the strike will come then. Most of the time however, the bite will occur when the spoon is hanging motionless.

It is also a good idea to jiggle the spoon and hold and then jiggle again before snapping. In the cold waters of winter, walleyes often don't respond well to aggressive presentations.

YELLOW PERCH

Most perch fishermen choose small jigging spoons fished on four-pound-test line for yellow perch. They often remove the treble and replace it with a single hook. The hook is baited with silver wigglers, mousees or meal worm grubs. Two of the most popular jigging spoons for perch are the Kastmaster and Swedish Pimple.

The spoons are fished using the same techniques as for walleyes. Size of spoon depends upon depth of water being fished. Perch 30 feet or more deep will require a spoon in the 3/8-ounce range.

When perch are finicky try attaching the single hook to the jigging spoon with a six-inch piece of six-pound-test monofilament. Separating the hook from the spoon in this manner may improve catch rates at times.

BLUEGILLS

While tear drop jigs are the lure of choice for many bluegill fishermen, northwest Iowa anglers are partial to using 1/32-ounce mini jigs tipped with larval bait such as silver wigglers, mousees or meal worms.

Mini jigs come with tiny plastic bodies of many different colors; however, yellow and a combination of yellow and white are most popular here.

These tiny jigs should be fished on two or four-pound-test line and presented with soft jigging motions. Bluegills don't seem to respond well to aggressive presentations. They are also notorious light biters and the addition of a spring bobber to your rod will help detect those light hits.

If not using a bite indicator such as a spring bobber, watch your line where it enters the water carefully. Often the only indication of a bite will be a slight twitch right where the line enters the water.

When bluegills are biting well, a small bobber can be used.

CRAPPIES

It's hard to beat a small minnow fished on a size 1 or 2 Aberdeen hook a foot under a small split shot on four-pound-test line with a bobber for crappies. Innovative minnow hooking techniques often prompt more bites. Try hooking the minnow alongside the dorsal fin with the point of the hook pointing towards the head instead of the usual method of running the hook across the back behind the dorsal fin. Or hook the minnow through a gill plate. Both methods tilt the minnow off center and cause him to swim aggressively trying to maintain a level position.

These hooking methods will cause the bait to work harder, but you will need to change baits more often because the minnow will tire and stop working for you.

Another minnow hooking method is to insert the point of the hook at the base of the tail and bring it up through the fleshy side. The minnow will constantly swim away from the hook and remain more active than the usual hooking methods.

EAST OKOBOJI LAKE

Of the three major walleye lakes in this system, East Okoboji Lake is the first to freeze. The action begins on the gravel and rock bars out in front of Park's Marina in about 18 feet of water. At dawn it's about as close to a sure thing as a walleye bite can be.

Two other excellent areas are the reef in front of the Twin Hills which is just across the narrows from Stony Point and Gingles Point in the southwest corner of the lake.

Although East Lake is a long, narrow body of water totaling 1,835 acres with a maximum depth of 22 feet, only the southern one-third of the lake, from Stony Point on down, hosts a winter walleye fishery.

Walleyes will be caught just about anywhere there are rocks. Much of the north shoreline can be good, particularly the area in front of Chalstroms Beach just west of the Park's Marina area. There is also a reef on the south side of the lake in front of what is locally called the "A-Frames." Perch are likely to be encountered on any of the rock piles or gravel bars where walleye are found. Although perch fishing efforts would be better spent on West Okoboji or Big Spirit currently, ice fishermen will take perch incidentally to fishing for walleyes. Perch seem to be more active in shallow water, 8 to 12 feet, early in the season and then move into deeper water as the season progresses.

Bluegill and crappie fishing is limited in East Lake, although fish of both species can be taken through the ice near the U.S. Highway 71 bridge which separates West and East lakes and the nearby railroad trestle area.

BIG SPIRIT LAKE

Big Spirit will freeze shortly after East Lake most years and walleye and perch fishermen will be quick to take advantage of the excellent early ice action.

Gengerke says the action usually begins first on the east side of the lake. Anglers work south from Big Stony down to Little Stony and Red Nose points. This whole area is covered with rocks and gravel.

"You don't have to get out too terribly far from shore," Gengerke says. "When the fishing starts out, most anglers are within 100 yards of shore."

The rock piles and gravel bottoms just out in front of the Marble Beach area on the west side of the lake also provide walleye action.

Walleye fishing can also be good all across the north shore from Cottonwood Point to Crandall's Beach in the northwest corner of the lake. Other good areas to try include the rock piles and reefs in front of Buffalo Run on the west shore and the rock piles in front of Reed's Run in the southeast corner of the lake.

Perch will be found in the same areas as walleyes. For northern pike, bluegills and crappies, try Angler's Bay in the northwest corner of the lake. Fishing for bluegills and crappies is limited in this lake, but the northerns are under exploited

"Big Spirit has good numbers of northern pike, but few anglers fish for them," Gengerke says. "I expect that if more chubs were fished on tip ups here we'd see a lot more northerns caught."

WEST OKOBOJI LAKE

West Okoboji is a structure fisherman's dream. For the purpose of ice fishing for walleyes, we can narrow the choices to a few top areas. The first walleye fishing will occur in the Smith's Bay region at the southeast corner of the lake. These fish will be pan-sized and mixed in with schools of perch. Better walleye fishing will occur when the entire lake freezes over and more classic walleye water becomes accessible. Some of the better walleye points include Pillsbury and Pike's with the big reef in front of the Methodist Church Camp in north bay rating high as well.

Actually any of the major points in West offer winter walleye fishing. Try Fort Dodge, Pocohantas, Eagle, Gull, Manhattan and Omaha points. Also, the big reef across the mouth of Emerson's Bay is good as is the rock flat north of Gull Point.

Perch fishermen should work the major bays, concentrating on gravel bars and rock piles and last summer's weed edges.

"Shallow wintertime perch are beginning to show up again," Gengerke says. "Some of the fish in the bays will be caught as shallow as 14 feet.

"There are still some deep water perch, but last winter some of the guys were in fairly shallow shallow, 15 feet or less," he continues. "The perch were up on hump areas, not necessarily rock reefs, but about where the summer weed lines were. The perch in West Lake right now are averaging 8 to 10 inches where on Big Spirit they run a little larger at between 9 and 11 inches."

When it comes to bluegills, Gengerke says, "Great fishing, but not a lot of interest."

He suggests anglers begin their search for 'gills in Emerson and Miller's and Little Miller's bays. The bluegills are running 7 to 8 1/2 inches long.

While those bays offer the best fishing, bluegills can also be encountered in Smith's Bay, Hayward's Bay, Brown's Bay and the north end of the lake.

For northern pike, fishermen should try Smith's Bay.

"Northern fishing is popular early in the winter in West and most fishermen drop chubs on tip ups," Gengerke says. "I'd encourage it for people who like to fish for them. They are not real big. Most will run 3 to 5 pounds, but there are good numbers."

CENTER LAKE

Center Lake is the place to go for crappies. They won't be large fish. They average 8 1/2 to 9 inches mostly, with an occasional 10 incher.

While location of crappies in the wintertime used to be a search effort, several hundred Christmas trees were sunken into the lake a couple years ago and that has concentrated the fish. While the location of these trees is not marked, information about their location is available from personnel at the Spirit Lake Hatchery in Spirit Lake.

"Center lake is not worked very hard for crappies in the wintertime because access is often difficult," Gengerke says. "The main public road just snows in fairy early and unless fishermen are riding a snowmobile there's really no way to get to it."

For more information about fishing the Iowa Great Lakes, contact Gengerke or other fisheries personnel at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery, Box 7722, Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360. Phone (712) 336-1840.

The following bait shops can also provide information: Shucks Bait Shop, Milford, (712) 338-2087; Kables Trading Post and Bait Shop (712) 336-1512; and Pioneer Beach Resort Bait Shop on East Okoboji, (712) 336-3785.

This winter promises some of the best ice fishing in the Iowa Great Lakes region in years. Plan to cash in on the action. See if you don't agree. Predawn on any of these lakes in January is a great experience. The walleyes? They'll be there, how about you?