Island Lake Conservation Area Report

[evster]

My friend and I decided we wanted to rent a boat for the morning and Island Lake Conservation Area was the only place in the area still renting boats so we thought we'd give'r a go. Read some posts in the past with some decent fish so I had my hopes up. The water is VERY low as many have mentioned, we can only actually get to one corner of the lake. I started out with a spinner bait and my friend with a dark green frog. Had a nice slow drift on so he was able to work the frog and I was just burning the spinner bait. About 30 minutes into it he hooks into this nice one.

 

 

30 seconds later he gets this one, almost identical.

 

 

That was it for the frog bite. I had lost about 3 on the spinner bait and couldn't figure out what was going on. I hooked into a tiny pike and realized it was pulling drag!!! Time to tighten that up, whoops! Tightened it up and switched over to the jig'n'pig, blue and black jig with a bright blue chunk. First cast got this monster, first rockbass on the flipping jig. I had to get my arm way out there so you guys could see it .

 

 

I was starting to get a little tired of not bringing any bass into the lake. So I decided I might as well start catching a couple. This guy took my jig while it was right under the boat in about 3 feet of water. He darted in grabbed it and darted out. Took me a couple moments to realize what just happened, then into the boat with him.

 

 

Had to get the boat back in for 1 since we only paid for a half day. So even though we were maybe 350 yards from the dock we needed to leave ourselves a good half hour to battle the wind back with that 30 pound trolling motor. My last cast landed me this guy, this was by far the best fighter of them all, had to play him, he wasn't going to come into the boat without a fight.

 

 

The pics make it hard to tell but they were all pretty much the exact same size (we think). So there are some decent fish in that lake, if these guys are the average then i'd sure like to catch a couple of the big ones. Its pretty low now so I don't know if I'd go back but i'm thinking of trying it out next year at the beginning of season.

 

I'm just glad I finally got out fishing and got some fish. And also got to work on pitching. This was my first time trying it on the water and I was even able to pitch it 15 feet or so without a splash....twice....still needs some work, but at least no birds nests!

[fatherof3]

congrats on the fish and a good day

[Greencoachdog]

Great report and pics!!!

[jediangler]

Well done man. Considering the low water levels you two did very well. I like the lake better early in the season for crappies. Nice pic of WGSF.

[bassboy]

Great Stuff Ev!!

 

I used to fish that place quite a lot when I was younger. We used to go out all the time and hang out on the rock damn down by 4th ave and hwy 10. In fact I remember when they stocked it with bass and pike. There were some decent rainbows in there at one time too. I heard they rented boats with electric motors in there but had never given it a shot. Caught some nice pike in there.....but looks like there is some nice bass in there too!

 

Great post and WTG!!!

 

Bill

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Nice bass! That lake is great for Largies! I have hooked some bass big bass there! Crank baits and top water work excellant. Also plastic worms! Most of the time they pick it up before it even hits the ground!! Just watch your line!

[danbouck]

Nice largies!

[bassmaster4]

awesome fish

[sharper]

Do you have any tips what area I should try and go? I like to head there sometime this week?

[evster]

Here is exactly what I did. Basically there was a south wind going straight towards the rock dam. So we started motoring out and got caught in some weeds. You'll see some buoy's to the south of the launch, go around those, I think they are marking a huge thick weedbed that we ended up having to paddle out of. We pretty much just went to the middle of the lake a bit south of the launch and let the boat drift down towards the concrete dam. About half way down there is a new island, since the water is so low its dry ground. Right about there is where we started getting fish so we made it our starting point. From the looks of it top water, spinner baits, jig'n'pig and probably other soft plastic presentations will all produce fish. If you drift down and no fish on one cruise back up and try something else this time.

 

If the wind doesn't allow this drift you can try to anchor somewhere down there, but I personally like covering lots of water.

 

Good luck! If you want any more info shoot me a pm.

 

Evan

[sharper]

Thanks a million evster! I'm heading there tommorrow either island lake or rice. I'll report back here.