Webb Lake

[MNMUSKIE50]

Has anyone been out fishing on Webb yet? Any reports? How thick is the Ice? Taking a trip up to the cabin next wknd.

[TKIII]

On Woman and Child there is about 16" of ice, good solid ice. East of Webb a couple miles. Haven't been on Webb. Good luck!

[iaboy]

10 to 12 inches on New Years Day and was out on atvs---looks like they have been making ice since

[knutty]

tKIII-

Did you do any good on child? We come up once a year for a weekend. PM me if you don't want to post results.

Thanks.

Knutty

[TKIII]

Knutty,

Child was slow New Years. My family has done o.k. the past two weekends, not fast but a few crappies and sunnies, very short window of bite. It has been hit hard for the last 4 ice seasons. Woman was kicking out nice perch, but they have died down since New Years. I am heading up Friday to see for myself. Mike at Mule Lake Store has always steered me right on current conditions. Good luck when you get out Knutty. What do you fish for on Webb?

[knutty]

TKIII

Haven't ever fished Webb. We've been staying at a cabin on child now for about 6 years each February. Kind of hit or miss. Usually can scrap together enough northerns crappies and sunfish for a fry but never knock them dead. We have talked about trying baby for walleye power hour bite this year just for a change of pace. When you heading back that way? We'll be there the 17th ov feb.

Knutty

[Zmar]

I live on Child. It has really gone downhill fast over last 5 years. Not a big enough lake to handle 365 pressure. Several bad spawning springs have knocked panfish down badly. I wish people would take a meal and put the rest back, we still have individuals on the lake taking buckets full when the bite is on. I take 3 crappies or 4 sunnies for me and wife. Others take way more than they can consume, then throw fish away from the freezer in the spring to make room for more. I would even like to see panfished closed the month of June for spawning, but that will never happen, because panfish is the bread and butter fish as far as DNR is concerned. My 2cents. Sorry for the rant.

[Zmar]

BTW TKlll and others. Mike and Patty sold Mule Lake Store. Might be tough to get a hold of them. New owner is a youngster named Evan Foss. He has pretty big shoes to fill. The Underwoods ran a pretty clean taught ship. Congratulations to them on their retirement. Always a pleasure to go to that store.

[knutty]

Zmar

Thanks for the info on Mule lake store. Have you fished baby at all? We are thinking of that when we come up inafew weeks. What part of child do you live on. We stay in a cabin on the south east side with the signal light.

Knutty

[Zmar]

If you soot a laser due north of you, you will hit our place. I lived in Mason City for 35 yrs... what part of Iowa u from? I have not fished Baby this season, and have not heard anything about it. Like most lakes around here, it's a 1 hour lake bite. Half an hour before sunset and half after.

[knutty]

I live in Nevada. Work in Ames. That's what we thought on the power hour bite. There are a few really good looking points on the south east part of the lake that we thought we might try. Should we have any concerns about driving out? What about driving on child?

Thanks for the info!

Knutty

[Zmar]

Driving on the lakes is no problem now. Last weeks -20's sealed the deal. With little snow cover we're making more ice. I've been scooting all over Child in my truck. Sometimes there's a little snow build up near shore because of winds recently. I saw people driving Baby from the landing well before I went out on Child. Baby has a lot of topography underwater but I see most fishing on north end. If you hit Child I'm the absolute last place on NE shore. GL

[knutty]

Thanks Zmar! I'll throw another post out before we head up. Maybe we can fish a little and [PoorWordUsage]...

Knutty

[iaboy]

ZMAR, I would echo your suggestion on panfish shutdown last two weeks of May and first two weeks of June. Webb has no walleye fishing to speak of and a worsening panfish option. Bass is only dependable choice as most of that is catch and release. Don't know what to do about the lack of walleye as I know the DNR has been stocking fry. Be nice to count on getting some decent panfishing when you give it a try.

[Zmar]

Yes ib, I almost get physically ill watching people fish in the spawning beds in May/June and pulling those big ripe females out. I hate to admit in my younger days I was one of them, but no longer. I thought the mentality of "Take all I can get before someone else does." Had started to die off when my parents generation passed. But I'm afraid it's back with a vengeance. With the mobility of the modern fishermen and advanced technology and more disposable income, I cannot call them sportsmen any longer. I would like to see crappie dropped to 5 and possession 5 and bluegill 10/10. I know there are people that take their daily limit, motor to shore give them to a neighbor and then go back for more and repeat, not understanding, or more likely disregarding, that when you have caught your daily you're done. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir. As far as walleye, I'm not a big fan of fry stocking. Yet it is a more cost effective way to appease the public by the DNR. I think fingerling/yearling has a better return, but man-hours to procure the stock is a deal breaker. I'm on the board of our lake association and will ask our board if it's possible to purchase fingerlings from the state to stock Child. They strip the walleyes in the flowage between Child/Woman but refuse to even dump a jug of fry into Child because it's not deemed a walleye lake.

[TKIII]

Zmar and Knutty,

Thanks for the info on Mule Lake! Bummed but good for them. I hear you on the buckets of pannies that use to fly out of Child or any lake for that matter. I know of two groups that take a limit every time they can on Child. For the last 8-9 years we (including dad now) have been consistanly letting all crappies over 12" and all sunnies over 9" go unless we are going to mount them. Call it karma but dad has let a 14 1/4" crappie go and we have let a half dozen over 13" go this year. Friday afternoon was as busy as I have seen it in January out there. It was slower than usual for sure. For four guys we kept 4 crappies, let 2 over 12" go and kept 8 sunfish. (pretty typical batch) We also kept a walleye and 11 perch from morning fishing on Woman. Three of us had enough to feed our families and we didn't put any in the freezer. It is more work, but we can still get a meal and some nice ones to boot! Good talking to both of you, don't be afraid to write.

TKIII