help with clearwater

[Snowking]

Im planning a day out on the lakeon the 27th. Never fished it. Any help would be great. looking for big crappies. catch and releace only. thx chad

[Guest]

Fish the midlake humps and deep water off the islands and shoreline points. The black pool is good too.

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[Guest]

Ahhh yes, the black pool.

Troll across the midlake humps into the wind as Derek said. Fish in the thickest old reed patches you can. Make sure you're only set down 2 feet or even less. The Crappies will come up for it.

If that doesn't work, try the edge of the humps, say about 8-12 feet of water.

By the 27th, it should be good up shallow on Clearwater.

Good fishing,

PCG

[This message has been edited by Pro Crappie Guide (edited 04-20-2002).]

[Guest]

I am new to the area and am wondering where this area called the "Black Pool" is.

Goose

[Fathead]

Hello all,

My neighbor and I went out on this past Saturday to Clearwater. We fished the afternoon and did quite well. The bite was not intense, and the fish were finicky.

We managed 5 fish on jigs right out of the gate, but then things cooled right down. After experimenting with different techniques, we stumbled on a winning approach. We ended up using #8 octopus hooks 18" down from the bobber. They key however was selecting the liveliet, smallest crappie minnow in the bucket and hooking them through the tail. The result was 18 fish that averaged 11.5". We lost quite a few as well. We are returning this Friday (weather permitting) and attempting a repeat performance.

[Guest]

Thanks Hydro for the Info. Is that the Best Spring Crappie Area?

--Flathead-- if you don't mind me asking what end of the lake did you catch em?

Goose

[Fathead]

Hey Goose,

We were on the western lobe of the lake. We fished in one of the back bay areas. I would rather not be too specific on the location, since we plan on going back to try it again. However, I think that you could probably go to just about any of those bay areas, search and find them. I would also try those mid-lake humps the others were talking about. One thing to keep an eye out for is minnows skipping or jumping out of the water and kingfishers in the area. There was plenty of that happening on Saturday, indicating to us that we were in the right area. I have limited experience crappie fishing on this lake, and would not profess to be an expert. I just take logical approaches to where I think crappies will be this time of year. Sometimes it works out and other times it doesn't. I usually fish walleyes here several times during the year, with great success. Clearwater is a VERY GOOD lake for eyes!

[hydro]

Goose,

Here are a couple of areas to try, starting with the early season.

1. The small shallow bay just west of the old country club on the DNR map. It gets pretty busy on the weekends. Just outside of the bay is good later on.

2. The entrance to Glendale bay on the western side of the east bay.

3. The southeast shore of the big island. Lots of shallow water with adjacent structure.

4. The northernmost patch of bullrushes in the east bay.

5. The spot where the deep water is close to the north shore in the east bay.

These spots all hold early season fish at times but it's up to you to actually find them. Good luck

[hydro]

Goose,

The Black Pool is the bay that the public access is in on the north shore of the upper lake. It is located east of the access by the restaurant. The channel out to the main lake is shallow so be careful. You can also go through another channel to the north that connects to Otter lake, a good spot to try for northerns.

[Guest]

The Black Pool (aka Black Hole on some maps) will hold fish all year. There's over 50 ft of water in the hole. Unless some clown wants to troll, it is big enough to accommodate a good bunch of boats working the weedline drop-off.

If going north past Bob's Bay, BJs and the remodeled restaurant (forgot the new name) you need to go past Clearwater Forest to the road marked public access -- not a whole lot of parking available, but often open after the Bob's Bay launch ramp fills.

For early season you'll have a couple feet of additional clearance going into the main lake from Black Pool, but do be careful -- as a matter of fact, Clearwater demands that you be careful. The lake will contain new surprises each time out, even after years on the water.

Good luck.