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Open water??


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Anyone checked out the hutch area lakes lately?? I would think by late this weekend into early next week you will see some boats out. Clear by Gibbon, is completely ice free as of this morning!

Just curious on Stahls, Belle, MinnieBelle, Marion, etc.

Also is the river really high in Hutch?? Was thinking of trying for some crappies, but i would assume its pretty high?

thanks

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That wind we had yesterday opened up pretty much everything

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Just took a drive north of town and saw that Stahls, Belle, and Erie are all open. Belle and Erie have their docks in already! Stahls may also but forgot to look. Jenny is open except for a bunch of slush on the south end that was pushed by the strong north wind today, so obviously no dock is in there yet.

This is the time of year when whitecaps are actually a welcome sight!

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Tried Belle,Stahls,Minnie Belle and Jenny yesterday and over the weekend without much luck. Talked with a DNR agent at Jenny and he also has not heard of any luck really anywhere yet. He said most lakes the water temp is only in the low 40's. But if we keep having warm days like lately it wont take to long for things to pick up. I had heard a report that a few crappies were being caught on Belle though over the weekend.

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If you go to belle you might want to bring a pair of gloves and pliers, the bullheads are going crazy.

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Yep seen a guy on shore catch 2 in a row,, fished the lagoon for 2 hours and only one bite, kind of depressing

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Lundduck, go to the other side of the lake to get some fish. Actually I think I may have already seen you there?

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nope not yet this year,, drove by the trap today and talked to a couple of guys,, not much biting one old guy said,,, found them on another lake though grin.gif

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Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love fishing Walleyes and Crappies. I did see in a previous post that stated "the Bullheads are going crazy". I just have to think, If we had the mindset of 35 or 40 years ago, where going out and filling 2-5 gal buckets with Bullheads and bringing them home for a neighborhood fish fry (or fertilizing under the new maple trees) WASN'T a bad thing. Think of the female Bullheads that DIDN'T spawn!! No bullhead fry to predate on Crappie, Walleye or Sunfish eggs/fry. Not to mention the adults that also need to feed! Some of the BEST nights of early spring were spent on the south shore of Lake Jennie with a lantern and a line out for bullheads, And if, by chance the heads weren't biting, we'd just HAVE to catch those dirty Crappies that WERE, we'd take them in a pinch, too. You may agree or not, but we DID have much better Crappie and Walleye fishing on Jennie back then. It's just something to think about. Phred52

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I agree with you Phred. When I was younger, back in Iowa, we would fish the Big Sioux. Any catfish or walleyes were brought home, but bullheads were cleaned and cooked on the spot. They aren't as bad as people would think. OK, now let's the Iowa jokes come flying on this one. smirk.gif

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