4th of July prospects?

I’ll be in the Mason/Clear Lake area on the 4th. What are the prospects for fishing over the weekend? I’m sure it will be a zoo during the day so I was thinking of a night time or early morning run. How’s the fishing been?

If not Clear Lake what’s the word on this Blue Pit? Can you put a boat in there? How about a canoe? What swims in it?

Any info would be helpful as I plan which boat to bring and what gear to take. Thanks in advance fellow anglers.

I have heard some reliable reports of nice walleyes being caught trolling jointed shad raps behind boards and night.

One thing for sure…you can bet on it being a zoo.
I was there 3 weeks ago and it was almost un-fishable with all the boat traffic and idots running right over my lines…as if they didn’t have a whole lake to tear around on.
Good thing I had a few frosty friends to calm my nerves

John, sounds like early until about 11:00 then all heck breaks loose. Don’t know about the 4th weekend though, could be nasty. As far a Blue Pit, I thought they only had trout in it. It does have a boat ramp, but never heard of any big boats being on it. There are a few other pits around it that suppose to have panfish in them.
I would look into trying up north of Clear on Silver or Rice. Probably a lot less traffic. Good Luck!!! Clay

There are 4 main pits in Mason City, Big Blue, the largest and most popular for swimmers gets stocked with trout every year, but has some good bass and crappie in it too. The pit across the road, big black, its known more for the bass and crappie fishing.
I’m just getting back into fishing after stopping when I was younger. I plan on hitting clear lake on the 3rd, but I also expect it to be insane. Any good spots that not many people know about that might be a little quieter? I was thinking about heading over to the ventura grade, but haven’t heard any reports on that area this year.

Talked to some guys last night that said the Catfish bite was excellent last Sat. They said that the fillets filled two five gallon buckets full of meat. I’m not sure where on the lake thay were fishing I’m thinking Billy’s reef on the east side of the lake. I do know they were using chicken liver for bait. Good luck Todd

Thanks guys! I hope to get over there for either a morning or evening run. I’m thinking a Sunday morning run will be most likely. Plan to pull some cranks and see what develops. Might try for the yellows if I can get a kid to go along.

I was over on the NE side of the lake last night and pulled out a 20″ and 16.5″ walleyes. We got some really nice striped bass also.

I did try Sunday morning. Fog early prevented me from orientating very well as I trolled. Didn’t pick up anything trolling so after Fisherman’s got too crowded to troll in any kind of straight line, I worked some jigs tipped with power worms. Picked up some of those catfish and some bullheads that way. Did see a couple of shorts taken on slips and leeches. Saw my first jetski at about 8:30 and got off the water about 9.

Hit one of the sandpits near the condos around Taft street. This particular pit was full of big gill/sunfish combinations. Had some fun with them and the stupid or should I say uneducated bass. I smartened a few of them up too.

Thanks for all the help guys.