Coralville/Macbride Report

I drove out to Macbride and the upper end of Coralville res. this noon to check ice/water conditions.

The ice is 99% out on Coralville from the flood plain down to Mehaffy Bridge. There were about a dozen boats up above the interstate and 965 bridges; tomorrow morning mine will be out there, too. I have not heard anything about the channel cat bite there, but my limited experience is that they start hitting on the flood plain as soon as the ice is gone.

For once, a prediction I made (on this forum) turned out to be completely right: Macbride is still 95% covered with ice, but it looks very rotten and should be gone next weekend. The boat ramps are all locked up, but there is a good-sized patch of open water on the east side of the causeway.

Finding the Coralville flood plain completely open is good news, since Macbride isn’t open yet and the Mississippi is pretty much un-fishable, by all accounts.

Thanks for the report! I’m heading up there tomorrow for the first time. I have never fished for ice out cats before, but from what I’ve heard, it can be pretty exciting. If anything, it will be a nice day to get out. If you see a tracker bass boat with 2 guys that don’t look like they know what they are doing, it’s probably us.

Thanks for the report. what is the motor restriction on mcbride? can you use your big motor at idle speed?

taken from the iowa fishing regulations 2007: BOAT MOTORS OF UNRESTRICTED HORSEPOWER MAY BE OPERATED AT A NO-WAKE SPEED ONLY FROM SEPT.8TH THROUGH MAY 20TH OF EACH YEAR. A MOTORBOAT WITH A POWER UNIT EXCEEDING 10 HP SHALL NOT BE PERMITTED THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR. NOW DOES THAT MEAN U CAN’T HAVE IT ON UR BOAT PERIOD. SOME OF US HAVE 9.9HP ALSO ON THE TRANSOM AND USE THEM IN PLACES LIKE MCBRIDE. SO THE WAY I SEE IT U COULD GET A TICKET FOR JUST HAVING A LARGER MOTOR EXCEEDING HP LIMITS ON UR BOAT. I UNDERSTAND THERE IS NO EXCUSES FOR STUPIDITY ON FISHING/HUNTING REGULATIONS. MAYBE SOMEONE WITH THE DNR COULD PUT SOME LITE ON THIS. I’VE BEEN WRONG ONCE BEFORE!

Coonie,

I talked to two guys in a Tracker who said they had never been on Coralville before…was that you guys?

I got skunked on Coralville today, as did the other boats I talked to. So much for fast and furious ice-out channel cat action.

The Macbride motor restrictions are not a DNR regulation; they were imposed by the state legislature after some intensive lobbying by the Cottage Reserve Association. The offical purpose of the motor restrictions is to make Macbride safe for sailboats and swimmers during the summer months. However, it is generally acknowledged that the real purpose of the Macbride summer prohibition on motors over 9.9 HP is to keep a lot of the public off the water so the cottage people can have “their lake” to themselves. Don’t get me started on this issue again…

i remember now that its a home owners issue on the lake. ok, i can live with that, i’ve been there with my boat, not sure now on which months. had my larger than allowed motor raised with prop being out of the water and using the 9.9. so i guess in the restricted time zone,thats illegal. i’ve never been warned/stopped but don’t wanna push my luck. never caught anything there to warrant any fines.

If you have a blue v-bottom with minnesota tags, then yes. We went down to the McAllister Creek inlet and at least got a few bites, but still nothing that would commit. Oh well, it was still nice to get out and fish new water. Also, sorry for almost drifting into you- the front anchor let go and the back anchor wasn’t doing much. I didn’t realize we were sliding as fast as we were. That was me in the front of the boat pulling up the worthless anchor. It is a no snagg fluke style that just slid in the mud today.

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If you have a blue v-bottom with minnesota tags, then yes. We went down to the McAllister Creek inlet and at least got a few bites, but still nothing that would commit. Oh well, it was still nice to get out and fish new water. Also, sorry for almost drifting into you- the front anchor let go and the back anchor wasn’t doing much. I didn’t realize we were sliding as fast as we were. That was me in the front of the boat pulling up the worthless anchor. It is a no snagg fluke style that just slid in the mud today.

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You left out “small” v-bottom with Minnesota tags. Also “antique motor with the cover off”. (I had to check the plugs after I got to the ramp.)

About five minutes after you left, two boats came in and took your place. That bend in the channel is usually money for ice-out channel cat, so you were in the right place, just not the right day.

After looking at the NWS river data for Marengo, I don’t feel so bad. That would explain all of the debris that was rolling through, and the poo brown water. Nice to see a fellow IDA member though, now that I know what your boat looks like, I’ll be sure to say hi. b.t.w. You should see my wapsi boat. 16ft sky blue polarkraft with either a 1968 9.5 johnson or a 1974 15 evinrude. She’s beautiful.

Vike, I fished the coralville marsh above the bridges saturday and didn’t see any action either. we had a lot of nice bites but those cats wouldn’t eat it. just slam and then nothing. only got two eaters. probably won’t ever admit to catfishing again no rain, please!