Club releases tagged fish
    Every year, the Clear Lake Fishing Club members and local merchants sponsor 26-tagged walleyes.  Each tag has a unique number and is assigned a monetary value varying from $100 to $1,000. 
    This year, the club tagged 25 $100 walleyes released on April 23.  The tags are in effect through midnight March 31, 2009.
    The $1,000 dollar fish will be tagged May 18, following the Clear Lake Walleye Classic tournament. That tag will be honored up until midnight the April 30, 2009.  JBS Auto Parts Inc. of Britt, IA, will sponsor “Wally” ’08-‘09, the next $1,000 fish. 
    The yellow plastic tags used on the fish, referred to as Floy tags, are placed in the back of the fish next to the dorsal fin and protrude about one inch. At spawning time, 25 fish will be netted, stripped of their eggs or milt, tagged and released from the DNR hatchery.  In a typical year, this would take place in the second week of April.  The current set of tags will be honored until midnight March 31, 2009.

What to do if you catch a tagged fish
    Here’s what to do if you catch a fish with a Floy tag:
    •Please do not remove the tag.
    •Try to keep the fish alive via livewell, fish basket, or stringer. If keeping the fish alive is not an option, freeze it whole.
    •Call and report your catch to the Crazy Minnow Co. bait & tackle 641-357-BAIT or the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce 641-357-7100.  Know the color of and number of the tag when calling. 
    •You will be asked to bring the fish to the Crazy Minnow Co. for confirmation and a photo.  Your name and address will be noted, and you will receive a check from the Clear Lake Fishing Club. 

    The Clear Lake Fishing Club requires a picture of the angler holding the fish.  A picture allows the club to issue a press release to local newspapers and TV stations, thereby thanking sponsors and ensuring the tagged fish program in the future.   Photos remain the property of the Clear Lake Fishing Club to use on its website.  Winning anglers will receive copies.
    There are also jaw tags on some walleyes, which are placed by the DNR for identification purposes.  These tags are small and located on the underside of the jaw, placed within the skin.  They are not worth money.  However, the DNR (357- 3517) would like anglers to report their catch.  Tell them the length and weight of the fish, in addition to the tag number and color.  Reporting jaw tagged walleyes helps to monitor and manage the fishery.  In turn, the DNR will send the angler a letter detailing the history of that fish. 

Move over Minnesota
    Mike Britt of Owatonna, Minn., displays a mixed catch of walleye and yellow bass.  The Minnesota angler bagged the fish while wading at the Clear Lake Island.  In addition to taking his limit, Britt also caught and released several more walleye during the late afternoon outing.  In spite of the fact that he resides in “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Britt makes frequent excursions to Clear Lake.  “I usually have my best success here during early spring and summer,” says Britt.  “I also do a lot of fishing in Minnesota and my friends give me grief over coming down here (Iowa) to fish.  I just tell them, ‘That’s OK.  You guys just stay up here and I’ll keep going down to Clear Lake’.”  Britt shared his Clear Lake Island excursion with 27 other anglers.  Twenty-five of those anglers caught fish.  Nearly all took limits of walleye. Photo by: Lowell Washburn.

For Clear Lake’s most popular gamefish--the bite is on!
by Lowell Washburn
    One of my annual outdoor goals is to hook a walleye on the very first cast of the spring fishing season.  Although I’ve never been successful at achieving the dream, I came pretty close this year.
    I didn’t begin fishing until last week, and the walleye spawn was approaching its peak as I waded into the chilly waters of Clear Lake.  The sky was overcast and the shoreline was littered with rock --- prime conditions for shallow water, early season spawners.
    Other anglers were already on the scene, including my son Matt.  Wading in that direction I was pleased to discover that, in less than 15 minutes of fishing, he had already taken two legal walleye and had just released a sub-legal, 13-incher.
    Hooking a lively fathead minnow onto a 1/16 ounce jig head, I made the season’s first cast.  Nothing.  Second cast, ditto.  Third cast, same result.  On the fourth cast I felt a hard rap just as the bait hit bottom.  The pull felt good and, within seconds, the season’s first walleye --- a not quite legal 13 ½-incher --- was firmly in hand.
    Returning the fish to the water, I quickly resumed the quest.  Three casts later, the rod bent again.  This time the fish measured 15 inches.  Hungry for a meal of fresh fish, I lost no time in stringing the walleye up.
    Almost immediately, Matt hooked another keeper walleye.  A minute later, the guy standing to the right of me (we hadn’t had time for proper introductions yet) tied into a very nice 19-incher.  While distracted by the activity surrounding me, I had another hit but missed the fish.  A half dozen casts later, I hooked and landed another 15-incher.
    People were getting off work now and the angling crowd was growing rapidly.  Everyone was catching fish.  I could tell it was going to be a rough night for the walleyes.
    “Although the open water season is just beginning, it’s already been a good year at Clear Lake,” says DNR District Fisheries Biologist, Scott Grummer.  “It was a late spring, and as soon as the ice was out anglers began catching fish.  From ice out until present, angler success on walleye has been excellent.”
    The scenario is pretty much typical for this time of the year at Clear Lake.  Fish are concentrated into shallow rocky habitats with male walleye (bucks) comprising the lion’s share of the harvest.  Although artificial baits will produce fish, most anglers are currently sticking to the fail safe, no frills jig and minnow combo.
    “Although there have been some bigger fish taken, most of the walleyes being caught are in the 14-inch to 18-inch class, which is very typical during the spawn,” says Grummer.  “Once the spawn is over and fish disperse to other habitats, we’ll start to see some of the larger females come into the bag.”
    With a harvest of 11,000 legal walleyes, the 2007 open water fishing season was “above average” for Clear Lake.  Biologists say anglers can expect more of the same during 2008.
    “Right now, Clear Lake has very good populations of “keeper” walleyes from multiple year classes.  There is another strong year class of sublegal fish that should hit fourteen inches sometime toward the end of this year’s growing season.  We‘re predicting another very good summer of walleye fishing at Clear Lake,” said Grummer.

One tagged fish already reeled in!

     A fish sponsored by The Other Place has already been caught in the opening days of the tagged walleye promotion.  Ron Daniels, of Clear Lake, was the lucky winner of $100 with a 15-1/2” fish caught Monday night, April 28.  Daniels was dock fishing on the north shore using a jig and lemon colored twister tail.