Elwood may be 52 feet down right now because of the drought, but there are still fish to be caught. I went out today and fished from 3:15 to 7pm, and ended up catching a few fish. The wind was blowing, which is usually a good thing for Elwood. Wasn't trolling 15 minutes and I hit a double, first a 17" eye on a Flicker Shad, and then while I was taking it off the hook a 22" eye hit a Shad Rap. Not a bad start at all.
Trolled some more points with no action. Finally made my way over to the dam where I saw a guy, Al Shields of Gibbon, struggling with what looked like a big fish. I went over there and netted a monster for him since he had no net. Turned out to be a 40", 17 1/4lb muskie! He was throwing a shallow shad rap, which was brand new, and you could see the mark the fish left in it. Dented it real good. Very impressive fish that was very fat.
I trolled the dam area and got a 20" wiper to hit a Flicker.
Trolled around another point and got another 17" walleye to fall for the shad rap. All these fish looked VERY healthy and fat, and were real aggressive, hard fighters. The 22" walleye went back (every eye 18-24" goes back), but I brought the other two home, with the current condition of the lake. I have talked with Brad Newcombe about the slot limits for the walleyes, and they are remaining for the time being, but he did tell me that if they don't get any water, they'll probably be lifted. For the time being though, it's still in place.
That muskie was probably on the front end of spawning, I would guess, with the gut it had on it. All my fish were caught trolling 1.7 mph, or real close to that. Weather is supposed to be taking a dive in the next couple of days, so we'll see when I can make it over there again. I had no problem getting my 14' Lund in, but the ramp doesn't look all that great. There's a rock trail down to the water, but I don't know how far into the water the trail goes. CNPPID isn't sure right now if they're going to be able to get water into it this year or not, but here's hoping they can. There are still great quality fish in this lake.
Muskies in Elwood! Man I wish they were in there 20 years ago when I fished the lake. Used to be a real clear water lake, caught pike there in the 80's, walleye also. Too bad it is so low. Nice to hear about a lake from back home. bcon
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B Robinson
IDA Field Staff
Reged: 08/17/06
Posts: 1593
Fish Bucks: $29.64
Loc: Overton, NE
Yup, there are some real nice ones in there. I was catching them back in 02, so I'd say they started putting them in there about 01 or so, I'd have to look to make sure. But there are some real hawgs in there now. This is the biggest one I've ever seen from there, in person. I have seen pictures of bigger ones, though. Hopefully one day this spring it'll happen to me.....
The trolling bite should be starting up here soon on Lake Wisconsin, which is a resevoir also. Only difference is we have water up the ying-yang. Sure wish we could send the next couple of rain falls your way!
Here are a couple more pics of that muskie. If you check out the background a little, you can see how far the water is really down. Plus, you can see my 'fierce' mutt...goofy dog is not a fan of fish.
They put a row of rock below the actual dam a few years ago to keep it from washing out below. The water is way below that row of rock now. Just think: where Al is standing would usually be about 50' deep the first of June.
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See you in a week or so 
