By Lake Iola Lake District

Great news … our fishery in Lake Iola appears to be doing very well. The fyke net fish survey is being completed this weekend on Lake Iola. Nets were placed earlier, and they will be picked up over this weekend.

An electroshocking survey, to better estimate the smaller fish population, will be completed later.

From Jason Breeggemann, DNR Fisheries biologist, Friday March 26, 2021 …

“We had a pretty good catch today. We caught about 75 northern pike among the five nets we have out. Most of the female northern pike were ready to spawn or were already done spawning. We caught a couple of northern pike that were over 30 inches long.

“We also caught a 21.5-inch brown trout and about 10 largemouth bass. A couple of the largemouth bass were over 20 inches long including one that was about 21 inches. I have attached a picture of one of the big largemouth bass. These are some of the biggest largemouth bass I have seen in my management area over the last four years I have worked for the WDNR.

“The panfish fishery looks really nice as well. I have also attached a picture of a couple of 9.5-inch bluegills. There is a really nice year class of crappies that is 10-11 inches. We caught about 10 perch today as well. Overall the fishery looks really nice!”