Browns lake

[heath19]

Fished the backwater lake called Browns on the mississippi today from about 11:30-5:00 and did fairly decent. Kept 12 crappies from 9" up to 12" and 8 decent bluegills and two perch. The good bite was already getting over when i got there so i plan on being there early in the morning. Im expecting good things:icon_biggrin:. I will try to get some pictures up tomorrow night or friday.

[Illinoisgiller]

Doggone Chris, are you making that looooong 2 1/2 mile trek out to Browns from the park area?
That's more than I want to handle with fish gear. lol Mike

[heath19]

No, its not the 2 1/2 mile walk. This spot that we are fishing now is only about a mile probably, maybe a hair more. Today i caught my 25 limit of crappies and threw another 10 or 15 back that were keepable size but already had my limit. Kept 7 or 8 bluegills today too. I will have pictures up later tonight after i clean them all.

[gofish]

can ya tell hes a lil young yet giller?lol.....a mile walk in the snow still aint no fun lol......couple good messes though!

[zim-cat]

Tell them heath the walk was worth the trip. just like hunting get back in there where the big boys are. zim-cat

[heath19]

Well yesterday i walked, but today i didnt, i had my three wheeler. Actually i got it running good and got all the way over there and the second pull the rope broke. Luckily my great uncle was just headin out so he pulled me out there on his, its really not a bad walk though, and there is a beat down path from the four wheelers so its easy walking.

[heath19]

Ok, here are the pictures finally...

Here is what i caught yesterday.
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/306360653.jpg

This is todays catch, limit of crappies and 7 gills.
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/306360641.jpg

All of them together..
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/306360673.jpg

One full five gallon pail, 36 crappies, 15 gills, 2 perch...came out to 3/4 of a gallon ice cream bucket full of filets.
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/306360665.jpg

[zim-cat]

when are we frying them up lol. looks like a good trip.

[cambridgefisherman]

Hey where exactly is Brown's Lake? And by the way, nice fish.

[heath19]

Browns lake is North of savanna a few miles on the Iowa side of the Mississippi river, its a backwater lake. To get to it to ice fish you have to go over into iowa to a parking lot that you can walk out to the lake from.

[Stump Bumper]

WOW! What a fish fry that's gonna be. Thanks for sharing the story and pictures....Ray

[Illinoisgiller]

Good to hear you are still on them Chris. How deep is the water up there.? Mike

[gofish]

definately a good mess a fish......reckon i "might" walk that far fer em lol

[heath19]

The water ranges from about 4ft. to 11ft. depending on where you are sitting at in a channel that they dredged out years ago. I have been fishing about 2-3ft. down no matter how deep of water i am fishing. Going over early tomorrow with my dad, we are planning on being there close to sunrise and im expecting a fast bite...

[Illinoisgiller]

As we speak, That heath19 (Chris) is out on the Browns Lake ice with his dad snatching the crappie and gills up for sorting. :party0011::party0045::party0011::party0045:. Hope they have a great day out there. Mike

[john h]

i hope so to. i was gonna go meet up with gofish but im deathly ill at the moment..darn flu... catch a few for me heath

[heath19]

Sorry to hear you got the flu, i had it earlier in the season and it sucks. We were out on Browns Lake today and once again had another great day. I caught my 25 limit of crappies and 7 gills, and dad had 19 crappies and 2 gills. I will have pictures up tomorrow of todays catch. Im leavin again at 5am in the morning with my brother this time to catch him some dinner, should be another good day im thinking...:icon_biggrin:

[dipper69_2000]

hey chris is my dnr buddy wrong on the fact u cann't run vehicals on the dike anymore? he works the il. side but says he thought iowa went that way too now? we were going to head that way today but didn't have the time to walk it. was scared to take the chance w/4 wheeler till i know for sure on the iowa law. he was checking for sure w/ the feds. today. if u don't know for sure as soon as i do i will let u know hate ta see anyone get in trouble. we fished rock creek fish shut down there great ta hear ya still getting them. save a few for me..........lol or atleast inv. us all ta fish fry

[Fishaholic]

heck yeah im all about that fry there chris!!

[heath19]

Im 100% positive that the dike is still open. I got checked by the Game Warden today and he said i was god to go, there was a bunch of ATVs out there. As long as you got your sticker on it your good to go. They were gonna close it this year but they didnt, they claim that this will be the last year for it. I was out there today and ended up with 23 crappies and 2 bluegills. The crappies ran a little bigger today with 20 of them being above 10 1/2 inches up to 12. Brother had 19 crappies and 4 gills and uncle had 23 crappies and a few gills. Going back tomorrow with another uncle that hasnt ice fished all year...will have pictured of yesterdays catch posted sometime soon.

[dipper69_2000]

ty chris buddy told me the same thing today this is likely to be te last year. tare em up if ya can eat em up

[heath19]

Today was a little slower, sent my uncle and one of his friends home with maybe 25 crappies and 25 gills. Dad is cookin up a mess of fish up right now and i already gave my grandparents a meal and plan to give them another meal and all that fish will be eaten up before to long...

[Fishaholic]

had a great article about crappies in the Mississippi in this months edition of Illinois Game and fish mag, mentioned several local areas for great spring time crappie locations on the miss. browns, potters...


How as the ice there today after yesterdays 50degree, and the rain!!!!

[heath19]

After today i think the ice is even thicker,lol. It rained and melted all the snow that was on top of it and this morning there was a lot of water on the ice, but by the time we left it was almost all frooze and probably is by now so i dont think the ice lost a bit, gained some if anything,lol.

[heath19]

Well i was back out at Browns today ice fishing still and did good as usuall. I kept my 25 limit of 10-12 inch crappie in about 2 hours and 6 or 7 bluegills. Uncle had 21 crappies and 18 bluegills. The only problem was wading through about 25 yards of water which was a little over your knees toward the end of it,lol. Today i just had coveralls and boots on and got wet but tomorrow im goin back with another guy and im gonna have my chest waders on. Once you get on the ice there is still plenty though.

[Schoe]

Heath you are the man. Hopefully the water depth where you fish isn't above your head.

Years ago when I took chances we would turn a picnic table over and push it out ahead of us when one was available. That saved me from getting drenched a few times.

Good luck, Schoe

[heath19]

There isnt much you can do where we are walking out, you have to walk out a dike half a mile or so before you get on water and there is nothing to walk out on, its solid reeds and mud that is why its not frooze. The water is actually about 7 feet deep where we are fishiing but there is at least 15 inches of good ice still out there once your on, the top few inches is bad but once you get down its good solid ice. If i think there is a chance of going through i would be out there at all. there was three four wheelers out there today and they said they had trouble getting on the ice, i just called the stupid basically,lol.

[heath19]

Well today was my final day of ice fishing for the year finally. I kept 17 nice 10-12 inch crappies and 6 bluegills and they guy i went with had 13 of each. We took your chest waders today and im glad we did because we did a LOT of wading,lol. On the way back we went in the drink pry 35 yards from the edge of the ice where the open water started and had to break ice with the auger the rest of the way to the edge and then through another 30 yards of water...the water was only about waist deep so it wasnt bad and with the chest waders i didnt get wet at all. I think im done ice fishing for the year though....

[gofish]

bout time ya gave them poor defenseless fish a break in that spot anyway lol...now ya have ta go try fer some eyes!

[Illinoisgiller]

Chris ,schoe hit it right when he said you are "the" man when it comes to getting out there and getting the job done. I think I heard the saying from the imfamous SOUPY, There just ain't no quit in that boy.:icon_cool::icon_cool::icon_cool::icon_cool: lol
That Browns Lake sounds like it would be a neat place to take the grandkids this spring.
I need to explore the camping options in the area.
Won't be any runninng around needlessly:confused0024:. Mike

[heath19]

It can be a very good spring fishing spot if you can find the fish in it. I have only fished it a handful of times in the spring but i know they catch the crappies and bluegills in there if you can just hit them at the right time when the water level is just right. You pretty much need a boat to fish it. There is the palisades campground right across the road from millers boat landing which is just a few miles run up to browns in a boat.

[Illinoisgiller]

I've got a boat that will rival any but an airboat.for getting into those shallow entrys.lol' I've got an Osagian 18' flat bottom canoe that I run a mild mannered Mariner 8 on.
I hope to be haunting some of the shallower Mississippi River gill and crappie hideouts with that rig this year.:party0011::party0045::party0011::party0045:
I might note that I have been purposly avoiding a lot of those areas, but now that the fuel gods are not letting me run into Iowa on a whim, I'll need closer places.
Sure appreciate all your posts Chris, Mike

[gofish]

giller....tween heath an you im thinkin them gills might have a VERY bad summer lol

[heath19]

I would guess a very bad late summer and fall, you can catch a ton of bluegills up in there from later summer all the way through the fall is when i have found to be the best time, but ive never been up there to much during the spawn but i think i might try a little more this year.

[gofish]

jus remember ta leave a few fer ice fishin lol

[dipper69_2000]

mike there is a nice camp ground called palisades in savanna. river is just across the road.that landind can betricky when the water is down but this spring u would be good to go.if ya come this way give a holler be glad ta haul my boat up and show ya around if ya don't know it. if ya don't mind follwing me around in my 60horse motor no speed demon but it works...........real good end of april threw end of may for crappies n gills lots of big bass to it is a catch and releas area for bass

[heath19]

do you fish browns in the spring a lot dippers?? i fish it in the winter through the ice and in the fall but ive only been up in there a handful of times in the spring. ive only caught fish once or twice so ive never been drawn back to it really for spring fishing, ive always had other spring spots but they havent been so hot the past few years..

[dipper69_2000]

fish there alot in the spring and fall when i am not duck hunting iti take a week off every fall just to fish and hunt it in oct

[heath19]

ive heard some not so good stories about people trying to fish up there during duck season so i stay out of there once the shooting starts...

[dipper69_2000]

lol just stay outa there way we ain't all ass's butttttttttttt don't drop ur anchors n r decoys............lol

[heath19]

ive hears stories of bass fisherman having their weedless frogs blow of the end of their lines, and boats running through decoy spreads...ive always had other spots to go that time of year duck hunter free so i just dont go up there, im a duck hunter myself and i could see how they might get mad from fisherman that dont care or pay attention...

[Illinoisgiller]

When the shooting starts, I avoid any areas with duck hunters. Duck hunting is tough enough these days with the flyways changing and I respect others right to use the area. There is plenty of time for fishing those areas when seasons are closed.
Our family gathering was yesterday afternoon and spent quite a lot of time on the son's laptop looking over Browns lake . Do you access from the canal on the north end or the long canal on the south end? Online map wasn't the best. I should go over to the Watchtower and get a good river map. Mike

[dipper69_2000]

mike ya come in from the s. channel that is the only way in we call it lanesville. the finale stretch of that ditch just b4 the lake is filling in bad.best bet is to hammer down. this last fall was blowing alot of mud.the lake itself is shallow also but has a number dredge channels in it. best time to learn it is after the pads and arrow heads r up then it is like a hiway ........lol

[heath19]

Yup, dippers is exatly right, put the hammer down for the last little stretch there no matter who is fishin for bass right in the middle of the dang thing,lol. Let off and your gonna be pushin or rowin your way up in there if ya arent stuck. and it pretty much is a highway system in there once the pads are up like he said..pretty easy

[heath19]

here is a picture i forgot to post..this catch was between me and my father from out in browns a few weeks ago.

http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310103571.jpg

[Illinoisgiller]

Chris, That is a handsome catch for sure. You have the fishing on that water down pat.
I'll get on a sand bar this season and check to see how much water it takes to float that canoe with my bulk aboard. I know it won't be much. I'm just guessing but I think 4"-5" would be enough.lol
I'm anxous to try that water ,but sure won't be often. A 4 mile run in that little thing can get risky if wind comes up. Mike

[heath19]

yes it could get risky, and that little stretch of main channel that you will have to cross to get up there can get bad in a hurry...

[dipper69_2000]

weather is a chance for sure but the boat n barge trafffic is horrible........scare me ta death in my old 14 ft flat bottom.

[heath19]

that reminds me, have you noticed the barges and their wakes they throw of the back the last couple years dippers?? i dont know if ive just run into them when they arent throwing wake or what but for a couple years ive noticed the waves havent been very bad at all.. i wondered if they changes something so they throw less wake or ive just been lucky?? the big speed boats and cruisers are the worst most of the time

[dipper69_2000]

chris i think the barges slow down more there i think the channel is getting narrower but yes i have noticed it as well. and for sure the cruisers throw the worst waves and never seem to see us small boaters ..........lol. my brother and dad went to spring lake last sat and had to break 4" of ice said they should have taken the augers lol wound up in browns resort and did fare on crappies n perch.

[heath19]

Thats good to hear. I went through browns resort last tuesday and there was just a little bit of ice on it but it was fishable but i didnt try. Saturday i drove through with an uncle and there was a few guys fishing but we didnt see anybody catch any while we were there for just a minute. I might go try it one of these days and see what i can come up with.

[Illinoisgiller]

I know I am gifted with the ability to happen onto an empty dream once in a while ,but wouldn't it be neat to have the Corp. put a new boat ramp at the tip of what used to be the Savanna Army Depot?
Shouldn't be much trouble to buldoze a hole in the dumped morter shells.:confused0068:lol Mike

[heath19]

That sure would be nice if they would do that, but i have a feeling thats gonna be a dream for a long time if not forever,lol.