Okoboji Chronicles

I had the opportunity to fish Lake Okoboji in Northwest Iowa over the week surrounding the 4th of July Holiday. West Lake Okoboji is one of 3 spring fed, blue water lakes in the world. The other two are Lake Geneva in Switzerland and Lake Louise in Alberta Canada. West Okoboji is in a chain of lakes comprised of East Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Upper Gar Lake, and Lower Gar Lake. The other lakes are not considered blue water lakes and only reach maximum depths of 40 feet or less. My Wife, in-laws, and I were at Okoboji for a family wedding. We stayed at the Bridges Bay Resort, located on East Okoboji, not far from the channels leading into Upper Gar Lake and West Okoboji.

We were just a stones throw from Pure Fishing world headquarters in Spirit Lake Iowa. Pure Fishing is the parent company to Berkeley. I tried to get a tour of the factory a few times, but arrived after hours one day and they were closed on the Thursday before the 4th. Dang.

I could not help but notice the smell of Berkeley Power Bait in the air anytime we were down wind of the factory. Only an angler would know that distinct smell. On a more positive side the Fishing Factory Outlet store across the street from Pure Fishing headquarters was open and I bought a lot of tackle i really did not need.

The Fishing on Lake Okoboji was very good. I caught a number of different fish species including Large Mouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Bass, Yellow Bass, Fresh Water Drum, Northern Pike, Walleye, Bluegill, and Yellow Perch. The bulk of my catch was Largemouth Bass. The Largemouth were numerous around the bridges and I caught one on nearly every cast in a few spots.
Here is an average Okoboji Largemouth Bass.

Lake Okoboji is a Pan fisherman's dream the bluegill and Yellow Perch are numerous and larger on average than I have seen anywhere.
Here is and Average Okoboji Bluegill. Most Gills were nearly twice as big as my hand.

I caught most of my fish using a slip float and #8 hook baited with a live leech. I set my floats so that the leech would be just tickling the rocks on the bottom. The technique was deadly on Okoboji Bass. The first day I landed 55 Largemouth Bass, one smallmouth bass, a dozen chunky Bluegill, 2 Drum, a Pike, and a few Perch. Okoboji is also know for it's good Walleye fishing. I was having so much fun with the bass that I did not fish for Walleye much, but did find some Walleye around the boat docks. Okoboji is very deep and drops off quickly just a few feet off shore. The end supports on most docks were in 15 to 25 feet of water and often held schools of Walleye, Perch, and Big Bluegill.
Here is an average Okobiji Walleye.


Despite the good fishing on Lake Okoboji there were not many fishermen out. This surprised me on a Holiday weekend. I started fishing at first light most mornings and did not see any other boats out on the lake until 8 or 9am and they were mainly pleasure boaters. Lake Okoboji and surrounding lakes are heavily developed and the is little un-developed shoreline. Most of the shoreline is lined with cottages, resorts, and condos. It was nearly impossible to fish the natural shoreline from a boat, because of all the protruding docks. Most of my fishing was done from docks and around bridges. By noon most days the Lakes were a massive swarm of pleasure boats.
Here is a short of the massive floatilla, lining up to see the fireworks on the 4th of July.