Cow lake RMH

[gramps73]

How has the fishing been out that way? Looking to bring the kids out for a day of fishing.
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[flygirrl]

Was out today for a few hours. ice is around 15-18 inches thick but bubbley if that is a word. We were targeting pike and hooked 3 and lost 3. What are the odds. Next time we will remember to bring the wire leaders. LOL

[roughrider]

I was out on New Years day. Only found 10 to 12 inches, drilled 10 holes. I tried to head across the lake, front of my truck dropped in some flood water. Did not find any decent perch, saw some pikes:(

[pikester]

Are the pike starting to gain any decent size in there yet? I thought SRD was trying to turn Cow into a trophy pike lake, hence the outlandish minimum size limit. I used to fish there when I was a kid once in a while for the huge well-fed rainbows & to this day I still haven't caught a bigger trout on a fly anywhere else.

[roughrider]

Most of the ones I have seen through the hard water are either just under size or just over. Haven't seen any monsters.

[bryanfewchuk]

cow lake, is that in wiaprous?

[Bigwhite]

I'm heading out there tomorrow with the old man... He's not big into fishing but we have a new 4 man shack and a hell of a heater(26000 btu). he's bringin a reclining lawn chair. Any suggestions on where to go so I have a chance on getting him hooked would be nice. What bait combo's have worked and or what depth to aim to be at. I was thinkin a couple tip ups outside with worm/smelt and maybe just jig for perch in the shack with a wire worm or small jig head..

[sheepguide]

Are the pike starting to gain any decent size in there yet? I thought SRD was trying to turn Cow into a trophy pike lake, hence the outlandish minimum size limit. I used to fish there when I was a kid once in a while for the huge well-fed rainbows & to this day I still haven't caught a bigger trout on a fly anywhere else.

Boy could a guy ever catch some good rainbows back then. It was a good time.

[uncle buck]

the pike size limit is 100cm not the usual 63 here. If you were seeing some close to that that is very impressive -but I'm not convinced from what i've seen. How was the perch fishin?

[flygirrl]

The average size is 26-30 inches but they are fat and healthy, we were using smelt. The lake is very shallow so anywhere will do for the pike. The perch we didnt target. In the summer we catch them on the left side of the lake from the day use site, winter have caught them all over the lake.

[Bigwhite]

don't you usually want to be around 25-30 feet for perch.... Well atleast on all lakes I've seen the guys in the middle are goin for perch. What about the rainbows are they really deep as well??

[bingo1010]

i don't think there is a spot on cow that is over 15' deep, could be mistaken though?

[Bigwhite]

ok well I will punch a bunch of holes on the far end of the lake from the boat launch/campground area. I had luck with perch there before. Any certain areas or structure seem to be real good for the pike out there.... just incase we get tired of catchin .25 lb perch... maybe head for a weed bed??

[flygirrl]

pretty much caught the pike anywhere on that lake and I dont think the deepest on Cow lake is much more than 12 feet and that is only in a few places. Very very shallow lake. I find there if your not catching perch than the jacks are around.

[Mark]

Boy could a guy ever catch some good rainbows back then. It was a good time.



You bet, the trout fishing was incredible. Too bad someone was so short sighted and decided to do the bucket brigade perch stocking. Oh well can spend time crying over 'split buckets'.

[pikester]

ok well I will punch a bunch of holes on the far end of the lake from the boat launch/campground area. I had luck with perch there before. Any certain areas or structure seem to be real good for the pike out there.... just incase we get tired of catchin .25 lb perch... maybe head for a weed bed??

I haven't been there in the winter but in the summer the whole lake is weedy because like others have said, the average depth is probably 10 ft. We used to just row around the lake & fish the pockets in the vast weed beds. I would assume that there must still be plenty of weeds spread across the lake in the winter as well. I am guessing but I would think that any one spot should be as good as another due to the lack of structure & depth.

[Bigwhite]

went out and didn't have much luck at cow lake... Around 80% of the lake wasn't accesable due to 4-8" of water coming ontop of the ice. I did catch a couple small pike. I saw a few perch the size of a baitfish so I stopped trying for them. Onee pike almost took my bait it was around 15-18 lbs. prob still not the 100 cm to keep them but it was definately huge. I hit up sylvan today and managed 3 walleye from 1:30 till 4:30. one was around 21"

[pikester]

went out and didn't have much luck at cow lake... Around 80% of the lake wasn't accesable due to 4-8" of water coming ontop of the ice. I did catch a couple small pike. I saw a few perch the size of a baitfish so I stopped trying for them. Onee pike almost took my bait it was around 15-18 lbs. prob still not the 100 cm to keep them but it was definately huge. I hit up sylvan today and managed 3 walleye from 1:30 till 4:30. one was around 21"

Sounds like all in all you had a decent day, good job on the Sylvan walleyes. Just a comment on the big pike you saw at Cow; I pulled out my calculator & 100cm is 40". I have a 41" pike on my wall which is 20lbs so if you saw something close to 18lbs it was probably darn close to minimum size. Glad you saw something decent size in there, maybe in another couple seasons there will be a fishable population of bigger pike!

[Bigwhite]

I had my 8by16 shack on sylvan last winter with a 3by10 hole... widescreen fishing. 3 of the pike I saw in sylvan last winter on numerous occasions made that "big pike" at cow lake look tiny

[Sir Landsalot]

You bet, the trout fishing was incredible. Too bad someone was so short sighted and decided to do the bucket brigade perch stocking.

Yeah, it used to be a great trout lake alright. Such a shame. Another lake to add to the growing list of lakes ruined by idiots doing illegal introductions. :mad:

[Wulfespirit]

I don't think the huge minimum pike size has anything to do with SRD wanting to make it a trophy pike fishery... I think they want the pike more or less left alone to prevent further stunting on the perch in that lake.

[bronco2]

I had my 8by16 shack on sylvan last winter with a 3by10 hole... widescreen fishing. 3 of the pike I saw in sylvan last winter on numerous occasions made that "big pike" at cow lake look tiny
Might be a stupid question but, do you cut your 3'x10' hole with a chain saw? And how do you get that piece of ice out of the hole?

[pikester]

I had my 8by16 shack on sylvan last winter with a 3by10 hole... widescreen fishing. 3 of the pike I saw in sylvan last winter on numerous occasions made that "big pike" at cow lake look tiny

No doubt, I bet they are like the Gull monsters though, swim around under your hole but there's only one day that they eat so if you're not there on the right day- better luck next year!!!

[pikester]

I don't think the huge minimum pike size has anything to do with SRD wanting to make it a trophy pike fishery... I think they want the pike more or less left alone to prevent further stunting on the perch in that lake.

Good point. Could be they are contemplating regulation changes for many other hard hit lakes & are experimenting with Cow to see what happens. Personally I would like to see this happen on Newell; limit of only 1 pike over 100cm (or 110cm ?) & that's it. I know there are still many monster pike in Newell but they seem less prevalent in the last 5 years or so. The lake's reputation as a trophy pike fishery has hurt it a little I think. I have to shoulder some of the blame for that since my mounted pike came from there but in my defence, I now C&R anything over 6lbs. (& under 26" of course).