Sugema, Sugema, Sugema

We are heading to Sugema next week I think the 13th, I have not seen any posts on this lake as of yet.

I had posted some things about the lake a few months ago, but sombody took my post off of the Iowa site, I do not understand that, there was nothing bad or rude in the post.

I am looking for informaton on the lake itself. I am not looking for people to give me the gps coordinates to their honey hole, I am just kinda looking for a small jist of the lake so I don't show up for the first time on Thursday wondering why the hell we are here.

I would think it would behouve the local Hotel and Motel owners to post some things on this site to pull some people in towards their places of business. I mean if the fish are hitting well say it, hell I might come on Monday. Even if they are not bitting we will still be there, but it is nice to know some things early.

The trip itself are all good friends and it is just as much about the comrodary as it is about catching nothing but 13inch crappies.

If there is anybody and I mean anybody out there with even a little story about the lake it would do me good to read the post.

I will thank you in advance for posting it, "Thank you, very much for the post."

And with that, I'll see you on Lake Sugema next week rain or shine, hopefully shine. :)

Haven't been to sugema for several years. Caught a few crappies between the ramps.
Good luck. Make sure you throw the muskies back.

28 crappies and 10 gills casting jigs & small cranks today. No "Slabs" all crappie about 10" males close to shore.

Were any of the crappies with eggs? If so, how far along are we talking with them?

I am hoping they are still a bit hard yellow, and not soft red/pink as of yet, fingers crossed I hope we can run into them while on the beds, but that is all up to the man upstairs.

I appreciate the posts and would really appreciate updates specialy after this front that is supposed to come through tonight.

Again, guys thanks and hope the fishing is going good for you.

And with that, I'll see you on the water in a week at Lake Sugema...

Should have read your post just a little better, I see where it says all males. Thanks for the post, please keep me updated.

And with that, I'll see you on the water...

I heard the that lake caught a lot of rain in the past week. Is this the case and if so, do you know about how much?

Have the crappies and walleye backed off since, and if so, what depth are you catching them at this point.

Any and all information accepted here. :)

And with that, I'll see you on the water...

I was thinking about hitting the lake again tomorrow, but unaware of how much rain they got. I've been at Mark Twain the last 3 days and we were thinking about hitting Sugema on the way home. I'll report back if we end up there.

Thanks for the headsup on the possible post.

I will be watching for it, we will be at the lake sometime Thursday.

Hope your fishing goes well.

And with that, I'll see you on the water...

Sorry, we didn't end up stopping at Sugema. We went to Lake Belva Deer instead. Two of us ended up with 25 crappies all males in 3 - 6 feet of water and 8 big gills. All crappies were between 10 - 11 inces and were caught on mini-mites w/ waxies. Water temp started at 58 and around 62 when we left. Stayed away from Sugema after hearing about all the rain they received.

You are worrying me Slab Seeker...:o

I hope the lake returns somewhat to where it should be this time of year by Tuesday at the latest, and I know that is really pushing hope... However, I do have a lot of faith so nothing is out of the relm of possibility.

Sounds like you hada nice day on the other lake non the less and is sounded like a nice mess of crappies and gills.

Here were I live we just started to get into the females last week, and the males that we were catching, looked pretty beat up, from the beds.

The females were very healthy and nice size from 10-12inch, very very nice. The eggs were turning bloody pink so that is a good sign, however, we did have a cold snap at the end of last week, leading to the weekend.

If you happen to run across, any info, please post it here, even if you get it on Thurs., or Fri., this week as I will be checking this post on my phone.

And with that, I'll see you on the water...

Jnebgud there is no need to worry as long as you don't get rained on every day as Sugema always seems to produce a lot of fish and are usually rather easy to catch, but sometimes lack in size. Seems like most of the crappies are in the 9" range with very few larger ones thrown in. When the crappie get lock jaw, we always seem to have success catching a mess of nice gills. We typically use Mini-Mites tipped with minnows or waxies for both crappies and gills. I also like to use small shallow running crank baits or floating rapalas when the fish are actively spawning in the shallow water. We usually fish around the west boat ramp, along the dam or around the old roadbed inlet on the south end (hope my inner compass is correct).
If you have any further questions feel free to PM me.

Good Luck!!!!!

Thanks Slab Seeker for the good posts, on the lake. It has put me at ease for the most part.

I guess you tend to feel a little anxious as you go to a new lake for the first time.

I appreciate all of your tips and hints on the lake. We hope to do well on it, so maybe we would be going back in the coming months and years.

And with that, I'll see you on the water...

I see you still seek that ultimate wisdom....Fear none as I have spoken to the wise one and have the "Ultimate Secret"....As long as I have this in my back pocket we will prevail.....

Tom Turkey...

What secret weapon could you be talking about???? That I do not already have knowlege of...

I hope you are correct come Thurs, Fri, and Saturday of this week. I spoke with ole' Warrior King and he says that the threat of rain has diminished from 60% down to 30% on Thursday, so that is a beacon of light for the week.

I look at it this way, it can't get any worse than last year at Parr. I think the only sun we saw was Sunday morning when you's were packing up.

The two Warrior's will be up bright eyed and bushy tailed Thursday morning at around 5am, I told "Chief quarter giver," to be ready to leave at 5:45am.

And with that, I'll see you on the water at Lake Sugema sometime on Thursday morning...

Hey Ghost, I know your reading these posts, for Christs Sake, say something will ya...

Looks like we are about to run into rain tomorrow and wind on Friday. Not a very good mixture when you are talking fishing.

I can see the clouds rolling into central Illinois as I write this thread.

Slab-Seeker, how does it look from where you sit, from what I can see it is coming striaght from your area.

If you are out an about this week till Saturday on Lake Sugema, we will be in a red Lowe, can't miss me, I stick out like a sore thumb on the water, would like to thank you for the kind posts, you have put on here.

If not, thanks again, I hope your year is filled with nice slabs wherever you fish.

We should be arriving at the lake rain or shine somewhere mid morning, thats my wifes familys time table, I'll say somewhere between 10-11am.

Remembbbbbbbbber, we should be raking in pots as we speak.......

The way it is rainning right now in central Illinois, we could probably boat our way over to Sugema tomorrow morning :p...

Hope this stuff stops and ole' father sun decides to stick his nice head out of the clouds tomorrow for us, to warm things up a bit.

Sorry I won't be on the lake this weekend. It looks like Southern Iowa got pounded Wed night. After todays rain it looks like Fri & Sat will be cloudy in the upper 60's, 10 to 15 mph wind with no rain. Sunday the rain looks to start back up. I guess it is Spring......have fun!

I hope the lake clears up and comes down quickly. A few friends and i have a big cabin reserved for Monday thru Friday. Looks like they may have had up to 10" of rain in the last week and a half. Another fishing forum was telling me before wednesdays rain the docks were already under water.

If anyone does any fishing on Sugema over the weekend, let me know how the lake is. At least the weather doesn't look too bad from friday on. I would guess a muddy lake would clear up quicker than the water level could go back down. Hope it's in decent shape by monday or tuesday.

Even if the fishing isn't that good i'll keep telling myself, at least we were not there this week. That would have been a rainy, muddy mess.

Hey Iowabucks.....Returned yesterday from Sugema..Was fishing with jnebgud and a small caravan of boats....Even though the lake levels up 5-6 feet and water temp down from 71 degrees to 59, had no problem catching fish. The water temps Pushed the female crappie back to 5-6 foot of water, males were up close to bank. Bluegills were starting to get very active as well, we cleaned several nice gills. The lake level had dropped over a foot from Fri to Sat....Based on what we experienced over the weekend you should have a fun week.....Enjoy

TT