Holiday Lake Fishing Guide, Poweshiek County, Iowa

• Overview

  Holiday Lake is listed under Poweshiek County, Iowa. It lies 863 feet above sea level. Around 90 acres of surface means several distinct areas to work. The full circuit measures close to 2.9 miles on foot. The town to know is Brooklyn, 5.8 miles out. Then Belle Plaine, 10 miles, and Tama, 12 miles. The boundary is close enough to be worth checking before you fish.

• Where to Fish on Holiday Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Across Poweshiek County, recorded fish include bluegill, channel catfish, redear sunfish, black crappie and common carp. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Read Holiday Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 74°F and January at 18°F. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Ice-out usually falls in late March, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The open-water window runs from around late March to about mid December in an average year. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. Holiday Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no recorded infrastructure here; expect to find your own way in. For the catfish, fish bottom baits into the deeper holes and let them sit. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Should this one be busy, Cherry Lake is 12 miles off. Treat access at Holiday Lake as something to verify.