Okoboji BLUEGILLS

 The Okoboji Lakes are a treat no matter what season it may be.  This past weekend I traveled north with four ice fishing friends to chase down the big bluegills that make their home in West Okoboji.  This lake is known to be a tough one to fish because the water can be very clear, giving the fish the advantage.  We did not know what to expect as there was little to no information on the ice conditions or what the bite was like.  Come Saturday morning, we were on the hunt for bluegills. 

When fishing West lake Okoboji in the winter, one thing has been a constant for the past 20 years, find green weeds and you will find bluegills.  We were in Emerson Bay, one of the first places that freezes in this large lake, matter of fact, a lot of the lake was still water.  We searched and searched and finally settled in an area that was about nine-feet deep with plenty of weeds.  The bluegills were on the prowl and they were activity feeding throughout the day.  There were lulls here and there, but for the most part the bite was fantastic.  Sight fishing is a blast, and if you want to maximize your catches on West Lake Okoboji it is the only way to fish.  Those that have fished the lake know exactly what I am speaking of, those that haven't it is really hard to explain.  Imagine looking down a hole in the ice and seeing every grain of sand, pebble, and leaf of coontail weeds that are nine-feet below you.  That is West Lake Okoboji.  You can see very fish come up to your bait and watch them suck your bait in.  I do like to use my Vexilar to give me an early warning that fish are in the area, once I see the fish on the Vexilar then it is time to watch hose crafty gills come and eat.  It is truly an experience that is hard to imagine...one really needs to experience it.  The water this year may have one of the clearest I have every seen it.  With this water clarity comes some challenges too.  The fish can obviously see everything.  Your jig, bait, and line are all easily detected by the fish, so anglers that want to catch a lot of fish must adapt or they will be left behind.  If you can figure things out, it can be pretty easy to get a bunch of panfish to enjoy for dinner, remember that there is a 25 fish limit on bluegills per day, when they are biting you can really sill your bucket quickly! 😃

Two large Pumpkin Seeds

TIPS: a few tips for those heading that direction this winter.  One-pound test line is a must when fishing for these clever bluegills.  Using a proper "sight fishing" rod is another thing that is a must for your own comfort.  I prefer a rod that is between 14 and 17 inches long.  I always use a "schooley" reel for this finesse presentation as well, it minimizes line twist. Small jigs...use the smallest of jigs you have, most days a 3mm jig is too big, smaller the better.

We all got our fill of sight fishing on Saturday and decided to try Spirit Lake for perch.  We were only able to catch a few smaller ones and I did land a nice walleye.  We ended the day back sight fishing for more gills, they were still very cooperative, it was a fun way to end the day.

The Okoboji Lakes are a great place to visit, between all of us we caught the following species: bluegills, pumpkin seeds, black crappie, walleye, perch, largemouth bass and northern pike.  It was a great weekend with wonderful weather and cooperative bluegills...I can't wait to get back there and do it all again!

What VEXILAR is best for you?

The Vexilar FLX-28

Ice fishing season is here and it is time to hit the ice!  Vexilar, the most popular ice fishing electronics anglers use have once again produced a new model, the FLX-38.  Each and every year, even when they do not showcase a new model, the question always arises, "What Vexilar is best for me?"  This is a hard question to answer without getting information from the angler.  I will try to break it down in three types of anglers that I typically see here in Iowa.  As always, it is best to talk directly to me if you want more details, I can also tell you best places to get you set up on the ice quickly with a new Vexilar.

Sit and Wait: This type of angler typically goes out and sits in one particular area of the lake or river and waits for the fish to come to them.  This is by far the most relaxing way to ice fish.  However, if you seem to lean this way in your ice fishing, then a Vexilar FLX-12 will be just what you need.  This model, like all Vexilars come with the bright 3 color display.  This model has the has a low power feature (great for shallow weeds) and a night viewing mode.  This has some features and is perfect for those wanting to sit and fish with little to no adjustments needed throughout the entire day.

Mover/Shaker: These anglers are the ones that continually move throughout the day in search of the next bite.  Whether on foot or vehicle, they may only stay for a few minutes until they are on the move again.  Anglers with this much energy tend to fish with a lot of detailed information.  This could be waypoints or areas on a map that are of high interest, or following contours.  These anglers would benefit using a Vexilar FLX-20 or Vexilar FLX-28.  The additional component these units bring anglers is the zoom function.  With a quick adjustment anglers can zoom in on the bottom six or twelve feet of the water column.  This is a big benefit to bluegill and perch anglers.  Another nice feature for the constant mover is on the 28 model, the auto option for depth.  Anglers can place the switch on "auto" and the FLX-28 adjusts the bottom to fit on your screen.  You do not need to manually set how deep you may be in.  This is great for hopping around a lot of holes, as the LED readout also displays the depth.  

Fine-Tuner: Anglers are that always looking for that advantage with technology will love the FLX-30 and FLX-38.  These units were designed with the fine-tune angler in mind.  Both of these units have a low, medium and high power settings.  They also include seven different sonar frequencies, creating a super transducer that can be adjusted in 21 different ways.  These adjustments are minute and to the average angler probably won't be seen or cared about, however they are perfect for the guy that loves to tinker and get things set perfectly for their fishing situation.  The 30 and 38 have all the other niceties that Vexilar customers have some to love, zoom, night mode, and fine tuning depth control.  

Fine tuning bluegills in the weeds
with the Vexilar FLX-30

As with any technology, it is only good to the user can control and use it.  Vexilar offers 7 different models of ice fishing sonars, there is one that is perfect for you.  There are many other options on the above mentioned sonars, and I would be glad to help you sort through what is best for you or a family member.  Prices can vary from about $300 to $800 for the top models.  Get ahold of me for the perfect fit, I will lead yo to the best unit for the type of fishing that you will be doing.  

Have a great ice season...and be safe out there!

The Last Time on the Boat for 2024

 

Today marked the last time in the boat for the 2024 season, I think.  The winter weather is forecasted to come in very quickly on Wednesday and remain cold and windy throughout the 10-day forecast.  I am a bit sad, like all years to put the long rods away for the year, however I am so ready for the ice fishing season.  The last ice fishing season was the shortest of my life, lasting only 6 weekends.  Hopefully this year will be much different and "back to normal" with 3 months of ice fishing here in Iowa.

The day of fishing went about the same as a typical late November day on the Wapsi River.  Fishing slow and catching smallmouth bass around rocky structures.  I caught a few nice smallies on a homemade finesse jig and the others on a leadhead with a small plastic trailer.  Nothing fancy, but it is just what the smallies want this time of year.  It always amazes me how much these smallmouth bass fight.  I caught several pike and five walleyes on this day too.  In the matter of second or two, I knew when I had a smallie on.  Even with the water temperature at 46-degrees, these brown beasts just keep on fighting.  It was a great day, but sadly the last chasing these fish for awhile.  Hopefully, I will be on to ICE FISHING soon!

The Fall Bite

A Strike King shallow running
crankbait on a Lew's KVD
Cranking Combo

 Each and every year I anticipate the season of fall, not to hunt, like many outdoors people, but to fish the fall bite.  I enjoy fishing river systems throughout the year, but there is no better time than fall to hit them.  The water becomes clear, the current is moderate and typically the water levels are stable.  All of these factors help the fish to feed up before WINTER appears.  You can catch bass on a lot of different baits this time of year, however as that water temperature dips below 50-degrees some baits fade off into the tackle box not to be seen until spring.  As of writing this, water temps are hanging just above the 50-degree mark in area rivers.  The warm sunshine and moderate nighttime temperatures have not started a big cool-down yet.  This will most likely happen this coming week, if the forecast holds.

Lately on the rivers a few baits have really shined, crankbaits and jigs.  This 1-2 combination has been great for smallmouth and largemouth bass, as well as the occasional walleye and pike.  The next time out I expect the crankbait bite to disappear as the water temperature dips below 50 degrees.  This isn't a definite, but a trend I have seen in the past.  Sunshine and wind plays a big role in the bite this time of year too, as both really tend to fire fish up to feed during this cold weather.  Jerkbaits, swimbaits and finesse style baits will take the place of crankbaits as the water temperature dips into the forties (a jig and Texas-Rigged tube are always on my boat this time of year).  Paying attention to water temperature is only 1 key to success this time of year.  You must pay attention to the fish, how they bite, where they bite in relation to the structure.  Taking in all these considerations will put more fish in the boat this time of year.  

Get out there and enjoy the fall, there may only be a week or two left until the "winter" temperatures appear.  

Accidental Walleye catches sure make
a great meal this time of year.

  

Indee Bass Club Finishes up the 2024 Season

(Written for the Independence Bulletin Journal) 

Jackson Beatty is the 2024
Indee Bass Club Angler of the Year

Another bass fishing season has come and gone for the Indee Bass Club.  This club was started back in 2017, it is hard to believe that this group has been getting kids out on the water for eight years.  Volunteer Coach Todd Reed has been there for every step of this journey for the area club.  "Each and every year has brought many opportunities for kids to learn about the sport of bass fishing, safety, DNR laws, tournament strategies, rod/reels, baits, tackle and fishing techniques.  The monthly meetings are informative and allows the student led club to vote on where they want to fish tournaments throughout the year.  Eight years, countless meetings, a dozen or so seminars, and thirty youth club tournaments, I'm almost done with the planning for the 2025 season."  said Coach Reed.  I guess time really does fly when you are fishing and having fun.

As the 2024 year came to an end the annual bass club banquet took place to look back at the year in fishing and celebrate the many accomplishments of the students.  This years' banquet had a record crowd of kids, parents, family members and captains in attendance.  The banquet started off with cookies and milk for the crowd to enjoy.  Soon after the awards began.  Coach Keith Donnelly started the awards off by honoring five captains.  Randy Toale, Dave Wilson, Brian Miller, Todd Reed and Dan Sweeney were given the "Captain's Cup", honoring any captain who has helped at ten or more events.  The bass club had 19 volunteer captains this year helping at our 5 different events.  Without the volunteer captains many students would not be able to fish in the tournaments.  After this the 2024 Limit Medals were given out.  These are earned by students who catch a limit or bass during a club tournament.  Each tournament has a maximum number of bass each team can bring in to the scales, either three or five bass.  This accomplishment is not an easy task, but was earned by the following group of students: Colton Cameron, Carter Eddy, Keegan King, Will Clark, Aiden Svoboda, Christian Simmons, Cal Sweeney, Gable Eddy, Ranger Reed, and Jackson Beatty.  

The awards continued with the Big Bass Award, this is given to the student that weighed in the largest bass over the entire year.  The 2024 Big Bass Award went to Cal Sweeney, he caught a 4.70 pound largemouth bass at the Okoboji Lakes in April.  Next up were the awards to the top three anglers in the club.  Each event that anglers fish they can earn up to 10 points for winning the event.  Nine points for second, eight points for third and all the way down to 1 point.  At the end of the year the points are tabulated, and the Angler of Year is crowned.  This year, Gable Eddy, winning two events and taking second in another took third place in the standings.  Ranger Reed was the Runner-Up angler, he won one event, came in second once, and placed third two times.  Jackson Beatty was crowned the 2024 Indee Bass Club Angler of the Year.  Jackson won two events and placed second in the other two events...what a year!  The Angler of the Year award has been given out for the past four years, each to a different angler; in 2021 Jackson Toale won, in 2022 Ranger Reed, in 2023 Colton Cameron, and now yet another student Jackson Beatty.  Who will it be in 2025...the schedule awaits and it is up for grabs starting in April.  

The Indee Bass Club is open to any student in the Independence Community School District.  It is free for students to participate in the events, including the state tournament.  Sponsors of the club make the entries free to students, as well as all the awards and fishing gear handed out during the season.  Sponsors include: Colony Heating/AC, Klever Concrete, Tim Reed State Farm, BankIowa, Hilltop Motors, Shay's Minn Kota, RONA Memorial, Cy&Charleys, Buchanan County Wildlife Association, SCHEELS of Cedar Falls, Hank's Bait and Tackle, Lew's Fishing, Strike King Lures, The Rod Glove, Hot Rod Baits, X-Zone Lures.   More information can be found on the club website, Facebook or Instagram.

Big Bass of the Year