Try Something New...you never know what you might find

Ice fishing is in full swing around the state even in the southern half of the state.  This took me south this past weekend to try a lake I have wanted to visit for the last year.  I was able to meet up with several friends to search out some bluegills and crappies.  The five of us worked well together dissecting the water, hopping around with our Vexilars and trying a variety of depths.  We landing on several schools of gills and crappies doing this.  Many of the gills were solid keeper size and the crappies were of good quality too.  As a group we kept some of each species, but released many of the larger crappies.  This is something we have done for the past several years, letting those bigger fish back into the system so they can reproduce for years to come.  Of those bigger fish we decided to release was my largest public water crappie ever, a solid 15inch black crappie that weighed 2 pounds and 1 ounce.  It was a beast, and I just couldn't put it in a bucket.  A few pictures and it was released back down the hole.  We also found some schools of catfish.  In typical fashion the catfish were suspended in the middle of the water column and fell to spoons jigged with meat.  

The key bait for the day was a silver/pink Reins Tungsten Palpuntin Spoon.  If you like spoons, you have to take a look at this tungsten version.  It has a unique fall and drops like a stone.  I love using spoons on the 36-inch Jason Mitchell Dead Meat Stick paired with a Quantum Drive spinning reel with two pound test mono line.  Everything about this combo compliments each other and is perfect for hole hopping and dropping spoons on hungry fish.  

Get out and enjoy the ice, hopefully we still have 6 or so weeks left here in Iowa to hit the ice.  

Saying Good-Bye to 2020 at Lake Okoboji

 Lake Okoboji has called my name every winter for quite some time.  I tend to hit this body of water around the first of the year when ice isn't that great around the state.  This trip was by far the most difficult in recent years due to the late winter weather.  A lot of the lake was not "safe" to venture out on which limited us to a few areas in Spirit Lake and West Okoboji. Both lakes produced fish, however we ended up sticking to sight fishing on Little Emerson Bay for most of the trip.  The water was very clear and you can see every detail of the bottom of the lake in 9 feet of water, a real treat as it has not been this way in recent years.  Being able to see your jig and how your every movement impacts whether that bluegill below you bites or not can be quite humbling.  This trip provided us with a solid sight bite that was steady enough enough to produce a few dozen good sized keepers each day for our 5 man group.  using small jigs with spikes or small plastics was key to catching most of the fish.  As with any trip to Lake Okoboji many species were caught; bluegills, pumpkin seeds, black crappie, largemouth bass, perch and a northern pike.  

A 13.5 inch Crappie was a big surprise while sight fishing.

If you have never ice fished at the Okoboji Lakes, put it on your list of things to do.

It isn't often that you catch a fish as long as your pole!

First time on the ICE

It wouldn't be 2020 without another "first".  Today marked the first time on the ice for me in Iowa, most likely the latest ever for me...2020 just keeps stinging!  Anyway, with several small ponds and lakes above the Highway 20 line I had to give it a go.  After several plans were made and scratched I decided to head west and try a small lake.  I had heard the ice was a solid 4 inches and people had been fishing on it all week.  Now it was my turn!

I studied the lake using the Navionics app on my phone and the DNR website.  I had never been to or seen this lake before, only knowing that the bluegill and crappie population were solid.  It was like Christmas Eve all over again as a kid...I couldn't sleep.  I really enjoy trying new lakes and areas to fish, that curiosity of where they are living still puts me in a trance to this day.  

I made the most of this trip, I arrived in the parking lot just before the clock turned 7am.  I was a bit surprised to see 7 vehicles already parked there as I got my ice gear on.  With a small sled packed with my day gear I was once again "walking on water".  I knew where I wanted to start, but instincts took over and I was once again staring at the map on the phone as I paced out to what I thought would be a good spot to start.  I got there rather quickly, the lake is under 100 acres and soon began to drill a grid of about a dozen holes.  I went around with the Vexilar FLX30 and I noticed some marks flying high off the bottom, that's always a good sign!  I quickly grabbed my rod with a spoon on it and started dropping it down the holes.  I rotated around the grid for next two hours picking up bluegills and crappies at a regular pace.  The gills and crappies were very healthy and I decided to keep 10 of them for a meal and put the rest back.  Things slowed down a bit so I grabbed the auger and started to expand my area.  I picked up a few fish here and there, but as the morning disappeared the fish seemed to do the same.  After drilling another 50 or so holes around my starting grid, I ended up back in the same general area as I began.  

While back at the original grid for the second time I was able to tangle with two very large bass.  I was fortunate both times to be holding my spoon rod which I had teamed up with a Quantum Throttle reel.  This reel is equipped with 9 ball bearings and most importantly a very smooth drag.  That drag got a workout with the bigger of the two bass.  It took several runs and took a couple of minutes to bring the bass through the hole using 2# test line.  I got a measurement of the fish, it is my biggest through the ice for sure!  A beautiful fish that someone else will hopefully have the chance of catching someday.

Oddly enough, around noon the bite seemed to pick up once again.  Typically this is the slow part of the day, so my energy level increased and it was hard to pack up!  All in all it was a great first time out.  The plan and method of searching out fish and catching them worked perfectly today, I can only hope the next outings will be as fun and easy!

PLEASE USE CAUTION ON THE ICE, EACH LAKE HAS DIFFERENT THICKNESSES OF ICE!

Do these 6 things before WINTER hits

December always marks the end the open-water fishing season here in Iowa. A lot of anglers have their boats put away and the tackle and fishing poles haven't seen daylight for awhile. This may be a big mistake, and you will want to get some of those things back out soon. No, not to go fishing, it is ice fishing season now, but to help you get off to a good start next spring. Here are 6 things you should do now before it is too late.

#1- Take the line off of your reels (leave about 1/3 of the old line on) = FRESH line in the spring ***see video below about old line

#2- Loosen your drag on your reels = longer life to your drag

#3- Zip up bags to plastic lures = better scent and prevent dryness

#4- Keep tackle indoors = prevent mice from destroying

#5- Replace any rusty hooks, sharpen dull hooks

#6- Make a wish list- What do you need before the spring???

These are a few things I try to do each and every winter.  They don't take very much time, unless you have a lot of hooks to replace which takes quite a bit of time.  These 6 things will help you get off to a great, and fast start this spring as the ice melts away.

When Fall turns into Summer

In the past couple of weeks I have had the chance to fish same body of water six times.  Most of those outings were in the 2 hour time range, not a large sampling but enough for this time of year.  Late October and the first week of November are typically those last few days when an angler can get out and chase a few smallmouth around the rivers.  This year Mother Nature decided to take those cool, crisp November days and turn them into summer-like days.  We had several back-to-back 70+ degrees days the first week of November...can 2020 get any more bizarre???  With this temperature swing, the water temperature rose quickly.  At one point in a seven day stretch the water temperature rose 10 degrees.  That is a lot for fish, especially when the fish were setting up in their winter pattern.

The interesting change of weather, and the frequent stops at fishing the general areas helped me to peak into the world of the smallmouth bass.  In late October the bass already changed their eating habits, preferring smaller baits like a ned rig, stick baits, grubs and the occasional jerkbait.  Once the unusual summer-like weather hit the bass started to prefer a 4-inch tube, a much larger bait.  Water temperatures ranged from 42-57 degrees throughout this observation.  Fishing has always intrigued me, why do you catch them in a location one day and not the next time?  What bait are they looking for in certain situations?  Amongst other countless questions I am always mulling over while out fishing.  The past couple weeks have helped me answer a few of those, and has let me peer into the world of a smallmouth bass, one that seems complex and ever-changing.