8th Annual Iowa High School Bass Team Championship

Ethan and Ty- 2026 Champions

 Eight years has passed since the idea of having an "open" youth tournament crossed my mind.  It doesn't seem possible that it was that long ago.  Since then, I have crowned these schools champions; 2019- Washington HS, 2020- Marion HS, 2021- Washington HS, 2022- ADM HS,  2023- Cedar Falls HS, 2024- Independence HS, 2025- CR Prairie HS, 2026- CR Prairie HS.  This tournament creates a buzz each year and has helped anglers participate and try tournaments even though their school or surrounding area doesn't have a bass club.  I was so proud back in 2019 when we topped 20 boats, ending up with 28 boats that year, now, the past three years we have topped 50 boats in each event.  This year, in 2026 we will be the largest the Youth Bass Tournament in the state of Iowa...thank you all for finding this event and getting your kids involved in the outdoors, especially my life-long passion, BASS FISHING!

Ty & Warner BIG BASS TIE

SCHEELS of Cedar Falls was once again the Title Sponsor.  They supplied all kids with baits and fishing gear, many of the Top 15 boat prizes were SCHEELS sponsored as well.  Them, as well as Lew's Fishing and Strike King Lures, I was able to give away over $5,000 worth of prizes and fishing gear.  Truly amazing!  I also want to add that my friends, Chad O'Brien and Drew O'Brien made this event go smooth for all involved...thanks guys!

Onto the most exciting event of the history of this tournament.  I have ran/organized/fished in 100's tournaments in my life, never, ever have the numbers worked out like they did at this event.  First, Lake MacBride showed why this event made its return, the bass were biting and the kids were having fun, isn't that what it is all about?  Of the57 boats, (114 kids) 44 of them brought bass to the weigh-in.  A huge feat for the anglers and the population of bass in the lake.  The top team from Cedar Falls, Ty and Ethan brought 14.81 pounds to the scales, including a 4.34 pound big bass.  In second place was the team from CR Prairie of Nolan and Max, they had 13.01 pounds.  In third was Justice and Warner from CR Prairie, they had 10.48 with a 4.34 pound big bass.  Yes, that is right a TIE for the big bass to the one-hundreth of a pound.  Crazy, the crowd of over 300 people was amazed too.  The full standings can
be found HERE on the tournament website.  Now, I have seen one or two times in my life where there was a tie for big bass, typically they split the prize.  Not here though, both anglers received the BIG BASS Trophy and Strike King Gear Pack.  Now, for the absolute, never in my life even thought about it result from this tournament.  When calculating the "TEAM SCORES", the total of the top 2 boats from each school, there was another tie.  Cedar Falls and CR Prairie had the exact same weight, 23.49 pounds.  No problem, the Big Bass was the tiebreaker...oh year, both schools TIED FOR BIG BASS too!  So onto the 3rd tie-breaker, add in a third boat to the team total. When calculated, CR Prairie was crowned the 2026 Iowa High School Bass Team Championship.  To think, 10 bass from Cedar Falls and 10 bass from CR Prairie weighing the exact same amount...never in my life.  You just never know in the world of bass fishing.  Nolan/Max/Justice/Warner from CR Prairie helped their school take home the Championship rings, while Ethan/Ty/Jack/Madek got the Runner-up for Cedar Falls.  In third place was West Delaware HS, forth place was Independence HS, and in fifth was Wilton HS.

CHAMPIONSHIP  RINGS

                

A beautiful spring day on Lake MacBride will hold so many memories for these kids and captains.  I am glad I can work with so many sponsors and friends to bring this event to the youth of Iowa.  This year, we had a record number of schools represented, 24 schools from across Iowa.  We are 12 months away from the 2027 event...but planning is already in the works.  ;)

 

Pictures from the event can be found on our Facebook page, again, thank you all for making this event the BEST in the state!

2026 Indee Bass Club Tournament #1 at Lake Delhi

 

Lake Delhi Champions: Jackson and Colton

Ten years ago, Jackson Toale and Kegan Postel had an idea for a school project..."let's start a bass club".  A week or so later after a few dead ends, they were sent to me for help.  The rest is, as they say, history. 

 The 2026 Indee Bass Club began its tenth year of helping kids get out on the water to learn and practice bass fishing.  We kicked off the tenth season on a cool, breezy morning at Lake Delhi this past Saturday.  Eight captains and their boats awaited for the sixteen kids to blast off at 8am for a day of fishing.  The goal for the day, catch five "keeper" bass that measured 12 inches or more.  The event concluded at 1pm with a weigh-in and prize giveaways for all kids involved.  The Indee Bass Club is a volunteer youth group that can only do what they do with the help of their great sponsors.  These sponsors include: Colony Plumbing Heating/AC, Smith D&L Insurance, Buchanan County Wildlife Association, Rick Wendling Memorial, BankIowa, Time Reed State Farm, Shay's Minn Kota, Hilltop Motors, Cy&Charley's, Cedar Falls SCHEELS, The Rod Glove, FishRX, X-Zone Lures, Hot Rod Baits, Lew's Fishing, and Strike King Lures.  Andrew Gissel of Gissel Custom Rods was present at this event to give away one of his custom casting rods, what a treat for a young angler to now own a custom rod from a local rod maker.  The club is able to give away rods, reels and fishing gear totaling about $800 for each event, while keeping it free for all anglers.  

The spring weather has been nothing but normal in the month of April.  Storm front after front have graced the state of Iowa brining higher than normal water to Lake Delhi and more than usual runoff and current.  Students and adult captains were greeted with temperatures in low forties with winds whipping around 25mph at times.  Water clarity was a little dirty for Lake Delhi in April due to the recent weather.  If you add all these variables up, it made for a tough day on the water for the student anglers.  Eight boats were entered into the event, but only four could catch a keeper to weigh-in at the scales.  In forth place was Even Hoyle and Clinton Junk, they had one keeper that weighed 0.96 pounds.  Coming in third was Ranger Reed and Cal Sweeney, they had one keeper bass that weighed 1.03 pounds.  Ranger reported catching the keeper on a Hot Rod Baits tube rigged "stupid style".  Coming in second was the team of Aiden Svoboda and Will Clark.  They caught 3 keepers that weighed 4.74 pounds.  Aiden also caught the Strike King Big Bass of the tournament, a 2.53 pound largemouth.  This young duo caught their keepers on Spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits.  In first place was the team of Colton Cameron and Jackson Beatty, they also won this event in 2025.  They had a limit of 5 keeper bass that weighed 8.25 pounds.  They reported catching their winning fish on crankbaits and a Ned Rig.  Overall the bites were few but spirits were high at the weigh-in.  It is early April and conditions can vary from day to day.  I special thank you goes out to the eight adult captains for taking these kids out on the water today; Andrew Gissel, Todd Reed, Dan Sweeney, Jeff Heinze, Joel Hoyle, Cyrus Butters, Bo Peyton, and Dalton Beau.  The next event is at Lake MacBride in May for the club, you can find them on the web, Instagram and Facebook for more details, or contact Coach Todd Reed on how to get involved. 

2nd Place and BIG BASS: Aiden and Will

 

Spring is HERE

 Open water fishing is off to a hot start this month.  I have focused only on bass fishing thus far this spring with some great trips already in the books.  Here are my must have 3 baits for early bass season:

#1- Wig's Jig and Chunk: This has been a favorite of mine for over a decade now.  This hand-made jig available in all the right colors paired with a Hot Rod Baits chunk is always ready to be pitched this time of year.  I have rotated between the Black/Blue Flash and the Bluegill pattern.  Get some today: www.hotrodbaits.com

Do these 3 Things NOW to keep your Ice Season Rolling!

The ice season is sadly on the downhill side of the season and some lakes are showing signs of the February slowdown.  Fish tend to slow down in February as the ice builds and the crowds are thick at popular Iowa lakes/rivers. There are a few simple things that ice anglers need to do to get through this tough time and onto the late ice bite...which can be even better than first ice.

#1- FRESH LINE: Now is a perfect time to get some fresh line on your reels.  You DO NOT need to take all the line off and fill your entire spool with new line.  Most ice fishing line spools come with 100 yards of line on them.  That is enough to re-line 2 or 3 reels.  Leave plenty of older line on your reel and put the fresh right on top.  If you need more than 100 feet of line on your ice reel...you aren't fishing in Iowa.

#2- TRAVEL: One sure fire way to beat the winter slowdown is to travel to highly populated lakes.  Some lakes are better than others, some just have more fish in them than others.  Water quality, reproduction cycles, and angler pressure can all lead to this.  Research and find what lakes are "full" of fish, it will make a huge difference this time of year.

#3- TURN IT OFF: If you are using Forward Facing Sonar on the ice, it is time to turn it off.  Not all the time, but when you locate fish and use a Vexilar to catch them, do not leave the FFS in the water pointing at the fish you are trying to catch.  I have seen this over and over throughout the winter seasons.  Some fish will move from their location if you leave the FFS pointing on them.  The signal of a FFS unit is strong, the fish can feel the sonar and some will react negatively towards it.  Simple fixes include; pulling it out of the hole or pointing it another direction.  The signal frequency of a Vexilar unit will omit anywhere from 150 to 300MHz, while a FFS, like a Livescope will omit 600-1,100 MHz.  Yes, the fish can feel that and make the leave the area.

These are a few things you can do in the near future to keep catching good numbers of fish through the ice.  With the current forecast...you may want to bookmark this article because late ice may be here sooner than later.  :(

1 Often OVERLOOKED aspect of using a VEXILAR

 

Using a Vexilar while ice fishing is a typical thing anymore.  The Vexilar FL-8 was introduced in the 1980s and ice fishing has never been the same since.  The ability to see under the ice to locate fish, brush and weeds changed the game forever.  It is still the most popular device used on the ice today for anglers.  Even though it is the most popular ice electronic in the Midwest, anglers often forget a key element that a Vexilar can do for them while ice fishing.  

No matter what model of Vexilar you may have, this often overlooked information can be detected with your unit.  The easy things for all Vexilar users are visually seeing the bottom, brush, weeds, your bait and of course the fish.  On those great days of ice fishing as your jig starts to fall, the fish will swim out of nowhere and meet up with your jig, a little bump on the rod and up comes the fish.  Simple, and yet so satisfying.  Those days are few and far between.  Typically, locating fish and knowing whether there are fish under us or not while ice fishing is as far as most anglers get while using a Vexilar.  There is much more.

The most often overlooked aspect of using a Vexilar is reacting to the mood of the fish.  This is much more than following the fish "up and down" the water column.  Vexilar is a real-time sonar device and we as anglers need to use that information to our advantage.  Whenever our bait is down the hole we need to be analyzing the behavior of the fish.  Think of it as a Cause/Effect relationship.  If you are jigging your bait aggressively and a fish shows up...that action of your jig brought the fish nearby.  Use that information to catch it.  If the fish is getting closer (colors turning from green to yellow to red) then keep that jigging action going.  If that signal is not getting "stronger", (turning back from red to yellow to green) then make an immediate change in the cadence of your bait.  It truly is a cat/mouse game all the time.  The more you can focus in on what the colors on the Vexilar are telling you, the better you can adjust your cadence to get more fish attracted to you, and then get them to bite.  Some days all fish will react the same, mostly due to weather patterns or light penetration through the ice.  However, most days each fish has its own mood that we need to detect while it is under us.  Most do not give you much time to make this adjustment.  Be aware of the marks on your Vexilar and always think about the reactions of the fish, they are telling you what they like...and don't like. The more we can decipher this the more fish we will catch.