Fishing

Chasing Late Season Bluegills In Clear Water

Chasing Late Season Bluegills In Clear Water For years and years ice fishermen from across the Midwest have headed to northwest Iowa’s West Lake Okoboji to sight fish the finicky bluegills which West Okoboji is famous for. Late ice toward the end of February and into March can be incredible. Once in a while, for […]

Ice On! – Podcast

Ice Fishing Fundamentals

Ice Fishing Fundamentals Every year I give lots of ice fishing seminars over the course of the winter. LOTS of seminars. So many in fact, that I used to find myself wanting to up the ante with each seminar I presented, tackling increasingly more complex subject matter with each new presentation. A few years ago, […]

Useful Tactics For Walleyes In The Heat!

Useful Tactics For Walleyes In The Heat! The dog days of summer…historically, for lots of anglers these words mean the end of walleye fishing until the cool fall days begin. For fishing guide and tournament angler Kevan Paul, the dog days of summer can still be days of good walleye fishing. “I agree that some […]

Yellow Bass Iowa’s Overlooked Panfish

Yellow Bass Iowa’s Overlooked Panfish Iowa has a love-hate relationship with the yellow bass. On one hand they’re plentiful, fun to catch and make delicious table fare. On the other hand, in many instances, they’re an invasive species and out-compete other panfish like crappies and bluegills…even largemouth bass. They are prolific breeders so they can […]

Top 9 Channel Catfish Baits

Top 9 Channel Catfish Baits I was once told by a great catfish tournament angler that the best bait collectors are often times the best catfish anglers. I had to ponder that one for a while but in the end I believe he is spot on with that statement. So what is the best channel […]

Snowmobiles: The New Rage?

Snowmobiles: The New Rage? I am amazed how far snowmobiles and the sport of snowmobiling have come in the 40-ish years since I first threw a leg over one. I remember our old Ski-Doo and Rupp sleds fondly. At the time they seemed powerful, comfortable and agile. Fast forward 40 years and the performance improvements […]

Early Tactics for Full Buckets

Early Tactics for Full Buckets Once the calendar turns to November, anglers in the Ice Belt begin praying for several sub-freezing days and nights to get that first sold ice on fishable waters. Here on the Iowa Great Lakes that can be early as Thanksgiving but most usually around the middle of December. Now that […]

Ice Fishing Preview

Ice Fishing Preview December is around the corner! And with any luck, we will have a chance to get out and start punching holes and feeding our ice fishing addiction. There have been times when we’re on the ice by Thanksgiving, but in most cases, except for Northern Iowa, we’ll still have ice that’s pretty […]

Ice Fishing 2020 Predictions

Ice Fishing 2020 Predictions As I sit here at my keyboard, the Dakotas are getting their first snowfall of the ‘19-20 season. Local temperatures have dropped from the seventies to the 50’s and overnight temps will be teasing the freezing mark. If this is truly the arrival of winter, then it has been a very […]