Early Spring Trout Fishing
Early Spring Trout Fishing

Early Spring Trout Fishing Spring in Northeast Iowa’s Driftless Region marks the beginning of one of the most rewarding trout fishing seasons in the Midwest. This is one of the prettiest areas in Northern Iowa marked with limestone bluffs, spring-fed creeks, and rolling pastures. The Driftless Region contains a several cold, clear streams that flow steadily year-round. This creates perfect trout habitat, and spring offers fishermen peaceful days on the water. With stable water temperatures, increasing insect activity, and hungry post-winter trout, there’s no better time to explore these legendary streams. Why The Driftless Region? This region is a trout […]

Read more

Check Out Our Current Issue!

Planning Your June Catfish Destination

Planning Your Next June Catfish Destination June is here, and with it comes cooling summer evenings; the time when bank lines are set and fishermen across Iowa seek out channel catfish. The summer feeding patterns can be some of the most exciting and rewarding times to catch those cats. Many catfish anglers will go down […]

READ MORE

How To Take A Kid Fishing

How To Take a Kid Fishing Fishing is in full swing, and there is nothing better than a special fishing trip with a child. It doesn’t matter if the child is five years old or 15 years old, that child has dreams of catching fish and having a good time with a special person. I […]

READ MORE

Maintaining Clover Food Plots: Whitetails 365

Maintaining Clover Food Plots: Whitetails 365 From my hunting stand, I watched the 11-point buck bedded down in the clover field through my binoculars. Thanks to the establishment of clover on our small property, my husband and I were able to hold and attract neighboring deer to our place, and in this case, we had […]

READ MORE

The Benefits of Pheasant Food Plots

The Benefits of Pheasant Food Plots If you’re a bird hunter reading this I bet I can take you along with me and you can picture this journey because you’ve seen it before with your own eyes. You’re slogging through the bluestem, the switchgrass, or other grassland flushing the occasional bird as you go but […]

READ MORE

Featured Story

Big Buck Profile: The 2025 Gandy Buck

Ok, this first big buck profile is a little self-serving in that it is of a buck that I personally took this past deer season. While it is likely not the “biggest” big buck that we will profile this year it is definitely one of my most special deer ever.

Turning a Dream into Reality

As has been noted in several articles since 2023, my family and I finally put together the means to purchase our very own piece of Iowa ground. “The 32,” as we call it, has become a passion project to see if we could take an unassuming piece of real estate and harvest a mature deer from there by giving him all he needs in the way of habitat. This year was the first year that the farm would be huntable in the state in which we intended due to construction projects over the past couple of seasons.

READ FULL STORY

Created By Iowans, For Iowans

The Iowa Sportsman website and magazine are Iowa’s only privately owned media sources catering to hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts here in Iowa. Simply put, we are unlike other Iowa outdoor media sources: All our staff is from Iowa, from our publisher to our writers. We actually follow through on what we advertise; we provide knowledgeable content from people who know the industry or sport discussed.