Check Out Our Current Issue!
In the April 2026 Issue of the Iowa Sportsman
- Best Places for Early Season Open Water
- Building a Foundation for the Field
- Range Safety Tips
- Building a Farm Pond to Hold More Wildlife
- Shed Antlers: Do they really tell us anything?
- What Makes a Great Food Plot
- Keeping Kids Engaged in Turkey Hunting
- Pre-Spawn Bass
- Springtime Panfish-Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill
Click Here To View This Issue Now!
Prepare Yourself for Catfishing Challenges
Prepare Yourself for Catfishing Challenges It seems if you catfish it is inevitable that something will happen that can turn your day upside down. Most of this is out of your control. If you fish enough you know how this can go all too well. You know that little things happen, some can be fixed […]
READ MOREDid I Miss Him?
Did I Miss Him? Most people might think that middle schoolers can’t or don’t learn from their mistakes. From my experience, there are many lessons to be learned from hunting. My name is Bailey Dodd. I’m a 13-year-old girl, in 8th grade. I have been hunting, trapping, and fishing with my Dad since I was […]
READ MORETick-Bone Illnesses in Iowa
Tick-Bone Illnesses in Iowa Spring is a time of new beginnings for a lot of Iowans. During this time, we are outside working on food plots for the 2023 season, wildlife habitat maintenance, spring fishing, spring turkey hunting and morel mushroom hunting. As we spend more time outside, we come into contact with ticks. It […]
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DIY Turkey Tail Mount
DIY Turkey Tail Mount As Sportsmen, we like to preserve our trophies. Sometimes it’s the size of the animal that we’ve harvested that creates the desire to do so. Sometimes it’s the uniqueness of it and sometimes it’s for the memory or the story that was experienced. Whatever the reason, hanging something on the wall […]
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Featured Story
Springtime Panfish-Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill
Spring is in full swing here in Iowa, and what can be more pleasant a reminder than the sound of birds, the sight of flowers blooming, and the feel of a warm afternoon? I can think of at least one more thing…Panfish!
I can remember it like yesterday, our family would all meet up at the lake house. There was work to do. The yard was to be picked up, the cabin cleaned, and the dock had to be put in. But then, after the work was finished, it was time for all of us cousins to fish! We would all go out to the garage to pick out a few old rods and tie on a hook and sinker as best we could.
The next order of business was to hunt for worms. Flipping anything that we could find stuck in the ground in hopes of just finding a few crawlers. Once the bait was secured, we were ready to fish. We would go out on the dock and cast, vertical jig, and even troll along the side of the dock. We usually did pretty well use those tactics, but my all-time favorite was walking along the rocks on shore and dropping the bait down every little crevice, not knowing what was going to come up next.
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.
