Check Out Our Current Issue!
In the May 2026 Issue of the Iowa Sportsman
- Chase the Bite: Early Season
- Calming A Hyper Gun Dog
- Perfecting Your Turkey Setup
- Summer Work That Pays Off in Bow Season
- Artifact Hunting in Iowa
- Wild Edible Foraging
- Tactics for Late-Season Toms
- Iowa’s Venom, Oil and Toxic Sap
Click Here To View This Issue Now!
Summer Prep for Trapping Season Success
Summer Prep for Trapping Season Success A successful trapper never stops learning or pursuing to be more successful. And a successful trapper is an efficient trapper. As I think about some of my first years trapping, I remember putting down a bunch of traps, driving a bunch of miles, and using up lots of hours […]
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Fishing for the Predator of Predators: The Muskie
Fishing for the Predator of Predators: The Muskie Mention the fall season and you’ll find anglers going after all kinds of fish: walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth bass, perch and other panfish. However, there is a group of anglers that go after the top of the food chain, the predator of predators…the muskellunge. For years, it […]
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A Flight of Passage!
A Flight of Passage! It starts with a change. That first real bite of cold in early fall when the leaves have barely started to turn and daylight periods grow shorter. It isn’t a rapid change, but more of a coaxing that sends those first early migrants on their southward journey. Waterfowlers sense this as […]
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When the Pressure (Hunting) is High!
When the Pressure (Hunting) is High! I grew up hunting with a great bunch of guys from my church. Most of them were farmers who had plenty of land and enjoyed the company of a city boy and his dad. Deer drives were our method of hunting and with these guys on our team, there […]
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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.
