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Listen Now! To the Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report

The episode features an in-depth fishing and outdoor report for early May across key destinations in Iowa, delivered from the perspective of an active angler who has been on the water. The conversation begins with a recap of the Iowa Walleye Opener on the Iowa Great Lakes, with particular focus on Spirit Lake.

Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report
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Check Out Our Current Issue!

How to Call Waterfowl

Waterfowl Lingo

Waterfowl Lingo Have you ever walked outside and listened to the Snow Geese or Canada’s and wonder what on earth they could be screaming about? Or how about a group of mallards working a marsh and all you can hear is chuckling or that lone hen screaming out a cadence. What about the whistle of […]

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Ways to Catch Summer Catfish on the River

Ways to Catch Summer Catfish on the River

Ways to Catch Summer Catfish on the River Catching catfish on the surface looks pretty easy and it is. One of the beautiful things about catfishing in the 21st century is it can be as simple or as difficult as you want it to be. Ways to catch catfish are many. In some states you […]

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How to Maximize Success with a Plan of Attack Taking Your Inventory

Trail Cameras: Maximize Success with a Plan of Attack!

Trail Cameras: Maximize Success with a Plan of Attack Trail cameras have come a long way since the early 1980s when a group of students from Missouri State University looked for ways to study whitetail deer behavior for an assignment to complete their Masters. Since then we have gone from monstrous boxes that literally held […]

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What it is like to be a Tournament Bass Angler Iowa’s Big Water Largemouth Challenge

Iowa’s Big Water Largemouth Challenge

Iowa’s Big Water Largemouth Challenge Iowa may be known for its small farm ponds when you go outside our borders, but the large bodies of water in the state can provide some great largemouth bass fishing too.  Not only for numbers of fish, but quality as well. The bigger bodies of water in the state […]

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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.

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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.