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!
Best Crappie Baits
Best Crappie Baits Crappie…animals that forage for discrete, isolated resources are often characterized as either “ambush” (sit-and-wait) or “cruise” (active) searchers. Juvenile white crappie, Pomix annularis, search for zooplankton prey using a salutatory search (SS) strategy. Unlike ambush and cruise, SS involves… Had you readers going there for a moment didn’t I… Well lucky […]
READ MOREBuying Recreational Hunting Land: Part III
Buying Recreational Hunting Land: Part III When you are buying any investment, the most important part about the “buy” is not letting your emotions get the best of you. It is the same idea when buying recreational hunting land. Our emotions can get us to think we need something we really don’t. They can get […]
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Whitetails 365: Buying Recreational Land, Part I
Whitetails 365: Buying Recreational Land, Part I Owning your own recreational land to use and manage can be one of if not the most rewarding experiences you could ever have. For me, managing my own farm is almost more rewarding than the actual hunt itself. It extends the season outside the traditional fall months making […]
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Final Hour Gobblers
Final Hour Gobblers By Aaron Stonehocker I absolutely love late season turkey hunting. Some hunters head out religiously for season one or two in hopes of beating the ol’ toms at their own game. The logic: The birds have yet to learn the difference between counterfeit and authentic calls and perhaps a bit more aggressive […]
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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.
