fishing

Locating Summer Smallmouth
Locating Summer Smallmouth By Nick Johnson A sought after fish in Iowa no doubt, the smallmouth bass holds a special place in angler’s hearts where they are found. Often targeted in streams and rivers, many fishermen forget about lakes to get their fix on these feisty bass. Indeed many lakes in Iowa are devoid of […]
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Sizzling Summer Smallies
Sizzling Summer Smallies By Todd Reed The hottest days of August can provide an Iowa angler the hottest smallmouth action of the year. Smallmouth bass are sometimes the forgotten bass of Iowa. While some anglers would choose to fish for only smallmouth bass for the rest of their lives, me included, most anglers catch the […]
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Retrieving Freedom… Giving Hope to our Veterans!
Retrieving Freedom… Giving Hope to our Veterans! Courtesy of Scott Dewey Returning from a deployment in a combat zone should feel like a win, yet the limitations of a physical disability or post-traumatic stress can cause anything but a celebration. It can be a difficult struggle for many returning veterans to reintegrate back into the […]
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Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer
Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer By Steve Weisman The year was 1963, and I was 15 years old, a teenager who loved to play baseball and go to semi-pro baseball games and just kick back on a mid-summer’s evening. A big hit song of 1963 was Nat King Cole’s “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer, and […]
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Summertime Shad and Square Bills
Summertime Shad and Square Bills I decided to fish my way through 2020, the year of social isolation, and experienced the most epic day of largemouth bass fishing of my life. I have no idea how many bass I caught the morning of August 7th, but I fished one spot for an hour and a […]
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Targeting Shallow Weed Walleyes
Targeting Shallow Weed Walleyes Over the 40 plus years that I have lived in northwest Iowa, I’ve enjoyed fishing walleyes on the Iowa Great Lakes. My target lakes have included Big Spirit, East and West Okoboji. For many years, however, I missed a real opportunity during the summer months. After fishing the weed edges in […]
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Jugging for Catfish
Jugging for Catfish “FISH ON! FISH ON!” That phrase struck an adrenaline rush that only two things could ignite, a first kiss and “juggin” for catfish. At that moment every head in every boat turned like a top trying to find that one Gatorade bottle creating a wake across the waters of the Des Moines […]
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A Place For Family and Friends: The Outdoors
A Place for Family and Friends: The Outdoors As a young man growing up in the Loess Hills of western Iowa, I was too busy pursuing teenage interests to realize the beauty the hills had to offer. It wasn’t until I was older and a college student at Mankato State University that I found myself […]
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Trolling for Walleyes over the Weeds
Trolling for Walleyes over the Weeds By Steve Weisman Last August, I had the chance to listen to Jon Thelen, walleye guide and host of Lindy’s Fish Ed Television Series, give a fishing seminar at the Okoboji Blue Water Festival. His topic was “Walleyes in the Weeds,” and I was excited to hear what his […]
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Time for Big Gills
Time for Big Gills By Steve Weisman If you are a kid at heart like I am, now is the time to get after those big bluegills on Iowa’s lakes. It starts a little earlier in the south because the water warms sooner, but it always happens this time of year. About the last week […]
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