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| First fish of the season (yellow perch) |
The season started somewhat on time and found me ice fishing in northern Iowa by the second weekend in December. Many years folks in that area are on the ice shortly after Thanksgiving, so this year wasn't too far off from that time frame. This was a much different outlook then the year prior where it wasn't till after New Year's when folks could access the ice in northern Iowa.
Most of the winter, central and southern Iowa received little to no snow and actually had more rain days than snow events. This made for easy walking on the ice, but wasn't beneficial for snowmobile and atv traffic on the local lakes due to lack of ice thickness and questionable edges. Our season was also cut short by above average temps for much of late January and early February and saw ice fishing in central and southern Iowa finished by the second weekend of February.
This season I was able to log 30 trips on the ice to 17 different bodies of water; 10 of which were new to me. I was pretty pleased with those numbers considering the shorter season and exploring ten new bodies of water is something I enjoy. My travels this season found me again spending the majority of my time in Iowa; but I was also able to fit in a trip to Lake of the Woods right after Christmas with a good friend and my dad. I had never fished Lake of the Woods before and none of us had fished it through the ice, so this was a new adventure for each of us. This trip turned out to be more of a vacation than a fishing trip as Border View Lodge offers fantastic accommodations.
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| Sunset on Great Traverse Bay - Lake of the Woods |
The highlights of the trip was spending time with my dad and buddy and watching my friend fight a lake sturgeon for a solid 40 minutes only to have his line break before the fish could make it top side. The consensus in our group after speaking to the guides at the lodge was that the fish probably would have not fit through the 8" hole and was estimated to be between 48-52" long. Not a large lake sturgeon by any means, they can grow upwards of twelve feet long, but quite a challenge on six pound test fishing line and a 30" ice fishing rod.
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| Unfortunately this picture doesn't do the fish justice |
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| Mounted Lake Sturgeon at Border View Lodge Restaurant |
This winter I competed in three different tournaments. The first venue was Stan's Bait and Tackle bluegill tournament on Lil Emerson bay at West Okoboji, Iowa with Todd Reed. Typically the waters are gin clear with abundant submerged vegetation at West Okoboji, but that was not the case this year with visibility only two to three feet and little to no vegetation present. Our patterns from prefishing did not hold true tournament day and found us with a disappointing finish somewhere in the middle of the pack out of twenty seven teams.
The second stop was the Iowa State Fishing Club's tournament on Hickory Grove Lake. Todd and I teamed up again for this tournament and after prefishing the weekend prior to the tournament, as well as the day before the tournament, we felt confident in our patterns and fish location. Thankfully, those patterns held true during the tournament and we won the tournament as well as Todd catching the biggest fish of the day. Everything came together that day and this was easily our best tournament we have fished together in the six years we have teamed up.
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| Winning bag of 10 panfish weighing in at 8.66 pounds |
This season I was able to catch a couple of new species of fish through the ice; a sauger and tullibee while we were at Lake of the Woods.
I spent some time targeting channel catfish through the ice this winter and it culminated in me landing my personal best channel catfish. That same night also resulted in one of my most memorable times on the ice as a buddy and I landed approximately thirty channel catfish between three and eight pounds in a matter of a few hours. I have never experienced a school of catfish three feet high and seemingly endless for that long of period of a time. Had we stayed later into the night; I have no doubts we could have caught even more catfish, but obligations the following morning had us off the ice after only a few hours.
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| 5-6 pound channel catfish |
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| 7-8 pound channel catfish |
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| 28" 9 pound 12 ounce channel catfish |
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| 30" 13 pound 6 ounce channel catfish |
I was also fortunate to catch my largest fish through the ice this winter. The Saturday prior the Iowa State Fishing Club's tournament on Hickory Grove, I snagged a common carp in the tail. The fight lasted about thirty minutes with many strong runs which tested the capability of my fishing line, reel, and rod. To my astonishment my small tungsten jig stayed in the carp's tail during the fight. I had to drill a series of three other holes, so that there was room for the fish to fit through, while also holding onto the rod in order to land the fish. It was quite an ordeal, but only made it sweeter once I was able to land the fish.
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| 31" 16 pound 4 ounce common carp |
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| 16 pound 4 ounce common carp |
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| (photo courtesy of Chad Angell) |
I also caught another carp this winter, this time in the mouth, in late February. The carp hit a glow red Clam Bomb Spoon which was packed with wax worms. It was a much shorter fight than the previous carp as I was only fishing in five and a half feet of water and the fish was less than a third the size. Still a lot of fun and a blast on light tackle and a short rod.
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| 24" 5 pound 2 ounce common carp |
I would like to take a moment to thank my sponsors Clam Outdoors and Sportsmen's Direct for their continued support this winter. It is a pleasure and honor to be a part of each of each of their respective teams and endorse their products.
With that said, that puts a wrap to another fun season. See you on the ice next winter!
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