It seems almost like clockwork that you can follow the spawn of every species that the great state of Iowa has to offer. We start with Walleyes after ice out and the move through the ranks to crappies, bass, bluegills and catfish. Viewing records from previous years catches shows that this year all spawn cycles are right around two weeks behind schedule. What does this mean for Iowa anglers approaching the 4th of July time frame? Time for fat bellied channel cats!
Venturing out last night in hopes of beating some of the holiday crowd on Friday was a great idea, but we soon realized we were not the only ones using that logic. At one time we estimated 20 boats on the lake, and still 10 on when we left at 10pm. We started off trying to salvage what was left of the rockline bass bite and managed to boat 20+ short largies and a dozen plus gills. We then decided to hit one of our honey holes and we instantly got into the pre-spawn cats. Saying these gals were aggressive would be a huge understatement.
The method that has proved to be so vital to our spawn fishing success held steady once again. The recipe as follows: One #6 Gamakatsu red hook, followed by a glow bead on a 18-24″ eight pound Vanish leader, barrel swivel connected to 6lb Flame Green Fireline with a small split shot. The meat of choice continues to be leeches but not the ones that cost $30 a pound. Switching to GULP Alive leeches has more than doubled the amount of fish we catch per bait and also cuts down on any dead loss in between trips.
We boated several nice fish right as darkness set in, with several in the 5 pound range. We opted to call it a night as we realized we had not remembered to bring a light source to find our way in the dark. Hopefully we will be able to get back out on this bite a couple more times before it’s over.
Here are a couple of pics. The darker fish was just shy of 26″ and was really beat up with scratches all over her. The other shot is of a really gorgeous fish with great color and a bursting belly!
Get out there and get ya some!
Dave
