For me the Ironsilk line does have alot of memory when compared to the XT Solar line. And it did seam to have a little bit more stretch in it also. But it is pretty sensative. I did not have any problems with line or knots breaking. Usually the jigs came out of the snags if a guy just kept constant pressure on the line and slowly bent the hooks out. I feel that under the same circumstances the solar may have broken where as the Ironsilk held its ground. So I guess I am pretty happy about the replacement line. But I am really gonna miss the Solar.
Jim L

Congratulations Steve and Amber!!!

Hey Jake, Roger Hansen of Bear Paw Taxidermy located in Eyota, Mn does replica mounts for $8 an inch. If you caught a 20″ Smallmouth it would only cost you about $160 to have a replica made that would last you a lifetime. That is pretty cheap when compared to what most of the other taxidermist charge for replicaes. His phone number is 507-545-0139. Every time I am over there he is always working on 10 to 20 fish and other species of wildlife. He does alot of replica mounts for a ton of people all over Minnesota.
Jim L

Power Pro does not make a smoke color but they do make a color called moss green. It is a dark green comparable in color to Spiderwires dark green color. Hope this helps
Jim L

The guy’s name whom I was reffering to on the other post is Roger Hansen. He lives in Eyota and his phone number is 507-545-0139. The name of his taxidermist business is Bear Paw Taxidermy. He use to be located in Hutchinson, Mn but moved to Eyota last year. He charges $8 an inch for fish which is about $2 below almost all other taxidermist in this area. He does an excellent job on all species of fish but the one that gets me the most is his Northern Pike tail dancing scenes. They are really impressive to look at it.
Jim L

Hey fishunter, I know of a guy down here around Rochester that does some pretty amazing replica mounts. His pricing is really good also. I was just over to his place the other day and he just got the replica mount for the world record walleye of 20+ lbs. He still needs to paint her up and stuff but that fish is just HUGE!!!! He also did a completed version of the world record largemouth. Pretty Awesome fish!!! And he does waterfowl, bear, buffalo, saltwater fish, just about anything you needed or wanted done he can do. Send me a pm and I will give you his name and number. You won’t be dissapointed at all!!!
Jim L

I have used powerpro alot over the past 2 years or so and love the stuff. I use it mainly for casting cranks on a spinning rod and for casting and pitching and jigging on a spinning rod also. However, (this is just form my personal history with powerpro) is that I do not think I will ever change it over to my trolling and threeway rods. I think that spiderline is much more abraison resistant than powerpro and so much more than fireline. I have not changed my spiderline on one of my rigging rods and one of my trolling rods for 1 and 1/2 years now and the stuff still looks good and I still haven’t seen any bad amrks in the line that would amke me change it over. the other rods I had to replace the spiderline with newer stuff because of a loss of too much line due to snags and mishaps. And I also feel that powerpro is the better of the two when it comes to comparing powerpro to fireline but neither of them have stood up to match what spiderline can do and the way it lasts. I love the hi vis color powerpro has and yes the color does go away sometimes even after a day or two of hard use but it still has the strength. And it does not fray as quickly as fireline. But the main thing for me with putting powerpro on a trolling rod or rigging rod is that I have had too many jigs or cranks lossed when the line is constantly scrapping the bottom while casting cranks when it comes up over a sharp drop off. And when you are trolling/rigging and the boat starts weaving in and out of the contour breaks the line is what hits the rocks first and causes it to fray so fast and then to just eventually break. I don’t know how many times I have casted a crank out to deep water and then realed it in and watch the powerpro line go scrapping over the rocks and then the crankbait comes bouncing over the rocks and then when I am getting ready to cast agian the after seeing the line being frayed by the rocks and thinking that it is a superline and should I should be able to cast it agian. Well, what happens to me next is that the line hits the rock again and then the crank gets snagged and and when I go to try and snap or pull it out the line jsut breaks like it was only 2lb test. This same sceneario happens while trolling and that is why I do not want to put powerpro on my rigging or trolling rods. Just my two cents worth
Jim l

Nice report there Keith. Nice to see you are hitting some of my old territory where I grew up. Sounds like the fishing has been good. Were you fishing above or below the dam in town there? Not to get off of the smallie subject but my grandfather use to be in charge of a local walleye stocking hatchery that sits back behind the school in town there. Just go to the east on the road next to the school and you will come across the an old white shed where they use to raise and stock walleye fry. It was shut down about 15 to 20 years ago becasue of the DNR . They said it was ruining there data they were collecting about the walleye in that stretch of river. But I know for a fact that BIG walleye still live in that stretch of water. Anyway, thanks for the report. It’s good to hear that you are catching fish down there.

Jim L

It was a great time Swany. Thanks for the trip. Next time though we will have to see if we can’t locate a few eyes to go with the mix bag. I had asked quite a few people whom live in Rochester if there was any fish in the lake or river and most of them said no. But after yesterday I know different now. Thanks Swany for the great time and we will have to hit it again…sometime really soon!!!!
Jim L

Sounds good buddy !!!! I will send you a pm on going.
Jim L

All this talk about fishing in Rochester finally got to me. I went out for about an hour tonight hoping to get into a few bass. But all I caught was about 25 bluegills and crappies. The bluegills were about 4 to 7 inches and the crappies were all about 6 to 9 inches. They were just inhaling my berkley Tournament Strength leach which was about 3 1/2″ to 4″ long. Some of the bluegills didn’t even get hooked. They had chomped down on the bait so hard that they were just holding on to the leach with their mouth. And then even as I tried to get my plastic leach back they still wouldn’t let go. I was fishing the first set of rapids below the dam with a 16th ounce jig and the plastic leach. Just letting it drift and sit on the bottom was the key for me. The bluegills and crappies were either directly in the rapids or just on the outside of the current breaks. All in all it was a good time !!!!!!!!
Jim L

It was the biggest fish I had ever seen in my life. And it was pretty awesome the way something that big could just propel itself out of the water like it did…not once but TWICE!!! If that fish had been just a few feet closer I am sure that you (that’s you Swany) would have netted it and would have gone with the fish. Because as we both know that when fishing with Dust if you miss the fish with the net and it gets away that Dust tosses you in the water then also ha,ha,ha…J/K But seriously though, it was just amazing to see something that big come torpedoeing out of the water and do those twists. I too would have to give a 10 not only for composure and form but also for it allowing us to see it do what it did. Pretty awesome if you ask me!!!
Jim L

As for how it handles in the colder weather we will just have to wait and see. But it seems like pretty good stuff. It looks just about like the Hi-Vis XT Solar line. As far as color goes anyway. It was really easy to see when it was getting darker out. I agree that the photochromic line is junk. BLAAA….I just won’t say anything about that stuff. It is not worth tlaking about. I would have to say that Berkley did a good job with this line though.
You are welcome ~H20~
Jim L

Yes, I have tried the Iron Silk line. When I was putting it onto the reel it always kept wanting to spring back off again. This was probably error on my part because I could not get the line to lay down nicely on the spool. So I put it on anyway and went to cast a few jigs and it really started to spring right off the reel. It seemed to have alot of memory to it. So next I went and let it float downstream until it was completely off the spool and then reeled it back on and now it works like a charm. It lays very nicely on the spool and when casting or even just opening the bail it doesn’t spring off like it use to. I didn’t lose a single jig while using it so it seems to be pretty tough stuff. To me I thought I got a little bit more feeling from this line versus the XT Solar so that is good. And it has the great hi-vis color which most of us like when jig fishing. So far i like this line but I have only fishied with it a few times. Just my two cents worth.
Jim L

The best way I found to work them the other day was to simply rig them like a twister tail onto a very light jig and let them drift with the current and not putting hardly any action into working the bait. If you can feel a slight snag coming just lift your rod till you are over the snag and then let it continue to drift with the current. The less action you apply to the superdoo the better it seems to work. When you apply action to the bait it forces the tentacles to form together. But by not applying action to the bait the tentacles move more freely simply from the current and from the jig drifting downstream and bumping the rocks or debris down below. They are really easy to use.
Jim L

I lived down in Independence last summer and did very well throwing jigs with leeches or twisters or crawlers. But throwing a #11 or #13 floating rap was by far my best producer. I was a ble to catch some decent sized walleyes or bass or pike on it. It was pretty much a guarantee for me that I would catch some fish while throwing it. On some of the deeper current breaks a #5 shad rap or a deeper running Bomber long A crankbait would produce some nice fish for me also. There was plenty of submerged timber and nice current breaks in that stretch of river last year and they should still be there this year. When you find them just keep throwing your lures at em and changing up to find what the fish want. The pool above the damn at Troy Mills has some nice sized pike in it so maybe before you start your float you might want to try that little area first. It sat right above the damn on the south side of the rive. Have fun and let us know how you do.
Jim L

If anyone is interested (even though I know this is a small stream forum) try fishing over near big marsh for some excellent smallmouth and largemouth fishing. All last summer I hit the three canals coming out of Big Marsh on the east side and came across some hot smallmouth and largemouth action. I was using anything from a bobber and worm setup to a #13 floating rap. There was also some 5lb plus largemouth pulled from this area also along with some very nice pike. The key to this area is to fish it when the water is realy high. I am not sure which river runs to the east but when that river floods it forces water all the way back to the marsh and the fish follow it back to the marsh. And when the water subsides the fish leave. Some however do get trapped up near the marsh. I just thougt I would share this information as Big Marsh is only about a 20 min drive from Shell-Rock.
JIm L

I totally agree with what Kieth said. I have fished with Dustin a few times in the past and he always seems to be able to put you on fish. He is a very knowledgeable person of the river and he seems to know what he is doing.

Jim L

I have used Power-Pro over the past two years. It’s line diameter per test poundage ratio makes it the closest fishing line I can find when compared to spiderwire. One of the best things about this line is that you can cast it off a spinning reel without getting all the nasty messes that usually occur while trying to cast spiderwire off of a spining reel. Also the makeup of the powerpro line is a little bit more round when compared to spiderwire or fireline. This to me means when I have a snag and I start cranking on the rod to get the snag out the line doesn’t bury itself in the spool as easily. And as stated above by Spuerfluke the line does not fray no where nearly as quickly as fireline. Also, depending on which color of line you get the line color does seem to wear out fast. It usually turns an off-white color after a couple of days of use. But I haven’t found this to hurt the strenth of the line at all. It just must be the dye running off the line. These are just a few of the things I have noticed while using this line. It has been a great fishing line to me thus far and would highly recomend it to anyone.

JimL

That is another good point there Predator 2. You can really cast a super small jig a mile with fireline. When I did go from fishing a river to a stream I often added a mono leader of around 2ft with 4lb to 6lb test. I would tie this directly to the fireline without a swivel. This way I could still get the same casting distance with the fireline and I would still have a little more confidence in the fact that the trout probably would not be able to see my line above the jigs or spinner. To me, this was just a little confidence booster for me when I was fishing with the fireline.

Jim L

Troutman,

I experimented with the black 6lb fireline on my trout fishing poles about 3 years. When fishing rivers it really did not seem to be a turn-off to the trout because of the lower visibility. But in the streams where the water runs clearer there was a huge difference in the number of fish that would bite. The other thing to remember is like Jim W stated “trout have delicate mouths”. While using the fireline with spinners and jigs on the rivers I would occasionally rip the hooks right out of there mouths because of the no-stretch factor of fireline. Even setting the drag really loose didn’t help all that much because if the drag stuck for even a moment that lure would rip right out of the fishs mouth. Shortly after that I went back to fishing with 4lb to 6lb mono. I like the stretch that mono affers especially when fishing for trout.

The Wapsi is full of Northern Pike, Walleye, Bass, and Channel cats. The DNR annually stocks thousonds of Northern, Walleye, and Channel cats into this river system. The area of the Wapsi that I use to fish pretty regularly was from Littleton to Troy Mills. There are reports each year of walleye over 30″ coming out this river. This stretch of river is fairly shallow. The best bait I found for fishing the Wapsi was a floating rap of some sort and casting it up shallow and realing it back in. By doing this I never knew which kind of fish I was gonna catch.

I have used power pro the last year and a half a really like it. Like Kieth stated it doesn’t fray as bad and as fast as fireline. To me that gives me more confidence. Seeing the line I am fishing with starting to fray just cuts my confidence in half. It seems to be a little bit more limp than fireline. It casts real easy and does not seem to produce as many line tangles coming off the reel. Not having to deal with all those line tangles coming off the reel saves me a lot of fishing time.

Jim L

Gianni, I know exactly what you mean. Last spring when I lived in Independence, Ia I was fishing the second damn at Quasqueton. I had just caught a few nice walleye in front of 15 or so people whom were all fishing up above at the first damn. I tried hiding the fact that I was catching some fish by unhooking the fish in or right near the water. It didn’t work. They asked how the fishing was down here and I said fine. The next thing I knew was that there were two guys standing 2 feet away from me fishing the same spot I was. Then one of the guys even had the guts to wade out into the water right where I had just caught my last fish. That was enough for me. I packed up my gear and poles and headed for another spot.

I have had excellent luck on the Wapsi and the Cedar. Anywhere from Waverly to Cedar Falls on the Cedar and anywhere from Littleton to Troy Mills on the Wapsi. Right after ice out in the spring (if it ever does ice up this year) is when you want to start. Something I learned form fishing the Wapsi though is when the Buffalo Carp start showing up all over the place (you’ll know when they do) mainly at the damns, the walleye will no longer be there. This usually occurs within the first 5 weeks after ice out. You will however start catching some nice bass and pike.

Hope this helps

Jim L

A person can do very well fishing above Inde for Pike and bass. Take the gravel roads from Littleton to Inde while finding bridges that intersect the river. There is one in particular that comes to mind. It is a newly constructed bridge right next to the Inde gun club. Fish the east side. There is a deep hole right next to the bank around 8 feet or so. I’ve caught some pike and bass from this area. This might be an excellent area to try ice fishing although i have never tried it there.

As for fishing above Littleton on the Wapsi; I have never tried it. I really wanted to but something always came up. I’ve really only fished Sweets a few times this past year. Caught some nice pike and bass though. Below the damn on the north side is a good place to start. Otherwise try fishing the water holding above the damn. This past summer I seen a couple of older fellows doing pretty well throwing out chubs on bobbers and hooking into the pike right from shore. Another place to go would be Big Marsh. Fish the outlets at the marsh when they are really dumping all the extra water out of the marsh. This excess water allows the bass and pike to move up to the outlets from the Cedar river. And when the water clears up a guy can actually see the bass swimming in the waters. A lot of big bass swim there also. Some 4lb – 5lb smallies are caught every year from here. Just work all 3 outlets on the south side and you will do well. If you like bullheads, bring along some worms and you will be in heaven. I even caught bullheads on the Berkley Powerworms this past summer at the outlets. You can just sit there and feel them things nibble away at your bait.

Hope this helps—Good Luck

Jim L

Go to independence and try fishing abov ethe old baitshop just as you come into town from the south. My uncle now runs that place and does canoe rentals from there also. Out behind the baitshop is a good place to fish for cats and crappie. There is a big hole in between the boat launch and the rock steps. Right around 12 feet if I remember right. My uncle use to grab the dead minnows and toss out a rig into the hole and catch a couple of cats that way. One day he fought a fish for about 20 min and finally the line broke. He never changes his line unless it is all used up. Also look up stream from there and look at the bend. The inside of that bend use to be excellent for cats. Gianni, the water below that rock dam in Quasky is only 3 or 4 feet deep. Try a couple hundred yards downstream to find some deeper water. One more thing, if you can get down the river from Inde to Quasky by boat there is a 30′ + hole at one of the bends. This is really a great spot to go to.

Give em a try

Jim L

I lived in Independence last year before I relocated to Waterloo. I’ve caught some nice eyes out of that stretch of river. The northern and bass are pretty thick in their as well. The dams at Littleton, Independence, Quasqueton, and Troy Mills are excellent places to fish. This stretch of river anually produces some 10lb eyes. The DNR stocks this section heavily. Catfish are very numerous throughout this area and is probably the most numerous sprecie of fish in this area. Just find the deeper holes (if you can) and you will have an excellent time.

Jim L

I was from Iowa but now I live in Mn. I know that the Wapsi up from Littleton to Troy mills has produced some nice cats. There a alot of trot lines in the water through that area. According to a guy I know down there he says that he has his best luck using trot lines. He also said that (like Gianni just said) that Coralville does produce some nice cats. Right when the ice breaks in the spring is when he goes down there to fish for them. Usually wioth cutbait.

Had a great time on the water this past year. Managed to catcha sauger that went 21″, a walleye that went 26.5″, and a smallmouth that was 19″ and weighed 4 lbs.

Jim L

…….ooohhhhhhh, poor Steve!!!!

LOL!!!!!!!