my biggest ‘eye of last year came on a paddletail
biggest white bass as well.

I think the subtle tail wag, and slim aerodynmaic body really kick arse in current. add in a h20 jighead and some 6lb. mono and its a current slicing machine. sort of reminds me of the charlie brewer slider fishing methods.

i really like Tectan mono. seems to be very tough for its diameter, and its rated at actual breaking strength, not the american diameter/equivalent or whatever most companies use. 11.9lb tectan is same diameter as 6lb. trilene. i use 7.3lb tectan (smaller diameter than 4lb. trilene) for small stream wading, and ive never broke a fish off with it, even landed some nice carp and pike with it.

i like 20/6 spiderwire stealth for cranks/spinners/rigging.

Jigs and weightless plastics are mono baits for me.

i also reccomend Gapens books. I found “River fishing a happy world” at my univeristy library. By far the most entertaining book on fishing ive read. Those in-fisherman books are just so tedious and boring. Gapen puts some charm into his book. Ive been on the lookout for stream and creeks by him, but havent found it for borrow.

nothin better than small river fishing in summer. (at least for me).
what did you do with them softshells? i despise the things, when i catch one its off with their heads. i have a prejudice though, as one tried to take off the tip of my finger once, and got pretty darn close.

ill be fishing the iowa tonight, its finally down to a normal flow and clarity. i wonder why there isnt a iowa river board on here, its pretty popular (des moines river too).

Im currently in my 2nd year out of highschool, attending a state university and really dont like what my future will turn out to be. Most kids i know graduating with 4 year degrees arent getting jobs, let alone ones worth the debt taken from an education in this country.

The idea of carpenter really intrigues me… Working for a corporation where job security doesnt depend on demand for my work, but whether they can pay someone less than me to do my simple yet “college degree requiring” job makes me uncomfortable.

Can anyone write out a simple pro/con post for me, comparing a corporate step on the ladder job vs. a skill based job (privately owned) im already 2 years into university debt but i need to take my future in my own hands now and not follow what everyone else is doing.

you might want to try out http://www.iowaoutdoors.org ifyou havent already. lots of fisherman from around the state in there.

I guess i would be interested, however i usually go fishing to get away from people, so what excatly what being part of a club consist of? I target northern, walleye and cats.

for channels: leechs, nightcrawlers, chickenlivers
for flatheads: live fish (chubs, small sunfish)

a bonus with leechs and nightcrawlers is you hook into the occasional walleye around spillways.

i did that same thing a few weeks ago with my girlfriend. We barbequed at one of those stops on lower pine along the trail. Got her hooked on fishing now too. Also picked up nothin but gills (they sure did taste good though)

You ever fish the river around there? I fished the Iowa north of marshalltown last night and picked up 6 channel cats, 2 of which were nice and thick 20″ers. Would love to pull in a few cats and maybe a bonus walleye or pike up there.

thanks for the info guys

Last night i was at Pine Lake fishin for bass, when i was leaving i decided to look at the spillway out of lower pine since it usually has something interesting going on… sure enough there was about 1,000,000,000 Goldeye trying to get up the damn. There was lots of cats swarming around there too. I caught a few goldeyes with my hand in the stream, just let the current bring em to me over the shallow rocks.
Didnt know there was so many of those fish in the Iowa.

So you say from eldora to mtown its pretty dead… I plan on picking up a square stern canoe and a 5horse this summer and working the stretch from Steamboat all the way to Tama. I wonder if there are any big holes or backwater like ponds that hold good populations. If that stretch fails, i may actually try farther north before i try other rivers, since they are such a long drive from mtown.
Id rather just drive to guttenberg for the miss. than drive halfway to cedar falls.