July Fishing In Iowa

Well folks it has been quite a while since I’ve had an opportunity to report on fishing here in Iowa. We have had one wet June and things are finally starting to dry out a bit. We finished the month of June with 10.5 inches of rain. Lakes and rivers were over flowing and once again the Army Corp of Engineers had to lower the emergency spillway gates at Saylorville Lake to allow for excess water to flow downstream into the Des Moines river. Naturally this had an adverse affect on the river level causing widespread flooding. July came along and we welcomed relief from all the rain with sunny skies and dry days.

So I took advantage of the dry weather and pulled the boat down to Lake Ahquabi south of Indianola Iowa. Took along a young man that loves to fish as much as I do, my son and my girlfriend. We had a boat full of folks, but managed to have a great time. My plan was two fold; 1. to get my friend “Cookie” on to some fish for a tournament that he’s in and 2. to get my girlfriend, who has never caught a fish in her life, into some fish as well. In short the plan worked.. HA! Cookie manged to hook into several very nice bass that he measured, photographed and released for the tournament. He went on to win the weekly prize and is now qualified for the year end fish off for some great prizes.

My girlfriend also got into the fish that day. I started her off with just a bobber and worms. This lake is full of bluegill, bass and crappie. So I set her up and cast out up next some brush and in just a couple minutes…”whooop” down goes the bobber and up come the fish. She ultimately ended the day with 9 fish to her name. She’s a bit camera shy so don’t have any pics of her with her trophies, but she managed not only bluegill, but some very healthy bass. All of which were released to see another day. I had my son along with me that day, he’s turning into quite the little angler. He decided to use a small white jig, 1/16 oz jig head and white grub, and cast it out along the brush piles that lay all along the shore line of this lake. He made one cast after another and hooked into some very nice bass.

As the day was coming to and end we were just doing a bit of trolling making our way to the boat ramp. My son pipes up and ask me to head over to a cove where we were catching fish on an earlier trip, but that had been occupied by other anglers. I said sure and we made our way over. As i approached the cove I brought the boat to a stop and killed the motor. There wasn’t much of a breeze so we just drifted a bit and made casts toward the shore line. My son stands up and shoots out his little white jig and starts his retrieve…suddenly “BANG!” hook set and fish on.. as he was fighting the fish I figured it was another decent bass. He reels this bad boy up to the boat, lifts his rod and every one in the boat just stares…LOL.. The boy had hooked and reeled in a 10.5 inch bluegill.. A MONSTER GILL.. holy smokes this this was abnormally large.. We took pics and let that fish go to grow even bigger. It was a blast to see him pull that fish in and the surprise on everyone’s face when he lifted in to the boat. So there you have it folks…a report from Iowa.. fishing is still good here.. ya just gotta get out and chase em down. White bass are starting to hit in the two major reservoirs so gonna head out and chase a bunch of those down for an afternoon here soon.. Tight Lines All!!!