Up at the Lake

Well as much as I wanted to update everything daily, we are catching way to many fish and it has been trying to find some time to eat. My Dad, Uncle Dave and I have been fishing since we got up here on Thursday and we figured today was a good day to take a break for the morning. We have been using a lot of plastics and really motoring around to try and find a pattern to help find the fish.

We have really been fishing hard and using a lot of baits to try and find one the fish can’t resist. One of the things that we have noticed is that the fish are not chasing anything. They are looking for an easy meal and we are trying to match the lure up to try and suit this. We came upon this pattern by trying crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and swimbaits and not catching anything. We switched to something slow like a plastic worm or a senko and have had a lot of success. It really seems to make a difference the slower you go the better.

We have also been trying a lot of depths and structure with some different success. The fish are not in the deeper water, the 10-15 feet range, and have kind of been in the mid-level depth of 5-10 feet. They also have preferred to be in kind of medium thick structure as well. They have just wanted to be in a cabbage type weed or the reeds. The big fish my dad is pictured with was in no cover just a sandy bottom and some reeds.

I should have some more pictures and stories in the next couple of days. It looks like it has been in the 90’s back home and some storms so I hope everyone is safe and using their air conditioner. I will keep enjoying the northern Minnesota weather; I think it is going to be sunny and 80 today. We have caught a lot of fish and some really big fish that are pictured. I haven’t mentioned but I probably should that I am fishing in a bass tournament up here on the 4th of July. I really feel like my team is going to win it, we have really figured it out up here and I feel like we have a great chance. Keep tuned for more pictures and the results.

Tight lines,
Pat

Some Light at the End of the Tunnel

Today my Dad and I went up to Clinton to try and see if we could catch a bass or two. I really don't want you to think that we had a good day because of the pictures, we caught 3 but we really had to work hard for them. We went for about 4 hours with out a bite. We were trying everything that we had in the tackle box to try and find something that worked. We ended up finding that a senko pulled over the weeds really slow, and then when the bait hit a pocket of open water we let it sink. The fish that is pictured came out of no where and inhaled the senko. I got a chance to watch the whole thing, it was really cool. It was cooler than actually catching the fish. I am going to try and post some videos here in the future with some guest anglers from Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have already got a couple of people lined up and I should be posting them in a new video link called tip of the week. Hopefully this will help get the word out on a couple of new ideas and help everyone become better anglers. In the mean time the above boat ride is kind of a test for this. This is just a video of our boat going through a stump field at about 50 mph in about 2 feet of water. This is kind of a first hand look at what it is like to go through these backwater areas on the Mississippi. Next update should be from Minnesota. Tight lines, Pat

Slow Days on the Mississippi

Well it has been a couple of weeks, but I am back with a couple of updates and news. I have been busy with school wrapping up and making sure everything was in order, as well as a fantastic wedding last night. Congratulations Brian and Nicole that was a really good time.

On the 6th my Dad, Doug Smith, Joe Hannsen and I headed up to Savanna to do a little smallmouth fishing. If you all haven’t figured out by now, the smallmouth have been tough to come by all year. This day was no different. We fished all morning in a steady downpour without a smallmouth. My dad was able to hook up with a 2 pound largemouth with a giant scar on the top of his head. Not a minute later Joe hooks up with another one on a chatter jig. He gets this one to the boat and it has a giant scar on the top of its head. The fish must have been hungry and not very smart to be fooled by two different bait about a minute apart from each other. We decided to move up to Brown’s Lake, which is a catch and release area of the river. We got into them a bit up there, catching about 7 or 8 smaller fish. The fish were stacked up at the end of the lake and were biting on senko’s with a 4/0 hook. There wasn’t a whole lot going on that day, besides the rain. We came off the river pretty wet, but Joe got to use his new bait caster and did a great job with it.

Today my Dad and I headed out to the river and we did not catch a thing, not even a bite. We fished the LeClaire pool where we have struggled the last couple of weeks. My Dad and I have talked about this for a little and we really can’t figure out what has happened to the fish. We have caught walleyes and northerns, but we just haven’t seen the bass that we have grown accustomed too. We have fished this section of the river for 15 years now and we know it really well. There have been a lot of changes on the river recently due to floods and whatever else. The pool could be transitioning due to the changes, but hopefully sometime soon the fish will come back so we won’t have to drive or go for a boat ride to find some fish.

Congratulations are in order to Dwayne Goodtime, Corey Conrad, Josh Graham and Jessica Gibson for winning fish of the week. Also Conrad is currently in the lead for fish of the week with 2. Congrats Conrad, keep up with the good fishing.

I will be heading up to Minnesota sometime this next week. I am going to try and give daily updates on my fishing, along with a story or two. I am really looking forward to meeting up with Adam Panther who is a friend of mine from home. He is a good fisherman and will be up on Woman Lake the week after 4th of July. Also Jess will be up on the 4th of July, hopefully it will be nice enough where we can get out and catch a couple of fish.

Keep sending in those fish of the week pictures. I will try to post as many as I can if they are worthy off posting. Hope everyone has a great week and check in and see how the fishing is toward the end of the week. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share.

Tight lines,
Pat

Stinking it up on the Wapsi

Well it has been another great week of weather here in Iowa, which means another great weekend to fish. Saturday morning I met up with my friend Corey Conrad in Eldridge and we went out to the Wapsi for a little cat fishing. Conrad and I launched the boat early and were immediately attacked by gnats. These gnats were everywhere! Luckily Conrad kicked the mercury into high gear and we took off from the boat ramp. We didn’t get 100 yards off the ramp when we ran into Dennis Heintze and Buck Biddle. I have been hunting with these guys for as long as I can remember, and I know Dennis is a catfishing MACHINE! So if we I took away anything besides a good laugh was the fact that we were at least in the right place.

We went to our first spot and caught a couple of small ones, but nothing of any size. We then kept going down the river, stopping and fishing at random spots catching more of a sun burn than any fish. We both kind of made the decision that the main river wasn’t working for what we were doing, so we headed back to the back waters to see if we could do any better. We tried fishing close to the channel and then worked our way deeper into the backwater. We did this with the thinking that the river was going down, and when the water starts to get low or even disappear in spots, the fish like to find an area that is still out of the current but safe enough to not get stranded or landlocked in an area. If they were to stay in the area, they might be easy pickings for a predator or even suffocate when the water runs out of oxygen.

Luckily for us the backwaters really produced for us. We caught a lot of 1-2 pound fish, as well as some smaller catfish. Conrad decided to change it up a little bit and tied on a stink bait noodle with a heavy sinker. He had bought some stink bait in a tube, and was trying to pipe it in the tube liberally and we were trying to figure out how long is lasted in the water. He filled it a couple of times, and realized he was getting a little low and was getting a little irritated with the amount that he got of the money. No sooner did we start discussing it, he noticed the unmistakable stench rising from the floor of his boat. He was squeezing the tube the wrong way, and the tube broke on the backside and half a tube of stink bait lay on the bottom of his boat and his shoe. So there he sat, smelling like blood bait, and trying to figure out how to get this stuff off the bottom of his brand new boat. Luckily he was able to scoop it up and toss it over the side. We decided at this time is about time to head in. It was a great morning of fishing and really just a great day to be outside. If anybody was still wondering Dennis and Buck caught 30+ catfish, far exceeding our total.

I would like to thank everyone for their fish of the week contributions. I have been bombarded with pictures so it is really hard to narrow it down. A personal challenge has been set by my girlfriend Jess. She really wants to be fish of the week, so I told her that if she catches the biggest bass sent in this week she gets fish of the week. So everybody better try to out fish her or I will never hear the end of her “fish of the week” title. Keep sending them my way, unijudkins@hotmail.com


This weekend is really exciting because it is free fishing in Iowa. Anyone is able to fish for free and see if they like it. Go out and try your luck. It doesn’t look like a great weather weekend, Saturday morning looks like the best time to go. Good luck to everyone!

Tight lines,
Pat

Weekend in Wisconsin

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Jess and I headed up to her parent’s place near Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the weekend. We met up with her mom, Diane and her dad, Steve as well as her Uncle Greg and Aunt Shirley. Greg was able to bring down his boat so as much fishing as he was willing to do, I was going to try and be in the boat as well. We had only one obstacle standing in our way, the weather. There was a chance of rain Saturday and Sunday and we were hoping that it was going to hold off long enough to log some good fishing time.

Saturday came along and we decided to sleep in, so we didn’t starting getting ready until 10 or so. We also were unfamiliar with any of the lakes in the area so we really didn’t know where to start. Steve suggested we head to Lake Puckaway, which is a lake down the road that he thought he heard had some fish in it. We decided to give it a try, so Jess, Greg and I headed off down the road as the skies started to turn darker with every mile that we drove. When we launched the boat and headed to a shallow point that was close to the ramp. Before I put a bait in the water I looked out across the lake and it was black. It was only a matter of time before it started misting, then a light sprinkle, then a straight down pour. I gave my rain gear pants to Jess, and we fished on. The first point turned up nothing, so Greg started moving toward a strip of emergent grass in about 2 feet of water. By now the rain is really coming down. My jeans are soaked, the raingear I gave Jess is now absorbing water, and Greg’s Frogtogs are taking on water. This is really bad! I was really worried this would be the end of our day, but all of sudden Greg sets the hook and immediate says to grab the net. The anticipation was hard to beat as this fish tore through the weeds. This fish was big. After a couple of minutes the fish surfaced and all I saw was a flash of gold. I immediately shouted, “It’s a walleye!” Greg got it to the boat and I netted it. It was a 26 inch walleye. From then on it was every other cast, big walleye after big walleye. We would catch the occasional northern and some really nice bass. Jess even caught a 5 pound catfish. As the skies cleared and as we dried out, the fish kept biting. It was one of the best days I have had on the water. We would have spent more time out there but we had to get to dinner. Eating always seems to get in the way of great fishing, and as a lot of you know I don’t miss a meal. You might also notice the small fish that I am holding in the pictures, it is called a warmouth and it is a cross between a largemouth bass and a sunfish. It looks exactly like a sunfish, except for its bigger than average mouth. They are really aggressive. I caught this one on a 7.5 inch power worm, which is a couple of inches bigger than he is.

I was really excited to find a bunch of fish like that stacked up in a 100 yard area. I have never seen anything like that before. I also learned that a walleye in 2 feet of water fought just as hard as a really big bass. I have a lot more respect for the fish now that I had a chance to catch them like this.

Special thanks goes to Shirley for cleaning all of our fish, I know my mom really appreciated the fish. We wound up with 11 over the course of the weekend. It was a blast; I can’t wait to head back up and do it again. Thanks again to Greg for carting me around Wisconsin fishing this weekend.

Conrad and I also went out and did a little cat fishing. Conrad once again proved he is one of the best cat fishermen I have come across. His technique was flawless and his boat maneuvering was second to none. Up and down the Wapsi we went, Conrad pulling a catfish from every spot and me just setting the hook and missing. I could not catch anything to save my life. I displayed no patients and as much as Conrad coached me I couldn’t get it done. I got skunked. I hope that if Conrad takes me out again I can at least catch one and work my way up from there.

Thanks to everyone that sent in pictures. I tried to post as many as I could. If you all have anymore send them my way and I will post them up. Also I got a suggestion about adding a link or two about how to fish for the different species of fish found in the Midwest. I am going to start to get to work on that and try to have that in the next couple of weeks.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and enjoy the beginning of summer.

Tight lines,
Pat

Is it Summer Yet?

Well folks another weekend, another cold front. This one brought temperatures just above freezing for most of the morning and a “refreshing” 20 mph wind out of the north. Saturday’s trip was all about the spinner baits in as little water as we could fine. The river is currently flooding, but the water is really clear. You have to remember that clear is relative to what you are used to and when you can see your bait more than 3 inches in the water on the Mississippi the water is clear.

Joe Hannsen joined my dad and me on the trip this week. We really did a lot of moving trying to get out of the current and the wind. We wound up catching 8, but nothing with any size. I did end up catching a 24-25 inch walleye on a spinner bait. It was pretty exciting and to be honest with you it has been the highlight of my fishing year so far. I will also have to credit my dad for netting the fish. He has a history of missing them or knocking them off the hook so it was good to see he got lucky when he needed too. His record hasn’t been real stellar this year.

I would also like to congratulate Ken Conrad of Long Grove for the fish of the week. The carp is beginning to become a highly sought after game fish here in the United States. If you don’t believe me, do some research. Nice job again Ken.

The FLW boys are in town for a tournament this weekend. I think they fish Saturday and Sunday with the weigh-in down at the River Center. It would be worth checking out. They are going to catch some fish, so it will be cool to see how big they can get in the river.

Next week I am heading off to Wisconsin to chase after smallmouth with Jess, her uncle Greg, and her dad Steve. Hopefully we will have some pictures of some fish to share. Either way it will be a great time. Hope everyone enjoys their long weekend.

Tight lines,
Pat

My Gift to Mom

Last weekend was an adventure to say the least as my dad and I went up to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin to do a little bass fishing. We took off from Davenport at 8am where it was a comfortable 60 degrees with a slight breeze out of the north. As we headed up north the conditions were what you would consider perfect for this time a year. It was an overcast day with the water temperature around 58 degrees. This is prime water conditions for a great bass bite. What we didn’t notice until we stepped out of the truck to put the boat in the water that things were a little different here as they were in Davenport. We were welcomed with a 20 mph breeze out the north and the air temperature was about 50. I don’t care how tough you are, IT WAS COLD!

We both figured our best bet was to fish the back waters and try and at least get out of the wind since the current was really moving down the river. We checked out the map and found a couple of chutes to run through. As we started fishing the day we both tried to put the puzzle together to find the pattern for the day. I started with a crank bait, while my dad stuck with a bright yellow spinner bait. It wasn’t long before my dad threw his bait up a little creek channel and slowly retrieved it back to the boat. He cranked the bait 5 or 6 times before a bass came out of nowhere and crushed it. He quickly reeled it in and we had our first piece in our puzzle. That fish was in no water at all. We tried to go through the area to get to the next piece of back water and there was literally no water there, it was all mud. We continued on up and down the backwaters looking for similar structure. I kept my crank bait on and my dad kept catching fish. We had figured out that the bass wanted a spinner bait and that was it, so rather than be stubborn about the whole deal I switched to a spinner bait and added a 3 inch mister twister grub as a trailer. I threw my spinner bait into this tree with my second cast and caught a nice 2 pounder. It was the first bass of the season and I was really excited to finally get that monkey off my back. We continued the rest of the day catching fish here and there, just enough to stay interested.

I will spare everyone with the highlights from Sunday, because there weren’t any. It was cold, and we had some issues with finding places to fish that were fitting our pattern from the day before. We started heading home around 11 since it was mother’s day. Everyone might be upset that we went fishing on mother’s day weekend, but trust me my mom deserves a break from everyone to read and do what she wants. We also took a picture of how close the houses were there, you have to really like your neighbor to be a part of that madness.

On a lighter note Conrad is about finished with his boat this weekend. The carpet was installed and the seating is ready to be put in sometime this week. The maiden voyage will be this weekend hopefully. There will be plenty of pictures including anything that we catch. Thanks to Conrad for letting me help out, it was a blast to come up with an idea or two.

Today I went fishing after school down on the river. I caught 2 smallmouth bass, both around a pound and a half on my ultra light rod. They are starting to move a little bit around the shallows and the bite should be on in the next couple of days.

I added a new feature to the blog this week. On the right hand side I have added the “Fish of the Week”. Email me your pictures and I will try to get everyone up there that I deem to have picture worthy fish. The email again is unijudkins@hotmail.com

On a serious note I would like to thank my mom for everything she does for me. She is a very giving and patient person to deal with me. I am pretty sure she might be the only one that reads this but thanks again mom.

Hope everyone gets a chance to head out and enjoy the great weather.

Tight lines,
Pat

Turkeys, Trout, and Power Tools

Well folks, it has been a pretty busy last couple of weeks with a lot of write about so grab a drink and buckle in. I started out the weekend in the middle of the forest turkey hunting with my Dad, Doug and Phillip. We were out in the woods at 5:00, and I found a nice tree to sit against for the next couple of hours. This part of the morning is always the coolest for me. The forest is totally quiet except for the turkeys gobbling over top of you in the trees and the owls hooting back. You’re in camo from head to toe and you feel invisible to the world around you. As the sun rises there are squirrels and birds all around me, oblivious to the fact that I have a 10 gauge ready to go at any second. I sat under my tree and reflected about what was going on around me and wondered if I would ever get a chance at a turkey. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a turkey while we were out there. There is a reason why I hunt for fun, and the turkey survive for a living.

Sunday was a solo trout fishing trip up to Bellevue, Iowa. It has been typical spring like weather here in Iowa, so we don’t have to worry about a drought so far this year. I took off from Davenport around 8 and worked the trout runs on the way up. I started to realize not long into my first stop that fishing might be a little tougher than I had previously thought. Due to all the rain the creeks were a little high and the water was stained the brown of the mud around its banks. The trout that had been stocked earlier in the week were washed downstream, without a trace of them in the public fishing areas. I ended up taking off around noon, but it was still nice to get out and get some sun.

The last couple days have been spent doing things I haven’t done since high school. Come back for a second from your own personal flashback and try imagining me with power tools. That’s right; I am back in the saddle strapped with a box cutter and a pencil while Conrad took the lead on installing floors for his boat. I would like to think I have a bit of creative influence on this project, but the bottom line is Conrad is an engineer for Deere and from what I have observed over the last couple of days a very good one. At the top are a couple of pictures of the progress, it has been a lot of fun helping out with the project.

Next week I am going to update you all on the fishing on the river, here in Davenport and in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. I want to thank my girlfriend Jessica for all the fishing time she puts up with. She is also a really good fisherwoman and is using her new bait casting reel with the best of them. I want to congratulate James and Lora on having their baby today. Jess and I stopped up and saw her today and it was fun to see the new addition. Hope everyone gets out and enjoys the weather this weekend.

Tight lines,
Pat

Easter weekend/ This weekend

Jess and I got out Easter weekend a couple of times on the river. The water is still really cold! The water is just creeping over the banks in the backwaters, however the water is really clear. We had a couple of knocks, and I had one on for about 5 seconds but it got off. I saw the fish and am thinking that it was somewhere around 3-4 lbs. I did see some carp moving around back there, which means the bass are going to get started soon.

Jess and I also went out again on Friday. Mostly it was to enjoy the day and get a tan. No bites, no fish, but plenty of laughs. I was having some issues with my lure and the trees. Anyway expect more blogging in a couple of weeks, I am probably going turkey hunting 4th season so maybe I will have a couple of pictures and a good story to go along with it. Hope everyone enjoys the warm weather.

Tight lines,
Pat

Daytona Beach

I know this blog is about fishing around Iowa and the Midwest, but this vacation was too good to pass up. I recently went down to Florida to visit my cousin Justin and his fiancée Stephanie (both formally from Minneapolis) in Daytona Beach. Before I got down there we had planned to have a couple of days of guided fishing, with one of those days going after the famed redfish. While sitting at a bar in Detroit enjoying my beverage of choice on a layover, I learned from a voicemail message that our redfish guide cancelled on us due to a scheduling conflict with another client. I was crushed! This was a fishing adventure of a lifetime with a highly accomplished guide. I had been looking forward to the trip for awhile and it was gone just like that! This would have gotten the regular sportsmen down and out, but my cousin rose to the occasion.

When I got down there Justin had it in his mind that we were not only going to fish for them ourselves, but we were going to be able catch some fish. So we set out to the bait shop and grabbed some stuff, the gaff hook we decided to put back, and headed out to the shore for a little beach fishing. As you can tell by my attire, I had my doubts of what we were about to do. I was expecting to be back in my beach chair soaking in some great Florida sun when we realized it was too tough. After a couple of hours of joking around and throwing shells at each other I felt something, tap…tap...tap, I set the hook out of pure instinct and I realized I was in for the fight of my year.

Before I had time to tell Justin there was something going on, I was half out of line with no sign of this fish letting up. The fish was ripping out line like it was late for the prom, and there was nothing I could do but hold on. At this point you can only imagine the colorful words that were coming out of my mouth describing the moment. As I watched hopelessly as the fish was about to spool me it stopped. I immediately started to reel and rip, trying to turn the tables in my favor. Then I felt the line go slack and all of a sudden the fish fly’s out of the water like a kid who holds their breath too long. At this point I now know this is a nice fish! I am using all my years of experience to try not to put too much pressure on the line and try my best to get it in. It is beginning to become easier to reel in and I know that the fight is turning, but this fish is going to make another run and I realize I still have a long ways to go. Back and forth the fight goes on and there are times where landing this fish is in doubt. I am using a Ugly Stick pole connected to a Shakespeare reel with 8lb. test and there is still a great possibility that this fish is going to snap me off. As the reeling becomes easier, I catch my first look at it and it’s what we came for, a redfish. As I drag it on to the beach I look at my cousin in amazement, we did it! People chase after these things all the time, often coming up empty, and the two guys from the Midwest come down here and land one in their first couple of hours. It was an amazing fish! It was pound for pound of the best fishing fight I have had in a long time.

The rest of the day was filled with black drum, sheep head, yellowtail snapper (I think), and the dreaded catfish. The most interesting thing about being down there is that eating fish is backwards down there. Where drum and sheep head are considered “rough fish”, they are considered excellent eating fish down there. The opposite can be said about our friend the catfish. They are considered a junk fish and they are never eaten out of the ocean.

We did some other fun things while we were down there. We went to the top of a lighthouse and visited the fort at St. Augustine which was really cool. Overall I would give this trip an A+ and recommend that you go down there and get a taste of some great inland fishing!

Trout Fishing

On Monday Joe and I went trout fishing up in northeast Iowa. As the pictures illustrate it was a beautiful stretch of water that we were fishing. The creek has a lot of fast moving water that were accompanied by deep pools underneath the riffles. We quickly found that there were fish everywhere. It was really hard to find what they were looking for today. It was an artificial bait only stretch of water, so we were really going through our tackle box to find something that might work. I tended however to stick to a spinner for most of the day. I would get a lot of fish to chase or snip at it, but for some reason they were wary of what was going on. Joe on the other hand switched from a spinner to a jig and caught the fish that is pictured.

We did quite a bit of hiking throughout the day, I bet we covered over a mile or two. The terrain was pretty thick and at a couple of points we had to cross barbwire fences. This doesn't seem like to much of a athletic task, but as I would cross the first one we came across my ankle and feet would kind of give out each time I put my foot on it. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I figured it wasn't quite right for this to keep happening. As I looked down, I realized that I was stepping on an electric fence and apparently it was hot. I did figure out how to get over it, but I am still twitching a bit randomly. I think that might be a side effect of prolonged exposure to cattle strength electricity. I am also pretty sure Joe is still laughing.

I am taking a trip down to Florida for the next couple of days to go fishing and maybe expose my Iowa skin to a little sun. Pictures and a post to follow.

Tight lines,
Pat

No Fishing Again

No fishing again this week, so I will leave you with one of the better videos I have seen on youtube this week. Copy and paste the url and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VdySnHsJY

No fishing this week

I didn't do any fishing this week due to unseasonable temperatures and unsafe ice conditions.

Trout Fishing in Eastern Iowa

My friend Joe and I went trout fishing in eastern Iowa on Saturday. The conditions were awesome for February, sunny and in the 50's. We started out negotiating through melting snow and snow drifts to get to a spot on Big Mill Creek. We fished the area using a wax worms and spinners and couldn't get a bite. We were thinking the fish were using the different ice shelves that had formed over the last couple of months. We also tried a couple more spots along the creek, but all in all it was not to be. We had traveled approximately 2 hours to get skunked. I don't have anything to complain about however due to the fantastic conditions we had that day.