Decorah Envirothon - Fishing for iowa's finest gamefish
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Transcript of Decorah Envirothon - Fishing for iowa's finest gamefish
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Fishing for Iowa’s Finest Game Fish
Fishing for Iowa’s Finest Fish
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Bluegills are the most common and one of the tastiest gamefish in
Iowa. They fall into the “panfish” category. Note the dark blue gill
flap.
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Bluegills thrive in small weedy lakes and farm ponds
around the state.
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Bluegills hide in the weeds and wait for food to crawl or swim by.
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This water boatman bug would be a real bluegill treat.
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Bloodworms living on the bottom in the
mud are also favorite bluegill food.Bloodworms living on
the bottom in the
mud are also favorite
bluegill food.
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Bloodworms have skinny red
bodies. Iron-rich hemoglobin
helps them breathe in oxygen
even when buried in the mud.
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Believe it or not, but bloodworms turn into midges, or “stingless
mosquitoes” when they get mature.
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These little grub baits for bluegills look a lot like bloodworms, don’
they? Dynamite when tipped on a teardrop jig.
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Mealworms are another good bluegill bait option.
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Hard to beat a plain old garden worm for bluegill bait.
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The best thing about bluegills - you don’t need fancy tackle to fool
them.
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Suspend baits down where the bluegills wait near the bottom.
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A feisty bluegill fooled by an angleworm.
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Bluegills are great fun to catch at any age!
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Bluegills can also be
caught by brave ice
anglers in winter.
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Bluegills are great
eating any time of year.
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Bluegill fillets floured with cornmeal & ready for frying.
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Fresh deep-
fried bluegill
fillets.
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Bluegills are often confused with other “sunfish”.Bluegills are often confused with other “sunfish”.
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This pumpkinseed is another colorful “sunfish”.
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Pumpkinseeds
have a red dot on
their dark gill
spot.
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Green sunfish have that red dot on their operculum too.
The state record weighed 2# 1oz.
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Green sunfish thrive in weedy farm ponds.
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Find a clear place to cast and start catching.
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When that bobber starts to bounce, set the hook.
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Put the green sunfish on a stringer and try for another.
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Black crappies are another prolific & popular panfish. They have
speckled blackish bodies and round profiles.
The state record black crappie weighed 2# 12oz.
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Black crappies often school in lakes near shoreline rock jetties or
sunken structures like brush piles.
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Mississippi River backwaters are another good place to fish for
black crappies.
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Black crappies concentrate near drowned wood in backwater
habitats, as that’s where the food hides.
Black crappies concentrate near drowned wood in backwater
habitats, as that’s where the food hides.
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This flashy spotfin shiner is a favorite black crappie food.
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Black
crappies gulp
small
minnows in
with gusto.
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Small jigs that imitate injured minnows are great crappie baits.
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Be careful when catching black crappies as
their mouth is paper thin and tender.
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Look for lots of black crappies to be congregated around flooded
weeds and brush when they spawn in May.
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Black
crappies
grow bigger
than
bluegills and
sometimes
weigh two to
three
pounds.
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Feeding crappies can be caught on floating poppers on warm calm
summer evenings.
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Time to cast that popper out and catch a black crappie.
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Black crappies bite in winter too, often right at dusk.
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Check out that black crappie’s dorsal fin
for an ID check. There should be 7 or 8
separated spines
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White crappies are close cousins. They have 6 dorsal spines
compared to the black crappie’s 7-8.
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White crappies
thrive in
Mississippi
backwater sloughs
in southern Iowa.
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That submerged stump is sure to attract a school of white crappies
in southern Iowa farm ponds and lakes.
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White crappies
have dark vertical
bars splitting
down their sides.
State record
4# 9 oz
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White bass are silvery with faint black longitudinal stripes along
their sides. They hunt in packs for minnows and shad.
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Threadfin
and gizzard
shad are fatty
fish full of
protein for
white bass.
They’re
common in
the
Mississippi
River
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Tailwater dams along larger
rivers concentrate scrappy white
bass searching for shad.
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Gizzard shad flee in panic when attacked by white bass.
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Crappie minnows or shiners, like this emerald shiner, can be fished
below a bobber.
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White bass can be fooled with a variety of different shiny baits.
State record 3# 14oz.
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Jigs can be yo-
yo’d back with
or without a
minnow trailer.
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Small heavy spinners, like a Kastmaster, are fantastic white bass
baits.
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Fly rod streamers fool white
bass too
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White bass can fill the
stringer in a jiffy if you’re
fortunate enough to find a
feeding school.
White bass can fill the cooler in a jiffy if you’re fortunate enough
to find a feeding school.
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White bass fish & chips.
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Yellow bass are a colorful white bass cousin. Whereas white bass
can grow two or three pounds, yellow bass seldom exceed eight
inches in length.Yellow bass are a
colorful white
bass cousin.
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Yellow bass are only
found in a few Iowa
lakes, and are
uncommon in the
Mississippi River.
Clear Lake is a top
spot to catch the novel
yellow bass.
State record 1# 9oz
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Whereas white bass often grow over a
foot long, yellow bass seldom exceed
eight inches.
Still a fine catch!
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Yellow bass and all Iowa
panfish can be caught in winter
as well as summer
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Yellow perch are another colorful yellow fish that can be caught
through the ice in winter.
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Yellow perch are cigar-shaped compared to a yellow bass and have
dark vertical bars streaking their sides.
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Yellow perch travel in large schools, hunting for minnows like
this blacknose dace
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Live minnows or small shiny jigs that imitate minnows will tempt a
hungry yellow perch.
Live minnows or small shiny jigs that imitate
minnows will tempt a hungry yellow perch.
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Boat marinas around lakes or on the Mississippi River often attract
baitfish and yellow perch. Ten-inch perch are “jumbos”. State record
2# 7oz
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Yellow perch are an
excellent eating
fish!
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Yellow perch make perfect panfish.
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Walleyes are the largest members of the perch family. topping out at
about 12 pounds.
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Yellow perch are one of the walleye’s favorite foods.
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Walleyes hunt for sleeping perch at night with eyes especially
adapted for seeing after dark.
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Note that unusual eye that
helps walleyes spot
snoozing perch.
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Perch-colored crankbaits are good walleye lures. Watch out for
sharp those fish-gripping teeth.
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Jigs, either in natural minnow
or perch colors, or fancy
fluorescents, fool many finicky
walleyes.
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Tipping your jig with a tasty
minnow will make the bait doubly
delectable.
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Wing dams along the Mississippi River and larger rivers are
home to walleyes in Iowa. A good spot to cast crankbaits or jigs.
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Watch out for those bigger boats when casting jigs for walleyes off
wing dams in the Mississippi River!
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Many eager anglers travel to large windswept lakes here in the
Midwest where walleyes also thrive.
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In lakes, spinner rigs can be drifted or trolled behind a boat to
tease a walleye into biting. Bait the hook with one of several live
trailers.
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Spot-tail shiners make a great spinner trailer, especially early in the
season. Note that round black spot at the tail base.
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Nightcrawlers are a standard spinner trailer in the summer season.
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Leeches, otherwise known as “bloodsuckers”, will sometimes trigger
walleyes when nightcrawlers won’t.
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Spinner rigs are dragged along behind the boat,
letting the motor do the work.
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Rowing is the old-fashioned way of
working a spinner rig for walleyes
out in the lake.
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Iowa’s reservoirs and some lakes also host walleyes.
State record 14# 8oz
Iowa’s reservoirs and some
lakes also host
big walleyes.
State record 14# 8oz
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Many anglers wait until sunset to start walleye fishing.
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Walleyes are most active at
night, which is the best
time to catch them. Note
the white tail tip.
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Saugers are a smaller cousin of the walleye, with a spotted dorsal fin
and no white tail tip.
Saugers are a smaller cousin of the
walleye, with a spotted dorsal fin and
no white tail tip.
State record 6# 8oz
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Saugers have blotchy, grayer bodies than walleyes
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Saugers are more of a river fish compared to walleyes, preferring
faster moving water. Two-pounders are big.
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This sauger is ready to be dressed for dinner.
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Fresh sauger fillets before the frying. They’re boneless.
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Walleyes and sauger are the best tasting fish fillets, especially when
prepared fresh for lunch along shore.
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Smallmouth bass are Iowa’s darling
gamefish.
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Cool clear rocky streams in northeastern Iowa is where most
smallmouth bass live, though some lakes have them too.
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Smallmouth bass are associated with rocky bottoms since their
favorite food, crayfish, live there.
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Crayfish are better than chocolate-covered cherries to
smallmouth bass .Crayfish are
chocolate-covered
cherries to
smallmouth bass .
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This Rebel Crayfish
will catch smallmouth
bass!
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Smallmouth bass have relatively small mouths.
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Besides crayfish, another tried and true smallmouth bass bait is the
devilish looking dobsonfly larvae called a hellgrammite.
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Adult dobsonflies aren’t nature’s cutest creatures either.
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Jigs that imitate crayfish, hellgrammites, leeches or minnows will all
take their share of smallmouth bass.
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Toss a realistic jig down amongst the rocks and twitch it so that
waiting bass will come over and swallow it.
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Smallmouth bass are suckers for leggy-looking jigs.
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This northern redbelly dace would also be relished by a famished (or
even full) smallmouth bass.
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This minnow-imitating Mepps Spinner is a go-to lure for catching
smallmouth bass.
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Smallmouth bass fishing is
at its best in Iowa when
September starts trees
turning color and nights
cool down some.
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Smallmouth bass are
strong fighting fish
and put up a real
battle as they often
leap out of the water
several times during
the struggle.
A twenty-inch
smallmouth bass is a
great trophy.
State record is 7# 12oz.
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Most anglers in the
modern age release
all the smallmouth
bass they catch to
protect the
resource.
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Besides wading, fishing from a canoe is another good way to angle
for smallmouth bass.
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Fishing kayaks are an option for adventuresome fishers.
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The smallmouth bass is also known as the “bronzeback” with a
brownish-olive body and darker vertical stripes on its sides.
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Largemouth bass are much more common than smallmouth bass in
Iowa. They have a mossy green back, a white belly, and a wide dark
stripe running lengthwise down their body.
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Largemouth bass are most
common in farm ponds and
small lakes, but live in
almost any water body.
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Largemouth bass like to hide in the underwater weeds where they
can ambush their prey.
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This bullfrog would be breakfast toast for a “bigmouth bass”.
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Baits that resemble frogs will catch
largemouth bass.
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Golden shiners are a natural largemouth bass food, so a live golden
shiner for bait will certainly catch fish.
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Largemouth bass latch onto and swallow heedless shiners head-
first.
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Spinnerbaits that pretend to be
golden shiners are great
largemouth bass triggers.
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Dawn is the best time to try and catch a largemouth
bass.
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Sneak into a largemouth bass lair and see what happens
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What if the largemouth bass is laying under that mess?
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A weedless-rigged plastic worm is probably the best bait day in
and day out for fooling largemouth bass into biting. Cross their
eyes on the hook-set!
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Largemouth
bass have big
but very hard
bony mouths
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Largemouth bass fishers prefer heavy-duty rods and reels for
tackling those strapping trophy fish.
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Purple plastic worms work best, for
whatever reason
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Largemouth bass are aptly named, and will gulp down whatever
they can grab.
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Most largemouth
bass weigh a couple
pounds, but five-
pounders can be
caught and a ten-
pounder is possible
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Most anglers release largemouth bass too, so they can fan out nests
in May and make more fish-catching fun.
State record 10# 12oz.
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Northern pike are extremely aggressive predators and truly a trophy
fish, sometimes called “water tigers”.
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Gator fish is a good way to describe a northern pike.
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Northern pike are long and thin and can grow to 40” long and 25 lbs.
Their mouths are filled with sharp teeth
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Many northern pike lurk in quiet Mississippi
River backwaters.
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Northern pike also roam in Iowa’s larger lakes and reservoirs
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Long thin fleshy suckers, shiners or chubs, like this common shiner,
are key natural foods for northern pike.
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A live shiner suspended below a
bobber is a good northern pike
bait
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Tip-ups take the place of
bobbers in winter.
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When the flag pops up, pull
in your pike.
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Northern pike have razor-sharp teeth so be careful.
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Daredevil
Spoons,
especially in a
red and white
striped
“candycane”
pattern, have
taken countless
northern pike
over the years.
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Any big showy red and white lure that looks and acts like an
injured sucker will attract a northern pike.
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Cast those Daredevils toward
waiting weedbeds.
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Northern pike are top-notch fighting fish.
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Northern pike taste great, but they’re full of problematic Y-bones, so
release these toothy fighters and eat panfish.
Northern pike taste great, but they’re full of problematic Y-bones, so
release these toothy fighters and eat panfish.
State record 25# 5oz.
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Iowa’s most elusive gamefish is the muskellunge (the fish of a
thousand casts).
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Muskellunge can only be caught in a few Iowa lakes
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Muskellunge like to lay in camouflaging cabbage beds while
waiting for their meals to swim by.
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Creek chubs, suckers and even walleyes are eaten.
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Big minnow crankbaits will interest a resident muskellunge. Dark
stormy days and fishing at night is the best way to get a muskie on
your line.
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Muskies are said to be the fish of a thousand casts!
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Six-inch spinners are favorite muskie Baits. Cast with a pool cue for
a pole and use non-stretch braided line.
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This proud angler is about to
release a nice muskellunge to
fight another fine day. State
record 50# 6oz.
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Good fishing!