My 2023 Iowa season

[duckhunt]

Made it over to the big river over the weekend. Got about an hour in before dark at Lynxville with one short walleye in the boat.

Alot of ice coming over the dam.


Drake enjoying the first trip in the boat this season.

 

[duckhunt]

Spent half the day Saturday at Genoa with 1 walleye, 1 sauger, and 1 northern in the live well. Took Drake for a ride in the afternoon to check on the new property and let Drake run around for a bit. Water temp was 32.3 so a little cold yet.

Sunday morning did some ice fishing by lansing. Nothing but a ton of small gills. Saw a few guys with tip ups get a few northern.

 

[duckhunt]

Thinking about going west this fall I decided on just points for colorado. Going to group points with a buddy and his wife in Wyoming for a low point antelope hunt.

 

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Can't go wrong with northern filets and crinkle fries.

 

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Went to Illinois last night to see Jeff Dunham in Springfield. Jeff is definitely worth seeing live if you ever have a chance.

 

[duckhunt]

Got on the big river for a few hours Saturday afternoon. 2 of us boated 2 sauger and 7 perch. I believe the fishing is about to start getting good.

 

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I took a walk looking for some mushrooms today. Nothing to be found but a great day for a walk. The ground seemed really dry so I think some rain would help a bit.

 

[duckhunt]

Never did get a turkey tag this year. Just been to dang busy. Did make it out mushroom hunting a couple more times though. 2 weeks ago went to a place close to home. Was only out for about 10 minutes and managed to run a small tree branch into my left eye. Yeah that sucked pretty bad. Took about 3 days to start feeling good again. Put 2.5 miles on the boots last weekend at yellow river forest. Found 4 only about 50 yards from the truck. Atleast it was good exercise. Also found some pheasant back. Only kept one to eat.



Some steak, suddenly salad, and morels for supper.

 

[duckhunt]

Finally taking time for some R&R this weekend. 10 hours of work tomorrow and then 3 days at the big river. Pretty much have everything ready to go. Plan is for some walleye fishing and hike some trails doing some early scouting some new deer hunting areas.

 

[Gellar]

Finally taking time for some R&R this weekend. 10 hours of work tomorrow and then 3 days at the big river. Pretty much have everything ready to go. Plan is for some walleye fishing and hike some trails doing some early scouting some new deer hunting areas.

Don’t be afraid to give me your walleye honeyhole so I can catch some during the week next week.

 

[duckhunt]

Made it to the river in time to get the boat on the water for a quick outing Friday evening.

A beautiful evening on the water.


Had two rods with me. One rigged with a crawler rig and the other with a crankbait. First half hour I missed one fish drifting with the crawler and then broke that line. I put that rod down and casted the crankbait on some flooded riprap for a bit with no strikes. Brand new 10 dollar bait and of course I snagged and snapped that line. Decided to head in for supper at that point.

 

[duckhunt]

Saturday morning dad decided he didn't want to fish so I went for a hike over at the state forest.
First hike was at the luster heights unit. I struck gold right away.




I hiked a big loop and did a little early scouting for some hunting areas this fall
Saw some awsome sights.



Then I drove over to check out my new place and hike a little over that way. I'm glad I have a great neighbor that has been keeping my grass mowed for me. I guess he and his wife will be getting a steak supper one of these days.put about 3.5 miles on the boots for the day. I went back to the other place and got some chores done that afternoon.

Just happened to find this by my shed.

 

[duckhunt]

Sunday morning I took dad out in the boat for a few hours.
Another gorgeous morning on the the big river.


After hitting some regular areas we usually fish I decided we needed to get out of the heavy current ( water a little high and running fast) and check out a few areas I fished years back. I got skunked but dad hooked a


He also got another small walleye and a catfish. That afternoon I took the wife for a ride around bluff country for awhile.

 

[duckhunt]

Back out for a few hours Sunday morning. Dad got skunked this time and I landed a few undesirable species. A few sheephead, Mooneye, and catfish. Dad took the catfish to eat.
For the most part it was a great weekend to be out.

 

[duckhunt]

Did up 10 pounds of venison brat patties with cheddar.

 

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Packing up to head to the big river for the week. River looks good, weather looks good, and I'm ready for some time away from the tractor factory.

 

[duckhunt]

Drew our wyoming antalope tags. I will be hunting with a buddy and his wife, my wife will be along for the ride. North east part of the state where there were no tag cuts. Should be a great trip.

 

[duckhunt]

Vacation was great last week. I will post a few pics and srory when I get a little more time.

 

[duckhunt]

We spent the first couple days of vacation just relaxing. Made it out fishing 3 different mornings.
First outing we tried drifting for walleyes south of Lansing.



Only caught one catfish in that area so we went north of Lansing to try to get some gills. Got two keepers and missed a bunch. I'm guessing they were mostly small fish.
The second trip in the boat I just took Drake out trolling.



That didn't work out to well. Had a line out of each side of the boat and managed to snag both lines at the same time trolling down stream. Put the motor in reverse trying to somehow get both lines free. Yeah ended up with one line wrapped around the prop. Saved the other line but donated a ten dollar crankbait to the river from the line wrapped up.

 

[duckhunt]

Went out scouting one evening on some public ground. It was just a nice evening to get out for a hike.



There was some other public I wanted to explore a little. I needed to get across big paint trout stream so I thought I would just take my buddies kayak. I put in at my new place and started paddling up stream. Didn't take long before I ran into a big log jam. I then decided this is turning into more work than it's worth. I think I can hike in from a different area a bit easier.