FishnDave

I usually catch stuff...but I'm certainly no pro at it. So, that's my disclaimer. A beadhead Pink Squirrel nymph is very popular in Iowa's Driftless area. Its a great place to catch trout with the flies YOU want to use. Try anything from a #32 midge to a 5/0 musky T-Bone fly. Personally, I don't like messing with the tiny flies, so #10 or #8 Woolly Buggers and microjigs have caught a lot of trout for me. Take some brown stuff, and some flashy gold stuff. Sowbug and scud imitations will catch you fish just fine. Some foam hopper and beetle patterns will get you fish looking up. Good luck, I look forward to your pictures! Wisconsin seems to have more larger trout than Iowa (especially browns), based on pictures I've seen over the years.

I haven't been to the WI side of the Driftless either. I'm planning to be on the Iowa side early next week. I've stayed in Decorah, and also Fayette, Waukon, Dorchester, as well as a couple towns near some outlier trout streams that may not be worth your time. Lots of streams, best place to get information is the Iowa DNR website. https://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/Trout-Fishing Below the picture in the upper right are two links...one gives a list of all the streams, one shows them on a map. you can dig further by clicking more links in the list or streams on the map.

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I don't care much either way...no horse in this race. Just wanted to point out that we can find studies to support just about any agenda. Interesting how some studies show one thing, others show something else. We quote the ones we like, and don't mention the ones we don't. Here's some studies that could be construed to offer an opposing view to the original post above. http://seafwa.005.neoreef.com/15Hysmith_et_al_98-102.pdf Quote of the day: "Instantaneous total fishing mortality was estimated to be 0.14, with tournament mortality responsible for 65% of all angling-caused fish deaths." Apparently the range of mortality by lake or tournament varies greatly, again making it easy for folks to pick and choose which ones to include to further their agenda. In the study below...0% sounds great! ...While 43.9% or 55.5% is horrifying. https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/81189/Williamson.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#:~:text=Among six professional bass tournaments,were 0% and 16.0%. "Bass Tournament Mortality Among six professional bass tournaments studied, total mortality rates of largemouth bass ranged from 0% to 43.9%, and smallmouth bass from 0% to 55.5% when adjusted for reference fish mortalities. During two simulated tournaments, mortality rates of culled LMB were 0% and 16.0%."

Plus...look at what you've caught! Plenty of tough and unusual fish on your list! Fliers, Orangespotted Sunfish, Bowfin, Dollars, Bantams, Blue Cat, Spotted Gar, Carp on fly....etc. So cool! John's got a bunch of cool fish too! Mud Sunfish!!!

Awesome! I hope you're able to catch a bunch! 👍

I fished for them the way I typically do. I think I got lucky? Some may have been in a feeding mood, finally? All were caught within about a foot of a vertical block retaining wall. Perhaps they were picking food off it.

Got out after dinner on Monday. Flyfished from 6:30-8:45pm. Caught bullheads and 5 goldfish.

MO IA smallmouth stream: Iowa trout streams:

I'll keep an eye out for it...is it on a floating key fob?

I apologize in advance if I'm giving away too much with this picture...many of you may recognize the spot and also have it near or at the top of your list of favorite places to fish. Now, while that's a great spot, its very rural, so I don't get there much. Closer to the big city, there's some really great spots to relax and enjoy calm and quiet weekend days. I don't see too many places with good beds of lilly pads to fish for bass trying to find shelter from the bright hot sunny days. But really, you can fish spots like these, which are more commonly found locally, just like you would those lilly pads! I think @snagged in outlet 3 enjoys fishing here too...I see one of his blue shoes.

Years ago before an international work trip, my wife hid her wedding ring and diamond earrings at our house. Then she could never find them again...forgot where she actually put them. We thought we'd find them when we moved last year...but we never did. At least so far, we can still remember what we lost.

Its been a pretty satisfying year so far. As soon as the R&D is completed on Alligator Crappie...I want to catch one of those, too.

I'm sure many of you realize sushi is really good. Growing up in the midwest, I wasn't introduced to it until middle-age of my life, by my wife while I joined her on a work trip to Oahu. Takes a few times to get past the fact you are willingly ingesting raw fish. After that...bring it! But not all is good. I still haven't had raw Red Snapper I've liked. Mackerel is often horrible. For beginners, start with Tuna. Its really mild. Next, salmon and yellowtail... still mild, but more flavorful. Then white tuna. Want something cooked? Try eel or maybe seared tuna. Sashimi is the way to go...IMO...but rolls will get you going. Some rolls are ho-hum, others are an experience of flavors and textures. Dip any and all of it in soy sauce that you've mixed the wasabi in... man, it just doesn't get much better. Carp? Drum? Trout? Not sure about any of that. I've had fresh-caught Skipjack Tuna cut up for sashimi....SO GOOD!

With your fish ID skills and "eye" for detail...I'm sure you'd do great with such a quiz! I just thought it was cool...I zoomed in on one of my pictures...just thought "the eye is red"...but looking closer...there's much more to it.

Get well soon, Bo.

Conditions changed again. Now the creek is 12' above normal! Deeper water, muddy, fish spread out. I'm looking forward to the creek returning to normal. Caught 2 gar. Then visited 2 new-to-me lakes. Got skunked at one, caught a bass and bluegills at the other. More rain after I got home, and more in the forecast. This was cool:

Catfish are a great time on a fly rod. Good job!

Yeah! I was starting to think I'd have to hunt down a spot with much better carp prospects. Its only been in the past week or so that I've seen any close enough to present a fly to....and hadn't caught those. Usually its a short window of opportunity, so rarely enough time to put on a suitable fly... just gotta drop whatever fly I'm using to them. For whatever reason, most of the common carp I see here (not many) are usually feeding right at the waters edge on the far side of the creek. Very tough to present accurately...and tougher to detect the strike. This one I didn't see first, and was fishing for other species when it HAMMERED the large-ish fly and immediately took off FAST. I thought it was a small Hybrid Striped Bass for awhile... I'm thankful when "luck" gets involved while I'm fishing. Typically, Grass Carp are considered much tougher to catch (on flies) than Common Carp. So far this year, its 15 Grass Carp to 1 Common Carp.

(FND34) Common Carp (Carpus carpio carpe diem nondomesticus)

(FND33) Sauger (Sander spottedsail)

Rain pounded us this morning. More on the way. Where I fished, the water was very muddy. Gar found the clearest water around. Caught one, lost a few. Caught a Grass Carp. First Common Carp of the year for me. And a Sauger.

We've had rain and more in the forecast. Its messing with the water conditions and the fishing....