Well...sort of. The spring spawning season probably provides the hottest Crappie action of the year.
But don't overlook the Fall! For folks in the northern parts of the U.S., crappies will strike flies and lures all the way to ice-up. They seem to move in close to shore again in the Fall, and hang around the last bits of green weedbeds and brushpiles. Its a good time to try catching some of the larger female crappies that were hanging out beyond your casting reach during the spawning season when the males were sitting on nests.
A slower presentation is often in order for this cooling water season. For folks using spinning gear, a 1/16, 1/32, or even 1/64th oz jighead tipped with a crappie-sized plastic tube jig body suspended under a small bobber is all you need. Adjust the distance between the bobber and the jig to fish over the top of the weeds and brush. Snagging on underwater obstructions is annoying, and crappies usually prefer to move up to strike anyway.
Fly anglers can use a microjig (1/80 or 1/100 oz) under a small strike indicator. I prefer the football-shaped indicators with the rubber core that holds the line in place.
I did really well late last fall with catching some nice crappies on flyfishing gear. I tried it during lunch today. Conditions weren't ideal, but I managed 3 crappies and a bluegill. I think its just going to continue to get better from here on until ice-up!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Grass Carp Length vs Weight Table
One of our Iowa DNR Fisheries Biologists sent me a study (by others) that had been completed in 2009 on Asiatic Carp in the Missouri River. The study's authors were Wanner and Klumb.
Part of the result of the study was coming up with Length vs Weight tables for Bighead Carp, Silver Carp, and Grass Carp. Each species was dealt with separately.
The Grass Carp in the Missouri River deal with current and a general lack of their preferred vegetative foods. So, I strongly suspect the condition of these river fish is significantly less than a pond or lake
fish with practically unlimited food supply. I know the Grass Carp I've caught have usually been very fat.
But anyway, having some guideline by which to estimate these fishes' weights is better than none, and its perfect if you are actually catching Missouri River (or probably any river) Grass Carp.
Accordingly, I took one of the equations from the study and put it in an Excel Spreadsheet to develop the table. The formula I used was:
Log(weight in grams)= 2.87 x (Log length in mm) - 4.59
I converted the formula for input of fish length in inches, and an output of weight in pounds.
Below is an example table. At the top of the image, I show what the formula looks like in the Excel spreadsheet, so you can make one for yourself if you wish. In that formula, "A23" is just the cell callout for the cell where you've entered the fish length in inches. In your table, just change that callout to the appropriate cell number. Once you done this for one line, you can copy the formula down in subsequent cells and it should update that cell callout automatically, if you know what I mean.
Below is the result of another study I found, this one by Morrow and Kirk on Grass Carp in Lake Guntersville, Alabama. These length vs weights I feel are probably more like what I might expect from my local pond fish. Below is the image for those results, along with those from the Missouri River study, and also shows the formula I used as it was entered into the Excel spreadsheet.
The formula used is:
Weight (grams) = (length in mm)^3.14 x .00000519
Of course, once again in my table, I've converted for accepting lengths in inches and giving results in pounds.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Lake Petocka Stocker Trout, Fall 2013
I went flyfishing for "stocker trout" at Lake Petocka on Saturday, October 26. It had been 8 days since they were stocked.
I fished from 9am-3:45pm. Weather was mostly sunny, high temps reached around 50 degrees F. Wind was 10-15 mph from the NNW. I put some hip waders on and waded out to about knee deep.
I used a #8 Beadhead black Woolly Bugger for a good part of the day. I experimented with a few other colors, caught fish on most of them, but the black seemed to be the trouts' preference on this day.
I ended up catching 67 Rainbow Trout.
I measured one at @ 14.25". I landed one that I suspect was significantly larger, but it flopped off my fly as I was carrying it back to shore to measure it. I could have tried to grab it, but I just let it go on its way.
-------------------------------------------
On Sunday, October 27, I flyfished the lake again in the evening..from 4pm to 6:45pm. The last hour was fairly worthless. I ended up with landing 21 Rainbow Trout. The best fly this time was an unweighted white Woolly Bugger.
I fished from 9am-3:45pm. Weather was mostly sunny, high temps reached around 50 degrees F. Wind was 10-15 mph from the NNW. I put some hip waders on and waded out to about knee deep.
I used a #8 Beadhead black Woolly Bugger for a good part of the day. I experimented with a few other colors, caught fish on most of them, but the black seemed to be the trouts' preference on this day.
I ended up catching 67 Rainbow Trout.
I measured one at @ 14.25". I landed one that I suspect was significantly larger, but it flopped off my fly as I was carrying it back to shore to measure it. I could have tried to grab it, but I just let it go on its way.
-------------------------------------------
On Sunday, October 27, I flyfished the lake again in the evening..from 4pm to 6:45pm. The last hour was fairly worthless. I ended up with landing 21 Rainbow Trout. The best fly this time was an unweighted white Woolly Bugger.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Stocker Trout, Fall 2013
Its that time of year when the DNR stocks trout in a handful of lakes across Iowa, as part of their Urban Trout Fishing program.
On Sunday afternoon, I visited one of the lakes that were stocked on the preceding Friday. The lake is 22 acres in size. I wasn't there on stocking day, so I don't know the exact number, but typically they stock 1,500-1,800 trout at a time here. I fished for quite awhile before I found a few fish. The ones I found seemed to be "loners", not grouped up like they sometimes are. I caught 13 while flyfishing, and lost a nice bass around dusk. The bass jumped 3 times, dove, and then the hook pulled free near shore when I attempted to horse it in order to land it.
I took Monday off work to flyfish it again. This time I found more fish, or maybe they just hit better in the mornings? I caught 30 in the first hour before it slowed down. It was slow but relatively steady fishing the rest of the day. I ended up catching 107 trout, and 1 smallmouth bass. That was way better than the day before! Now, yes, that's a lot of fish. My previous best was 88 fly-caught trout in a day, and a friend of mine had caught 42 while flyfishing on Sunday morning. First, I hoped to beat his number, then I wanted to beat my old number, and then I was so close to 100 that I just had to keep going....
I had skipped lunch (it was in my car, I just didn't want to take a break to walk over and "refuel"!, plus it was cold...(started out at 35 degrees F, but eventually climbed to 48 degrees), windy, and I was standing calf deep in the water all day wearing some hip waders. When I got done...I suddenly discovered I couldn't feel one foot. My back was sore. By the time I got home, I could barely stay awake. I WAS BEAT...happy and satisfied...but BEAT! And...I think I burnt myself out. I wasn't that excited to go the next day, so I didn't.
I'm wondering if I should have left sooner...but what would you do? The fish were biting, and there was nowhere else I needed to be. Catching fish has always been my favorite way to pass the time.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Got Geese??
Cloudy, cold, gloomy, drizzly day. Might as well go fishing, right?
Well, Fall definitely knocked on the door here. Up until Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, I'd been fishing in shorts and t-shirt still. For Sunday, I decked myself out in jeans, t-shirt, long-sleeve T-shirt, and heavy hooded sweatshirt. Mostly I was comfortable, but I did start shivering a few times, and my hands were cold and fingertips half numb.
I hoped to find some crappies in one pond, but never did. One shoreline I thought they might be hanging out along was taken over by a hundred or more Canadian Geese. I could have scared them off and fished that shoreline, but chose to let them have it. I've learned that geese like to drop bombs to lighten their load when taking off...and I had no desire to be bombed this day. As it was, a bomb got dropped into the water about 5' in front of me when some geese from a neighboring field circled over the pond.
I fished my way around 1/2 of this pond, with only a couple bass and one or two bluegills to show for it. There's a smaller pond next to this one, and there were far fewer geese on it, so I gave it a try. I found fish, and found a fly they would hit regularly (red & chartreuse 1/80th oz microjig under an indicator), and started to catch fish. I ended up catching a few more small bass (< 12"), well over 40 Bluegills that probably averaged 7.5", and one 8" Green Sunfish.
Here's the Green Sunfish:
A few of the Bluegills still had decent color on them:
Well, Fall definitely knocked on the door here. Up until Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, I'd been fishing in shorts and t-shirt still. For Sunday, I decked myself out in jeans, t-shirt, long-sleeve T-shirt, and heavy hooded sweatshirt. Mostly I was comfortable, but I did start shivering a few times, and my hands were cold and fingertips half numb.
I hoped to find some crappies in one pond, but never did. One shoreline I thought they might be hanging out along was taken over by a hundred or more Canadian Geese. I could have scared them off and fished that shoreline, but chose to let them have it. I've learned that geese like to drop bombs to lighten their load when taking off...and I had no desire to be bombed this day. As it was, a bomb got dropped into the water about 5' in front of me when some geese from a neighboring field circled over the pond.
I fished my way around 1/2 of this pond, with only a couple bass and one or two bluegills to show for it. There's a smaller pond next to this one, and there were far fewer geese on it, so I gave it a try. I found fish, and found a fly they would hit regularly (red & chartreuse 1/80th oz microjig under an indicator), and started to catch fish. I ended up catching a few more small bass (< 12"), well over 40 Bluegills that probably averaged 7.5", and one 8" Green Sunfish.
Here's the Green Sunfish:
A few of the Bluegills still had decent color on them:
Friday, October 4, 2013
Seagull
I figured it would happen eventually. I was fishing with a topwater plug last night for White Bass at Saylorville Lake. I caught a Wiper, and about 6 White Bass in about an hour before it got too dark.
I had 3 seagulls attack my topwater plug. I managed to keep it away from the first two, but the 3rd one was quicker than I gave him credit for. Fortunately, he just had one hook in his beak.
I always pictured a seagull taking the lure, and trying to fly away with it...followed by an absolute mayhem of snapping beak, flapping wings, flying feathers, screeching calls.... Instead, it was actually pretty calm. I reeled the seagull in, and it just sat on the water right next to me (I was wading) while I took its picture, and got the pliers out and removed the hook. Then it flew away.
I gi
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Encounters With Nature
Anyone who has spent a little time outdoors will have some
stories to tell about their encounters with nature. Most of my encounters have happened while on
fishing trips. In order to put some sort
of organization to some of these stories that I feel are worth sharing, I’ve
decided to break them down by species…alphabetically.
Alligator:
I was flyfishing one of the many freshwater canals in Miami
one morning. I had been forewarned to
beware of alligators that might be sunning themselves along the shoreline at
that time of day. I was slowly walking
along, stopping to fish, walking a little further on, and fishing again. I was periodically looking down along the
shoreline so that I would see any alligators well before I got too close to
them. Well… I may have gotten a little
lax in my scouting. Or perhaps this one
had been fairly well concealed near some shrubs back away from the water. At any rate, I had almost gotten between one
and the water, and it ran by me about 15’ away as it launched itself into the
canal. Adrenaline rush and fear! It wasn’t big…maybe 6 feet long. It was kind of cute as it swam across to the
other side of the canal. What bothered
me most was that I hadn’t seen it before it took off for the water! I improved my diligence in
alligator-scanning for the rest of the day, I assure you!
During another trip to Florida, near Titusville, I was
fishing with a guide, and we drifted over the top of something. I saw the tail and legs. My mind told me the legs were ginormous
fins/whiskers, and thought I was seeing a giant catfish of some sort! My guide pointed out the head, and then I
realized it was a large alligator laying on the bottom.
Badger:
I’ve only seen one Badger so far. My buddy Jay and I were driving home from a
fishing excursion to the Maquoketa River near Delhi, Iowa. We were westbound on the divided 4-lane Hwy
20. It was mid-afternoon. I saw something up ahead running towards the
road from the open field to the right. I
slowed way down to avoid hitting it as it crossed the road in front of us,
crossed the median, and continued on across the eastbound lanes and
beyond. It was a Badger! That was really cool, and I’d been wanting to
see one in the wild. The odd part of the
story was that loping along behind the cruising badger was a bizarre-looking
creature that I really didn’t get a good look at because of how much I wanted
to see the badger. Looking back, I think
it was a mangy coyote. I’ve since read
that, for some reason, it is common for badgers and coyotes to travel/hunt
together.
Bald Eagle:
Bald Eagles are inspirational. Fortunately in my lifetime, Bald Eagle
sightings have gone from extremely rare occurrences, to relatively common. In the first 20 years of my life, I don’t
recall EVER seeing a Bald Eagle in Iowa.
Since then, I’ve seen them along various lakes and rivers, even sitting
in snow covered farm fields 50 miles from the nearest river. I’ve even seen a few fly over my neighborhood
this year!
One thing Eagles are generally good at, and that is keeping
their distance from amateur would-be photographers such as me. Without a decent zoom lens on a camera, its usually
very difficult to get a decent picture.
In Canada, eagles will sometimes wait in trees on shore near boat
anglers, hoping to make a meal of an injured or stunned fish tossed back into
the lake. We’ve had them fly down just
30’ from our boat to pick up a fish. It
was also in Canada that we watched an Osprey appear and have an aerial battle
with an Eagle that was flying away with a fish….and the smaller Osprey won!
This past Spring, we got to watch a pair of Eagles do their
mating dance, where two of them grasp each others feet, and then just free fall
in a spiral with their wings extended.
Pretty cool to see!
Beaver:
Spend enough time around flowing water, and you are likely
to encounter beaver. They are a large
rodent, and it is nice just to see them, as long as you don’t mind the damage
they can do to shoreline trees. Most
often, you just see them in the water swimming by, and if you startle them,
they will tail-slap and dive underwater.
Sometimes they will resurface, tail-slap, and dive again, several times.
One notable encounter occurred on Saylorville
Reservoir. I had a Lund fishing boat,
and my buddy Jay and I had taken it out pretty early in the year. The water was cold and muddy, and the air was
still cold as well. We were dressed for the weather. Fishing that day was indeed fishing, and not
catching. We were sitting in the boat,
anchored out in the middle of a large arm of the lake. The closest shore was 150 yards away, at
least. Soon, we saw a beaver swimming
towards us from the main lake. It swam
right towards us, and then stopped to look at us from about 20 feet away from
the boat. It then swam a complete lap
around the boat and returned to its starting point and then sat, floating, and
looked us over again. I’ve not clue what
it could have been thinking, but after a minute or so, it continued on its
way. Just a bizarre episode.
Another encounter occurred when I lived in northern
Illinois. I had been wading and fishing
the Kishwaukee River for smallmouth bass one summer evening. It got too dark to continue fishing, so I
began wading back upstream to where I had parked my car. The side of the river I was wading along was
timbered, and trees were overhanging the water.
I had to wade around them. As I
waded around one such tree, I heard a loud rustle of something running in the
tall grass/weeds along the top edge of the riverbank. Then it was completely quiet for just a split
second, and then a loud splash in the water between me and shore. HEART ATTACK!
In the dark, silly and unreasonable things can quickly take over your
mind, and this happened. The first
thought that came to mind as answering the question, “What was THAT?” was…well,
in my defense…it sounded like an ALLIGATOR jumping off the bank and coming
right for me! After a couple adrenaline
drenched moments, I realized that there are NO ALLIGATORS in Illinois. It had just been a startled beaver diving
back into the river. Nevertheless, it
had scared the bazonkers outta me!!
Black Bear:
I’ve had some interesting sightings of Black Bears while on
fishing trips to Ontario, Canada.
One such sighting occurred during the drive up from
Iowa. We slowed down because a deer was
crossing the road ahead of us. She kept
looking over her shoulder behind her.
So, I looked across the road in the direction from which she had come,
and trotting down the the grassy slope along a treeline next to the road was a
bear. He was obviously hunting that
deer. That was kinda cool to see.
The fishing lodge where we stay on our Canada fishing trips,
the owners are good about keeping the bears away. There is a garbage heap well back in the
woods away from the cabins. The bears
prefer to go there, apparently. But
occasionally one will come into camp.
Upon arrival, everyone is told to bring in their cooking oil after they
are done cooking each evening, and to not leave any food outside. One night just after half of our party had
gone to bed, the remaining guys were at the kitchen table playing cards. They heard something just outside the sliding
glass door on the wooden deck of our cabin.
They looked, and saw a bear on our porch! The bear didn’t stay on the porch long, since
there was no food there.
Another year, a bold young bear was raiding the fish
carcasses at the fish-cleaning station in the boathouse along the water’s
edge. From our deck, we watched it pace
back and forth along the shoreline in front of the lodge, and then it went out
on the docks and started walking around in some of the boats! This isn’t good, because some folks would
leave their fishing rods in the boat, and there were hooks on those fishing
rods! A bear could easily accidentally
break a rod, or get itself snagged up on a hook! The lodge employees were somewhat befuddled
as to “what to do with a bear in a boat”!
A third encounter at this lodge happened on yet a different
trip. The last evening of the trip,
everyone packs up their gear because we leave camp for home very early in the
morning. The group in the cabin adjacent
to ours put their packed up items outside to get a jump on the morning. Bad move.
A bear came into camp and started rummaging around amongst their
gear. It tore into some nylon bags and
somehow managed to open some coolers and plastic containers. All of the folks in our cabin heard the
commotion and got up to see what was going on.
We looked out the window towards the other cabin, and the bear was right
there, doing what bears will do. Our
window was open, covered with just a screen.
We whispered to each other. The
bear looked up and right towards our window.
Not alarmed, he resumed his rummaging.
Then, a member of our party, who shall remain nameless (it was NOT me!),
ripped a rather sudden and loud fart.
The bear looked up at our window again, then turned and took off running
away towards the nearest trees as if its life depended on it! Maybe it did…perhaps the bear had been
downwind of our friend at some point during that week and had learned his
lesson! We still get a good laugh out of
that one!
Photo below courtesy of Chris Clark/Jay Ohm:
Butterflies and
Moths:
A good thing about fishing is just being outside and close
to nature. Along most water and
waterways are forests or fields that often contain wildflowers. I suppose this attracts the butterflies, and
some of the moths.
During a recent fishing trip to Canada, we noticed hundreds
of these Tiger Swallowtails! They seemed
to be everywhere. If there were spots of
moist sand along the river or lake, there would often be a group of them
resting and fluttering around.
We would be fishing out in the middle of a big lake…and suddenly
there’d be one or two flying around us in the boat. And they would do this for several minutes
before finally moving on.
Also in Canada, I’ve seen a Cecropia Moth, which are very
large, and colorful, and I’ve also seen a couple Luna Moths.
Caribou (Woodland
Caribou):
Woodland Caribou inhabit the lands around the lake we fish
in Ontario, Canada. They aren’t often
seen, however. We have seen small herds
of them twice swimming in the lake as they travel between the many islands and
the shoreline. They are usually a fair
distance away when we see them…too far away to take a picture, but close enough
that you can tell what they are.
One day my boat partner and I were anchored up, fishing over
a submerged weedbed fairly close to shore.
A cow Caribou and her calf came out of the woods onto the flat rock at
the waters edge. They paced back and
forth, stepped into the water a couple times, then turned and headed down the
shoreline a short distance and headed back up into the trees. Less than 5 minutes later, a bear came out of
the woods at the spot where the caribou had first emerged, and he too paced
along the shoreline, nose to the ground, then nose to the air. He also turned and headed back up into the trees
on the trail the caribou had taken. The
bear was obviously hunting the caribou.
The caribou must have wanted to swim away from shore where we were, but
may have been put off that idea by our presence. I hope they made good on their escape from
the bear!
Crayfish:
Ok…Crayfish encounters may lack the excitement of a bear or
caribou encounter, but they are still rather interesting, in my skewed opinion.
When I was a kid, my Dad and I would wade rivers while
fishing for catfish. In rocky riffle
areas, I would turn over rocks searching for crayfish to play with or use for
bait. Crayfish are small, but man can
they pinch! I’ve learned to handle them
with great care. They won’t break a
finger bone…probably wouldn’t even break your skin, but a strong pinch sure can
hurt and startle me!
I’ve spotted them in the water along riprap shorelines in
lakes. I’ve dropped down live bait such
as worms and caught them when they grab it with a pincher. I’ve even caught them on artificial flies
while flyfishing. They will usually hold
on just long enough for you to quickly hoist them from the water and onto
shore.
One evening I was standing in
a rocky area of water at Easter Lake in Des Moines, fishing. It was summer, and I was wearing
sandals. I was standing in the water,
and something started brushing up against an exposed part of my foot. I looked down into the water and saw a
crayfish crawling around my foot. I
wiggled my foot to try and spooke the crayfish into fleeing for cover. It backed off, and I resumed fishing. But just 5 minutes later it was back crawling
around my foot again. It posed no danger
to me, but I decided to move along and let him have his spot.
Deer (Whitetail):
Spend any time near water or woods in Iowa, and you can’t
help but encounter deer. They are
relatively abundant. One interesting
incident happened one evening at Sandpiper Beach at Saylorville Lake. I had been fishing way down on the point that
turns back in from the main lake towards the marina area. Wind was blowing into shore from the SW. I was wearing my prescription sunglasses, and
the sun had set quite some time ago. To
me, it was very dark. I started heading
back along the shoreline towards Sandpiper Beach, then turned to make my way up
the hill from the beach to the parking lot.
I was softly humming a tune to myself as I walked. I was not being quiet by any means. I saw some dark shapes in the middle of the
sandy area halfway up the beach. I
tilted my head down to look over the top of my sunglasses. Three deer were just standing there looking
at me. They weren’t 30’ away. They were also downwind of me. There were no trees or cover anywhere
nearby. I was dumbfounded. These deer had obviously been able to clearly
see, smell and hear me for some time, and had ample opportunity to flee at
their leisure. But they just watched me
walk on by. I said some soft soothing
words as I walked on by, hoping not to spook them. They just watched.
A similar incident occurred when I lived in northern
Illinois. Our house was situated across
the street from some timber that bordered a small creek and the Kishwaukee
River. A number of folks in our
neighborhood had Quads (4-wheelers), and had made trails through the
timber. Other folks in the neighborhood
enjoyed walking those cleared paths through the woods. I was walking on one of these paths one
afternoon. I was walking along with my
daughter, who was still quite young, maybe 3 or 4 years old. We were talking away, and I point out items
of interest along the sides of the trail.
I looked up, and there was a deer standing rigid just 5’ off the side of
the trail, looking right at us. It didn’t move at all. I couldn’t believe it let us get so close
without spooking! After my first quick
look, I kept talking to my daughter, but did not make any more eye contact with
the deer. We walked on by, and the deer
remained frozen. After a bit, I looked
back, and it was just gone. WEIRD!
Dolphins:
During a recent fishing trip around Titusville, Florida,
we’d seen a couple pods of dolphins in the morning. In the afternoon, we saw some more dolphin
commotion, and didn’t think to much about it, but then we noticed it was a dead
young dolphin that was stiff and floating on the surface like a cork. The mother was busily trying to keep the
youngster upright so it wouldn’t drown, although it was way too late for
that. It was sad to watch. I’d heard there was a bunch of dolphins dying
along the eastern US coastline this year, apparently due to some viral
infection.
Ducks and Geese:
The town I live in has at least 20 public ponds. Some of those ponds are situated in nicely
manicured parks. Ducks and geese love
these ponds, and lots of young families visit the ponds to feed the ducks. As a result, some of these waterfowl can be a
nuisance to anglers like me. They will
swim right over to you, expecting a tasty snack. They will swim over to a bobber to inspect
its culinary qualities. Fortunately,
I’ve not yet hooked a duck or goose, although I will admit to occasionally
resorting to flailing the water with my fishing rod or line in order to scare
away these invaders of my fishing space.
One day, I had my kids fishing with me at one of these
ponds. My son was fishing for bluegills
that were visible amongst pockets in the submerged weedbed close to shore. Several young ducks (feathered, but not yet
able to fly) had swam over to him and were checking out everything in the water
in front of him. My son dropped his
small jig into the water, and one duck made a quick grab for it. The duck got hooked in its soft bill, and
extreme chaos ensued. I threw my rod
down and ran over to see what could be done.
My son handed me his rod and backed away. I brought the duck up onto the shore, and
crouched down. The duck ran right over
to me and huddled down between my feet, scared out of its wits. I unhooked it, it was a very small puncture
and didn’t even bleed. I stepped away,
and the duck just stayed there, completely overwhelmed by the experience. We left the duck alone, and in 10 minutes or
so, he had returned to the water and joined his brothers and sisters in their
search for food.
Fox:
Foxes are cool. I
love seeing wild fox, and living in suburbia, I just don’t see enough of
them. But they are around. They keep their distance. One day during my lunch hour from work, I was
flyfishing a public pond. It’s a very
wide-open area with few trees and surrounded by great expanses of athletic
fields….baseball, softball, soccer, and football. When I arrived at the pond, I saw a fox
walking along the water’s edge, and a small group of ducks on the water
paralleling his path around the pond. It
didn’t look right. Its face seemed
misshapen, and its hindquarters and tail were only sparsely covered with
hair. One of the sports field
maintenance workers stopped by and talked with me as I was heading for the
pond. They said there was a small family
of foxes in the area they would often see.
They had seen this fox before.
They weren’t really sure what was wrong with it. It seemed harmless, so they left it alone.
This fox seemed to be in some pain, and I took pity on it. It had lain down in a grassy depression along
the shoreline and was resting. I caught
a few small Bluegills, and tossed them towards the fox. I’m not sure he could even see, but he heard
the fish flopping in the grass and moved over to check them out. It looked like it was at least trying to eat
them, I’m sure the fox was quite hungry.
I decided to call him (or her) ”El Chupacabra”.
Frogs and Toads:
Its relatively common to see frogs in the ponds I fish. Most are bullfrogs. Some of the bullfrogs are BIG. The bigger they are, the more aggressive and
territorial they are. When flyfishing in
the evenings with large topwaters targeting bass, I’ve had bullfrogs swim out
and attack the “intruder”, as if it was another frog. Sometimes the big ones will come out onto
shore and sit in the grass. I’m not sure
what they are hoping to catch, but I suspect they may be hunting for ducks,
geese, dogs, and small children. Just
kidding, of course.
Case in point, one evening I was flyfishing my way around a
pond after dusk, tossing a large topwater for bass. The fly was about the size of a mouse. I saw a very large Bullfrog maybe 20 feet
further down the shoreline, sitting up in the mowed grass. He didn’t seem particularly concerned with my
presence, so I edge closer. I didn’t want
to hook it…been there done that…they can be rather tricky to unhook, especially
if you hook them in their elastic, muscular tongue. Not fun.
But I did want to see how the frog would react to this large fly. I tossed it up into the grass maybe 3-4 feet
in front of the big Bullfrog. I moved it
a few inches, and the Bullfrog attacked so aggressively and quickly that he was
hooked before I could even jerk the fly away from it. Darn!
But my slow reflexes still tried to take the fly away from the frog, and
this resulted in my fly rod lifting the frog off the grass. But the frog was heavy, so it dipped back
down. Each time the frog would touch the
ground, it would kick off with its legs and launch itself into the air
again. I tried to keep it in the air so
I could swing it to my hand to grab it and unhook it. Somehow it managed to free itself before I
could get a hold on the frog. Once back
on the grass, it turned and hopped once or twice and dove back into the pond.
Toads behave a little differently. The toads are typically only seen at night
when they come up onto the sidewalks to make a buffet out of all the bugs
crawling around. But (and I suppose this
happens every year, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time
once) one evening I showed up at a local pond, and there were toads
EVERYWHERE. There were hundreds of toads
along the shoreline, both in and out of the water, and even quite a few just
clumsily swimming across the middle of the pond in open water. Some of those would get attacked by large
fish, so I was pretty excited to be fishing just then. The bizarre thing is that the toads would follow me as I slowly walked along the
shoreline casting and fishing. I’d take
a few steps, and then hear (it was after dark by this time) a dozen or more
toads splashing along, hopping over each other and swimming to catch up to
me. I’d take a few more steps and listen
again. At first I wasn’t sure what was
going on, so I turned on my LED headlamp and shined it down where the noise was
coming from, and saw the eyes of all those toads glowing. There was something just a bit horrifying
about it all. Good thing they don’t have
poisonous fangs and a thirst for human flesh…because they sure were aggressive
that night!
Loons:
Loons are interesting birds.
They have attractive markings and coloration, are relatively large, and
have a very haunting call on the lake in the evenings. They dive and catch fish. My closest encounters with loons have
occurred in Canada. The first one, I was
fishing for Northern Pike using a subsurface lure of some sort. I was reeling it in, and I could see it
underwater. Suddenly, I noticed a large
dark shape following closely behind the lure, and gaining on it. I was excited, thinking it was a LARGE pike! I keep retrieving line and watching the
underwater shape. It soon became evident
it was a LOON that was chasing my lure underwater. Very cool!
But of course I didn’t want to risk hooking the Loon, so I then turned
my reel handle as quickly as I could to reel the lure in away from the bird.
On the lake we often fish in Canada, you can easily be
fishing hundreds of yards away from shore…and suddenly a Loon will pop up near
the boat. Where did that thing come
from??? I know they can swim underwater..but
how far away was it the last time it surfaced to take a breath? They can be very interested in fish that we
might be on the stringer, and will come right over next to the boat. They’ll dive down and check out the fish and
then pop back up. I don’t know if they
ever try to eat the fish on the stringer or not. When unhooking a walleye they we plan to
release, we will gently toss the fish overboard. As the fish darts back to the depths, the
Loon will dive in pursuit. Usually it
doesn’t catch the walleye, but occasionally it will surface to swallow its
fresh meal.
Manatees:
I have seen individuals and groups of manatees in Florida. The groups were often very active with creating surface disturbances. Apparently it was a female and 3 males doing whatever frisky manatees do.
I have seen individuals and groups of manatees in Florida. The groups were often very active with creating surface disturbances. Apparently it was a female and 3 males doing whatever frisky manatees do.
While fishing from a boat one day, we drifted right over the
top of a manatee that was hovering the grasses on the bottom in just 3 feet of
water. It wasn’t startled by us at
all. I was so mesmerized with watching
it, I forgot to take a picture!
Mink:
Mink are cool. Ok,
pretty much ALL wildlife is cool. Mink
are so focused on following their nose, they are practically oblivious to
anglers that are keeping fairly still and quiet. I walked about fifteen feet away from one
that was eating a fish on an open grassy area next to a pond.
I’ve seen them searching for food amongst the rocks below
Saylorville Spillway. I stood and
watched as one walked along the rocks towards me one evening, and was almost
standing on my foot before it turned its nose to the air to try and figure out
what I was. After 15 seconds or so, it
turned and crawled back out-of-sight under the rocks behind me.
Muskrat:
I’m not a big fan of muskrats. They can cause significant damage to pond shorelines
and dams from their tunneling activities.
It can be startling to be walking along the shoreline fishing in the
dark, and have one jump into the water near you. But it is fun to watch them swim around in
the evenings. It is also fun to watch children
puff out their chests and tell all their friends knowingly that THERE is an
OTTER!
While flyfishing in the evenings at some local ponds, I have
had some close encounters with the resident muskrats. For some reason they seem interested in me
and will occasionally swim back and forth in front of me. I usually try to avoid casting near them, or
try to make my line/fly splash in the water in front of them to spook
them. This usually works. But a couple of times I have cast my line out
and and was retrieving very slowly when one swam across my line. At first I thought it had missed my line, but
then watched my line start to follow the muskrat. It pretty much hooked itself once the fly on
the end of the line caught up to the muskrat.
I will say that the battle is pretty decent for a rodent of such
size. The first time, the muskrat fought
in the water for several minutes. I
finally pulled it in near shore, but it dove under the bank. I carefully reached back in under the bank to
pull on my line in order to get my hook back, if possible. I couldn’t reach the hook, the line no longer
moved no matter how hard I pulled, so I ended up either breaking or cutting my
line.
The other time that happened was very different. This second muskrat made a beeline for shore, sure that something
in the water was trying to get it. It
jumped out of the water and ran halfway up the bank, and then just sat there in
the grass. I walked over, reached down
with a pair of pliers and pulled my hook free.
Another interesting thing has happened to me a time or two
while ice-fishing. I will be sitting in
my ice-fishing shack (the pull-over type mounted on a sled with a seat), and
I’ll see a large shape under the ice, swimming towards my ice-hole that I am fishing
out of. Up pops the muskrat, who perches
his front paws on the top lip of the ice-hole, and gives me a look. It pauses for 5-10 seconds while it catches
its breath, then dives back down the hole and swims away under the ice
again. All the while, I’m just sitting
there chuckling to myself and wondering what possessed the critter to do that,
and what it must have thought to see ME sitting so close to the hole?
Moose:
It isn’t every trip to Canada that we see bear or caribou or
moose, but it sure is nice when we do!
The moose we see around the lake are usually fairly skittish, possibly
because of the sound of our boat motors.
They usually disappear into the woods pretty fast when we see them. Our last trip we saw several moose around the
lake. We also saw a few along the road
on our drive up AND on our drive back!
Osprey:
Osprey are beautiful birds.
They have become reasonably common in central Iowa over the past 10-15
years. I often see them soaring over the
lakes and rivers, looking for fish to catch.
Once they spot something, they will quickly dive down, splash into the
water, and try to catch their finned target.
They often do. Very cool to
watch. Often you will see both members
of the pair of Osprey.
I had a rather incredible encounter with an Osprey while on
vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I
was out on a guided fishing boat, trolling with large baitfish (10”-12”
long). The gamefish weren’t being particularly
cooperative, so I was just relaxing enjoying the day, looking at the numerous
frigate birds in the sky above the boat.
Then I saw a familiar site, an Osprey.
I always enjoy watching Osprey since they can be so entertaining while
they go about doing their own style of fishing.
It soared above our boat, and suddenly looked interested in something
below in the water. As the boat
continued quickly trolling along, I thought to myself, “Hey, that Osprey is
practically right above my trolled baitfish.”
And then, “Hey, the Osprey is diving down to the water! He looks like he could be close to my
bait. I hope he doesn’t scare away the
gamefish that might be following it!”
And then, “Hey, the Opsrey caught something!” And then, “Hey! He’s got my bait!!!” It took off into the air and quickly rose to
about 40’ above the water, and then flew directly towards shore away from
us. I had grabbed the rod out of the rod
holder, and was putting pressure on the line, hoping the Osprey would drop my
bait! I put more and more pressure on
the line, because by this time he was actually taking line off the drag on the
reel at a decent pace. I was AMAZED at
how strong this bird was while in flight…it didn’t even noticeably slow down or
even dip down from the pressure I was applying!
Finally, I put enough pressure on the line that the hook simply ripped
out of the big baitfish and fell back to the water. The Osprey WON!
I thought it was pretty cool that I got to fight an Osprey
on a rod & reel, and was fortunate in that I didn’t hook or harm the bird
in any way. My Spanish-speaking boat captain
just thought the whole situation was funny and got a good laugh out of it.
Owl:
I love owls. I think
they are one of the most awesome birds around, and are reclusive enough that
they aren’t commonly heard, and even less commonly seen. When I lived in Illinois, we had several
Screech Owls in the woods right across the street from our house. We would see them in the tops of the trees in
the evenings, before they began their nightly search for food.
One evening years ago, I was fishing below the Badger Creek
Lake outlet. When it was time to go, I
was walking back to my car through the woods.
A large Barred Owl followed me for awhile. He would land high in the trees and ogle
me. I would look back, then pretend to
hide behind the next tree. The owl would
hoot at me, fly to another tree where he could see me. We repeated this game for 15 minutes before
we both lost interest. I had to go home,
the owl had to go find food. I suspect
it had chicks to feed.
Another great encounter occurred in Ankeny. My buddy Jay and I were coming back from
fishing, and it was after dark.. We
pulled up to a stop sign near an undeveloped area. As we rounded the corner, the headlights
shone on a Snowy Owl that was sitting on the ground maybe 20 feet from the street. Snow Owls are only very rarely seen in Iowa,
and it was unusual to see one so far south.
We stopped and just watched the owl for several minutes. It didn’t seem to be eating anything, nor did
it appear to be injured. I later read
that it is very common for Snowy Owls to roost on the ground instead of in
trees. Just one of those magical
“encounters with nature”!
Pelicans:
It has become fairly common at different times of the year
to see Pelicans flying over the Des Moines River floodplain. It is especially common to see them in good
numbers around Saylorville Lake. The species we have in Iowa are the American
White Pelicans. I love seeing flocks of
them soaring and circling lazily high
overhead. When you see one on the ground
or water nearby, though, you really see just how HUGE these birds are! Normally Pelicans will keep their distance
from humans, but occasionally they will get near anglers or boaters that might
be fishing in the places where the Pelicans are trying to feed.
We’ve had them circle our boat while fishing at Saylorville
Lake. They would hang out so close, you
had to be careful where you cast, and sometimes had to reel in quickly because
the pelican(s) would swim over to where your line was in the water.
Another time, while in a boat returning to the marina after
a day of fishing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a brown pelican landed right on the
top of our outboard motor…just 6’ away from me… while we were motoring back to
the dock! Apparently it wanted to look
in our livewell and steal our day’s catch!
Crazy Pelican!
Raccoon:
Although Raccoons are fairly common in central Iowa, they
tend to be mainly nocturnal, so it isn’t all that often I get to see them alive
(lots of roadkill specimens, though!).
One night I was fishing from shore along one of the rock
jetties at Big Creek Lake. I could hear
something walking around and looking back up the jetty towards shore, I saw a
raccoon coming my way. It pretty much
walked right out to me (which made me concerned about a possible rabit animal),
and then it wandered off to the side and started scavenging around amongst the
rocks down closer to the water. It
wasn’t really aggressive towards me, but also wasn’t particularly frightened of
me either. Bizarre!
Another time, I was flyfishing from my kayak on a lake in SE
Iowa. I was fishing towards an
overhanging tree, and I kept hearing weird noises coming from the brush along
the bank beneath the tree. I kept
looking, and finally spotted at least 3 Raccoons rummaging along the shoreline. For some reason, that made an already great
day extra special.
Skunk:
Skunk encounters are special. There’s those extra “intangibles” that are
part of skunk encounters that you just can’t get from most other wild
critters. Sure, you might be concerned
that the skunk is rabid. Other animals
can be rabid too. For me, there’s always
the “uh-oh” moment, because you KNOW what can happen if you get too close to a
skunk!
For example…one day, early afternoon, I was working in a field
of prairie grass near Beaver Creek in Johnston, Iowa. I was right next to my truck, and had been
making plenty of loud noise, when I heard something moving through the grasses
nearby. I thought perhaps it was a
pheasant, so I stopped to watch and see if I could spot it. It was NOT a pheasant, as out of the grass
wandered a skunk. It was much nearer
than I would have expected when I first spotted it, and it was moving right towards
me, nose to the ground. Thoughts of what
to do should the skunk spray me were running through my head. Should I go back to the office, smelling
like a skunk? No. Should I go home and shower/change clothes? Probably.
Should I have someone deliver a few cases of tomato juice to my house
for me to fill the bathtub with? I’d
heard that was a good way to rid oneself (or family pet) of skunk smell.
I was frozen with indecision. What do I do?
Option 1: Should I
turn and run away?
Outcome 1: That
action might startle it and cause it to spray its malodorous scent…and my truck
was too close…and I still had work to do at that spot.
Option 2: I could
back away slowly.
Outcome 2: This still
might startle it, resulting in the same outcome as from Option 1.
Option 3: I could
make some soft sound that might not startle it, but would get its attention to
let it know my location.
Outcome 3: Perhaps
this would allow it to peacefully change its course and wander away? Or not…which would result in “Outcome 1”.
Option 4: I could
hold really still, and hope the skunk would not come closer and chew my ankle
off (ha ha) or give me a good close-up and thorough soaking of skunk stinkum.
Outcome 4: Anything
could happen. Anything.
Well, taking time to consider all these options resulted in
the skunk coming closer and closer. That
meant that any quick movement or sound from me would VERY likely result in
Outcome 1. So, I chose Option 4. Here’s what happened: the skunk walked over to me, nose to the
ground, and came within about 5’. I know
it was 5’, because my mind was measuring these things…thinking that if I
suddenly fell forward, I would LAND on top of the skunk! I don’t know why ANYONE would want to do
this, but isn’t the human mind fascinating?
When it got to within 5’ of me, it lifted its nose to the air and
sniffed in my direction. It was looking
right at me with its little dark eyes, and it was really cute! It was very apparent that skunks do NOT have
the best eyesight. Unlike my effect on
women, the skunk was startled by neither sight nor scent of me. He just turned a bit, walked by me, put its
nose back to the ground and wandered off into the tall grass on the other side
of my working area. I stayed motionless
for several more long minutes…hoping the skunk would keep its course away from
me, and if I DID startle it, it would be too far away to spray me. Thankfully, I survived the encounter, and
didn’t even need to change the “fear” out of my underpants.
Another time, I was fishing late in the evening. It had been a very calm, hot, humid day. The sun had set, but the sky was still
light. I was done fishing, so I headed
back to where my car was parked. I was
walking along a seldom-used dirt road that wound around the perimeter of the
lake, mainly through dense woods. I was
walking around a curve, and up ahead I saw a number of creatures emerge from
the tall weeds lining the sides of the roadway trail. I was squinting my eyes trying to see what
these were. It was 2 adult skunks, and
about 5 baby skunks that came out onto the trail single-file. About the same time I figured out what they
were, they noticed me. I immediately
stopped and started backing up, and they turned and high-tailed it back into
the tall weeds, spraying as they turned.
I then stopped and watched. It
was so calm, and so humid…I watched the spray just slowly descend to the
ground. I could see exactly where it
landed. I had to get back to my
car. I probably could have simply
continued up the trail and edged around the spot where the skunk-spray had
fallen, but I didn’t want to risk getting any on my shoes. So, instead, I headed into the woods on the
far side of the trail from where the skunks disappeared. It was fairly dense woods, with no trails,
some poison ivy, lots of thorny bushes.
With the descending darkness complicating matters, it took me an
incredible amount of time, effort, and bloody scratches to navigate my fishing
rods through all of this and the dense brush and tree branches to get to a
point beyond the skunky area of the trail.
But, at least I didn’t stink!
Another episode ended a little worse for the skunks. As a friendly gesture, when my buddy Jay and
I go fishing together, I usually volunteer to drive. For some reason that escapes my memory, Jay
drove this particular evening. Jay has
often marveled at my ability to spot wildlife along the roads, even at
night. Jay was driving us home from an
evening of fishing at Big Creek Lake. We
pulled out of the park and onto a highway.
We had gotten up to speed, when I saw two skunks emerge onto the highway
ahead of us from the adjacent ditch.
I shouted “Skunks!”
I shouted, “THERE!”
Jay was looking across me and out the side window, thinking
the skunks were somewhere farther off the road.
“Where??”
I just managed to point out directly in front of the truck
into the area lit by our headlights and say, “THERE!” one more time before we
heard the thumps of the skunks getting rolled beneath the undercarriage. We didn’t go back to look and see if they
were injured. Jay’s truck carried a
definite, but fortunately not overpowering, skunk odor for several days after
that. Although I feel remorse about
injuring wild animals without just cause, we still laugh about the hilarity of
those moments leading up to the thumps.
Snakes:
Fortunately, Iowa doesn’t have the numbers of poisonous
snakes that some of the other States have.
We do have a few poisonous species, however. Most snakes I see are harmless Garter Snakes. They just startle you at first, until you see
them clearly enough to identify them.
I have also seen Racers, Fox Snakes, Bull Snakes, Ringneck
Snakes, a few species of watersnakes, and a couple other species as well. When fishing, occasionally a snake will
surface along the rocks near shore as it goes about the business of catching frogs
or fish. Generally, I leave these alone,
and they will usually disappear once they spot a human.
Turkey Vultures:
No big story with these large carrion feeders. I often see catching drafts over the
Saylorville Lake dam, or resting/roosting along a lake shoreline.
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