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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
A year to remember on the water
2024 was a good year to go fishing, so good why does it have to end?
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CEDAR FALLS — No matter how many days I spend on the water, it never seems like enough.
Maybe it's because I'm a retired senior citizen and I know there are more sunrises, sunsets and fiesty fish behind me than there are in my future. Maybe it's because I'm spending less time on wild goose chases and focusing more of my time on water where history and experience all but guarantee some level of success.
A rough estimate shows I spent somewhere around 120 days on the water this year in four states — Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Arizona. That means I only fished about one-third of the year.
It was a great 33 percent from start to finish in terms of the numbers and quality of fish caught. It was a great year because I was able to fish with good friends on a lot of days. And, it was a great 12 months because I learned a few more things.
The year began on the ice in the Alexandria, Minn. Winter was a little slow arriving in the Midwest, and instead of the usual 10 to 12 inches of early January ice, we were limited to a few smaller lakes where we found five to six inches. Throw on five inches of snow and it meant some challenging drags on foot, but some big rewards.
In addition to the typical catch of crappie and bluegill, Mike Wirth, Ward Stubbs and I landed several walleyes between 24 and 28 inches and at least five largemouth bass between 4 and 5 pounds.
From there, we left the snow and ice behind for the desert southwest near Phoenix, Ariz., where Wirth and I hiked the rocky shorelines of sprawling Lake Pleasant in search of bass. It took a few outings, a few miles, a lot of research and a measure of respect for the wild burros that rule the area mountains, but we eventually figured out enough to hook up with a handful of angry bass while sight-fishing from above. We chest-bumped when Wirth broke through with a 3-pounder.
By early April I was back on the Mississippi River I've grown to love. First, it was pre-spawn walleyes on Pools 9 and 11. By mid-April I was chasing big post-spawn bites while casting jigs and crankbaits in backwater areas of Pool 4. That bite was short-lived. I caught walleyes up to 27 inches early, but then the rains came, pushed the water level to flood stage and scattered those fish far and wide.
The rains kept coming, and Pool 4 remained at flood stage in May and June. That wasn't good for the wingdam bite in the river channel, but one of the great assets of Pool 4 is Lake Pepin, and once I pinned down a few areas that were holding walleyes it was on. For more than a month, 50-walleye days weren't unusual, and a few trophy northern pike were a bonus. Best of all, I got to share several of those days with lifelong friend Randy Randall.
By July, the Mississippi was getting back to normal and I caught plenty of wingdam walleyes on crankbaits, jigs and willow cats.
Later in the month, I joined Wirth, his son-in-law Scott Mohr and Scott's kids Briggs and Tate for a Lake Michigan trout and salmon charter out of Sheboygan, Wis. It was entertaining to watch a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old wrestle lake trout up to 17 pounds and salmon pushing 10 pounds on the way to a 15-fish catch.
Back on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River, August and September were great months for smallmouth bass.
October was the best month of the year. Stubbs, Wirth and I headed to Mille Lacs Lake near Aitken, Minn., where we fished an afternoon and the following morning in search of the lake's trophy smallmouth. It was another resounding success as we boated 37 total smallies that averaged close to four pounds with two edging over five pounds.
I wrapped up the open-water season with a few more days on Pool 4 and four days on Pool 2 near the Twin Cities, which is catch-and-release for walleyes. The bite was nothing short of remarkable. I spent a couple days with Northeast Iowa native Tim Harms, another with Harms and Iowan Chad Kruse and one with Randall. The outings with Harms and Kruse produced at least 30 walleyes per day over 16 inches with a couple of trophies while Randall and I boated 28.
Looking back now, the year was filled with memorable days on the water.
It just seems like there weren't enough of them.
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