Every so often, I get the urge to catch some species I haven't caught for awhile. Redears floated to the top of my target list. After a lot of research and homework, I settled on a lake in Iowa I hadn't even heard of before. The research paid off. Iowa Master Angler Redears must be 11" long or better. I caught 2 over 11", which made me pretty happy. Biggest was 11.75", weighed 1.45 lbs on a handheld digital scale before release. REALLY nice fish, and a new Personal Best Redear for me. I can't even imagine a 14.5-incher like the one our very own James Smith recently caught in Georgia!
The biggest one was caught on a #8 purple leech pattern with a pink glass beadhead. Many of the others were caught on a #8 Briminator.




This is the 2nd biggest one...@ 11 1/8".


And a few of the smaller ones...mostly 9"-10" fish:










Also caught a couple Redear x Bluegill (?) Hybrids: