Central Iowa 2019

[FishnDave]

Summary of 2019....
-I caught 22 fish species on flies in Iowa this year.
-I caught fewer carp and catfish on flies than last year, but did get a new Personal Best carp on the fly... 35", 22 lbs.
-I keep track of the 18"+ fish and 18"+ bass I catch. This year I caught 60 fish on flies that were 18" or better.
-Those 18"+ fish included Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Common Carp, Brown Trout, Bigmouth Buffalo, Smallmouth Buffalo, and Channel Catfish.
-I caught 43 bass on flies that were 18" or better. This is about 3 times as many as past years. Crazy! 10 of those bass measured 20" or more.
-Of the ten 20"+ bass, 6 were caught between October 3rd and November 9th.

Here's what those bigger bass were caught on:
Gamechangers (and all variants): 17
Howitzer Head Popper: 11
Microjig: 7
Blockhead Popper: 6
Foamhead swimmer: 1
Woolly Bugger variant: 1


So...carry Gamechangers, Microjigs, and some good big Poppers....and you'll be set. And the Microjigs only came into play starting in the month of October. So, the rest of the year is Gamechangers and Poppers. There it is....the secret of my success!

One caveat....I fish small waters that typically stratify in the summer. They may be 12'-16' deep, and likely develop a thermocline as shallow as 5' deep in the summer. That, plus the abundance of bottom algae, weeds, and floating algae...I generally choose to fish shallow all year. I'm missing out on deeper fish, but I'm OK with that. I'm just pointing this out because folks fishing deeper lakes and reservoirs would probably need to fish deeper at many times of the year, and would need sinking flies or sinking lines to continue to be successful.