New guy from Iowa

[323Walter]

Hi All-

I'm 34 and recently relocated back to Iowa after living on the west coast for a decade. I grew up crazy about both fishing and hunting but as I got into High School the hunting took over about the same time Iowa's lakes hit rock bottom for fishing. At least where I was fishing anyway. Recently I had a health concern after moving back and wasn't going to be able to bow hunt this year so I dusted off my old fishing stuff instead. Less than a month later I bought my first baitcaster and decided in the 17 years since I quit fishing regularly that there were just way too many new lures, techniques, over hyped baits, etc  out there so I just told myself I was going to learn to throw swimbaits, yes swimbaits as in hudds, creepers, baitsmith, burritos, etc and learn to fish them well instead of trying to figure out the difference between a ned, neko, and drop shot rig. Besides I'm fishing for fun and catching big fish is fun to me. I understand the top end tournament guys make good $ but their accomplishments ring hollow to me. If it was bowhunting it would be like a race to see who can stick the most 1.5-2.5 year old bucks the fastest on opening day. Guys like Mike Long, Bill Murphy, Matt Peters (especially his hookset), the Don Father, and the babe ruth of swimbaiting BB, are guys who I look up to. Maybe it's the similar mindset to trophy deer management and hunting or it's detail oriented mind game of matching wits with the most worthy adversary. 

Anywho over the past year that I started fishing again a number of google searches lead me here over and over again so I decided it was finally time to join up after reading Bill Murphy's book this winter. I hope I can help some of you achieve your 2018 goals in any way I can and I'm hoping what I learn here will help me achieve mine.

I believe you should set goals for yourself that most find unreasonable. If they do think it's unreasonable then they are the people that Bill Murphy talked about. Here are my fishing goals for 2018.

1. Break Iowa's spotted bass state record. I live close to Macbride which is convenient, and it is a record that I feel is obtainable because they are only in one system in the state and most people here aren't aware that this species exists in Iowa. Would be kind of a cool record to have since I believe this is the coldest climate zone that spots call home. The current state record is 2 even. I can find plenty of the 1 pounders but need help locating the biggest spots in the lake.

2. Break Iowa's 33 year old LMB record.

Current record is 10-12.

My PB is 5.48.

I want to break the record with an 11 since it's double my PB. Seems only fitting right?

I wouldn't bet on myself to break the record but I know I'll be a heck of a lot better stick after trying.

Any of you that have a northern strain over 10lbs I'd love to talk to. A poster that goes by WRB has consistently posted things that are just plain invaluable and might be one of a handful of people to ever land DDs of both northern and Florida strain fish. I'd love to talk strategy with him and especially anyone who has landed a DD northern strain.

3. Catch a flathead catfish on a bluegill swimbait while trying to. I know this is a bass forum but I've found that crossing over and targeting other species helps me with bass fishing. Sort of like small game hunting with your bow to get ready for the rut.

4. Catch a hybrid spot/smallie out of the Iowa river while trying to. While googling black bass hybrids I came across several threads of a member named Fishchris I believe who may have unknowingly caught the world record of this hybrid. Imagebucket won't let me see the photo but I'd sure love to!

5. Catch a 6 pound smallie on Sturgeon Bay this may while fishing with my brother for his birthday. Only got one day to do it so may as well set the bar high.

I fished a large number of Iowa lakes from Ankeny to Davenport and south down to the Missouri border in 2017 so I can contribute something at least. I would also love to meet some fishing buddies in the state as well. I have very limited knowledge when it comes to techniques other than swimbaits but feel free to ask me any questions you have as I no doubt had them as well. 

Hope there is a thread started sometime where people can cut and paste their 2018 goals with a picture after they attain them. That would be very very cool!


 

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

[323Walter]

Thanks Darren! While researching all 49 state records I was stunned to learn that Alabama and Virginia have records within a few ounces of each other but the VA Bass was a Florida (or hybrid) and the Alabama was determined by Alabama Fish and Wildlife officials to be a pure Northern strain despite the obvious presence of FLMB in the state. 

http://www.aonmag.com/article.php?id=3433

http://www.virginia-outdoors.com/articles/trophylargemouth.html

Of course this made me wonder why the AL bass isn't considered the top northern strain as compared to the MA state record. I mean yeah Alabama is a southern state but it's still the same species right???

[A-Jay]

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource.

Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

Good Luck.

A-Jay

 

[Mike L]

Hello and Welcome 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Hawkeye21]

2 hours ago, 323Walter said:

Hi All-

I'm 34 and recently relocated back to Iowa after living on the west coast for a decade. I grew up crazy about both fishing and hunting but as I got into High School the hunting took over about the same time Iowa's lakes hit rock bottom for fishing. At least where I was fishing anyway. Recently I had a health concern after moving back and wasn't going to be able to bow hunt this year so I dusted off my old fishing stuff instead. Less than a month later I bought my first baitcaster and decided in the 17 years since I quit fishing regularly that there were just way too many new lures, techniques, over hyped baits, etc  out there so I just told myself I was going to learn to throw swimbaits, yes swimbaits as in hudds, creepers, baitsmith, burritos, etc and learn to fish them well instead of trying to figure out the difference between a ned, neko, and drop shot rig. Besides I'm fishing for fun and catching big fish is fun to me. I understand the top end tournament guys make good $ but their accomplishments ring hollow to me. If it was bowhunting it would be like a race to see who can stick the most 1.5-2.5 year old bucks the fastest on opening day. Guys like Mike Long, Bill Murphy, Matt Peters (especially his hookset), the Don Father, and the babe ruth of swimbaiting BB, are guys who I look up to. Maybe it's the similar mindset to trophy deer management and hunting or it's detail oriented mind game of matching wits with the most worthy adversary. 

Anywho over the past year that I started fishing again a number of google searches lead me here over and over again so I decided it was finally time to join up after reading Bill Murphy's book this winter. I hope I can help some of you achieve your 2018 goals in any way I can and I'm hoping what I learn here will help me achieve mine.

I believe you should set goals for yourself that most find unreasonable. If they do think it's unreasonable then they are the people that Bill Murphy talked about. Here are my fishing goals for 2018.

1. Break Iowa's spotted bass state record. I live close to Macbride which is convenient, and it is a record that I feel is obtainable because they are only in one system in the state and most people here aren't aware that this species exists in Iowa. Would be kind of a cool record to have since I believe this is the coldest climate zone that spots call home. The current state record is 2 even. I can find plenty of the 1 pounders but need help locating the biggest spots in the lake.

2. Break Iowa's 33 year old LMB record.

Current record is 10-12.

My PB is 5.48.

I want to break the record with an 11 since it's double my PB. Seems only fitting right?

I wouldn't bet on myself to break the record but I know I'll be a heck of a lot better stick after trying.

Any of you that have a northern strain over 10lbs I'd love to talk to. A poster that goes by WRB has consistently posted things that are just plain invaluable and might be one of a handful of people to ever land DDs of both northern and Florida strain fish. I'd love to talk strategy with him and especially anyone who has landed a DD northern strain.

3. Catch a flathead catfish on a bluegill swimbait while trying to. I know this is a bass forum but I've found that crossing over and targeting other species helps me with bass fishing. Sort of like small game hunting with your bow to get ready for the rut.

4. Catch a hybrid spot/smallie out of the Iowa river while trying to. While googling black bass hybrids I came across several threads of a member named Fishchris I believe who may have unknowingly caught the world record of this hybrid. Imagebucket won't let me see the photo but I'd sure love to!

5. Catch a 6 pound smallie on Sturgeon Bay this may while fishing with my brother for his birthday. Only got one day to do it so may as well set the bar high.

I fished a large number of Iowa lakes from Ankeny to Davenport and south down to the Missouri border in 2017 so I can contribute something at least. I would also love to meet some fishing buddies in the state as well. I have very limited knowledge when it comes to techniques other than swimbaits but feel free to ask me any questions you have as I no doubt had them as well. 

Hope there is a thread started sometime where people can cut and paste their 2018 goals with a picture after they attain them. That would be very very cool!


 

Welcome back to Iowa.  I can only assume you're itching to get out on open water again after this winter.  The snow storm coming in today will not help.

 

I live by Dubuque and though I've been on the reservoir boating before I have never fished MacBride before.  I'm hoping to fish it this summer and even participate in the kayak tourney this year.

 

You've got some lofty goals there.  The spotted bass may be obtainable but I'm not sure about the large mouth one.  Would most likely have to be caught in a farm pond or something like that. 

[323Walter]

Thanks A-Jay! What do you think of Michigan having a tie for their state record? Both at 11-15 one from the 30s and one from the 50s. I saw that a 106 year old smallmouth bass record was broken there by a nearly 10 pound fish. That's HUGE!

HAWKEYE- the spot record is not going to be easy, they seem to top out around 14 inches in Macbride but it will still be interesting trying. Macbride can be tough fishing because A) It's highly highly pressured & B a gizzard shad infestation. I will also be trying to pull that spot out of the coralville reservoir where the current record came from or perhaps the Iowa river downstream from the res.

You know I thought the LMB would have to come out of a farm pond here until I started making a google doc of all 49 state records. I consider a farm pond to be under 5 acres without a creek/river feeding into it, so maybe a private 15+ mini impoundment certainly.

Only one state record come out of what I would consider a plain ol farm pond. It is Wyoming and the smallest one of them all (7-14) and from the NW corner of the state. Realistically I think this would be the easiest state record to capture if you wanted to ya know move there and do nothing but chase the WY State Record.

Granted I don't have all the data available so it is possible that there are others that came out of farm ponds.

Maryland's is listed as a farm pond but in doing research I've found what we call Lakes they often call ponds. Johnson's pond in Rhode Island is 600+ acres. Little else is known about where the Maryland state record came out of, at least that I can find anyway.

Statistically it's most likely to come out of a private gravel pit/quarry (Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas) with high oxygen content, no pressure, and something to eat besides bluegills.

A young impoundment of some kind with spring source, abundant amount of fusiform forage such as gizzard shad, perch, golden shiners. Something like the Centreville reservoirs, an old water supply reservoir that's been forgotten about and left the few bass who can fend for themselves to fend for themselves. 

I think a dark horse to produce it would be west lake okoboji despite it being located in the NW corner of the state.

In looking at DNR Data I can only find one lake where they have sampled a bass over 22+ and it came out of a campground Pit called Peters Park on the far western side of the state. That is noteable because it is stocked at something like 4x the standard rate of channel catfish presumably to entertain campers. That little body of water has 2 statistical outliers (catfish stocking rate/acre) and a sampled bass over 22 inches. Obviously 22+ inch LMB exist here but they are virtually never sampled.

If you know of any lakes around here that have something different than the norm going on let me know. I"m very open to suggestion/investigating. It's all part of the chase.

Have you fished Heritage Pond in Dubuque? Thoughts? I can't find much info for it and haven't felt compelled to drive from IC up there just to fish it due to it's trout stockings. 

[323Walter]

Would you guys like me to make this google doc public when I'm done compiling data? Maybe some of you could fill in some of the unknowns? 

There are definitely more trends than I thought there would be. Now it's just a matter of compiling data and making sense of it all.

Yellow mr. twister has two entries, Illinois and New Jersey, Jitterbug also has two entries, Ohio and Rhode Island. The big trends appear to be centered on oxygen (springs), new lake growth, diverse forage that gives the bass a statistical advantage over other nearby lakes with average forage.

Obviously FLMB genetics too but it appears that when FLMB hit their peak the crash is caused somehwhat by the genetics reverting back towards NLMB as the next generations come around, so the next generation of bass will be smaller than their parents in theory, and so forth.

It does appear that California's not too hot and not too cold conditions create the perfect growing grounds for SE fish such as FLMB and the Alabama Spotted Bass as confirmed state records from both of those species are substantially bigger % wise than any other state in the US with only FLMB in one of the worlds deepest and oldest lakes rising up and claiming the top spot. I'm not sure when Bass spawn in Biwa but I would think it's not July. Does anyone know?

[A-Jay]

47 minutes ago, 323Walter said:

Thanks A-Jay! What do you think of Michigan having a tie for their state record? Both at 11-15 one from the 30s and one from the 50s. I saw that a 106 year old smallmouth bass record was broken there by a nearly 10 pound fish. That's HUGE!

 

I'm surrounded by some very good smallmouth water - most of the best largemouth waters a bit south of me.  So I spend the vast majority of my time on the water chasing the brown ones.  The introduction of the goby has changed many of these fisheries - in a good way it seems.  As the average size of the smallies in most of the waters that have them has pretty much exploded.   Fishing's not any easier, just that the bass seem to be bigger.  In fact I was fortunate enough to best my personal smallmouth PB this past fall with a 7 lb plus  Mutant of a smallie.    I've been fishing over 50 years for that fish.  Felt pretty good too.   

A-Jay

 

[WRB]

Welcome to BR, Spots have at least 2 strains, northern/Kentucky and southern/Alabama. Your state record being 2 lbs is more than likely a Kentucky strain Spot and 3 lbs is a giant.

If you know how to catch Smallmouth, Spots should easy. Spots are very aggressive bass so getting passed the 12" bass is your goal and not an easy task! Whenever I fish for Spots my lure choices are soft plastic straight tail worms* in green (Smallmouth Killer) with chartreuse tail and light oxblood with chartreuse tail (Morning Dawn). Spider jigs with 4" GYCB single tail** grub w/Hula skirt in the Baby bass and cinnamon colors. Where I fish Spots prefer locating near steep banks with grey granite rock with concentrations of baitfish. Spots like Smallies move around a lot and seem to prefer bright sunlight over cloudy days.

Tom

*Don Iovino or Roboworms

** Spots tend peck at double tail grubs, better for LMB.

 

[Hawkeye21]

1 hour ago, 323Walter said:

Have you fished Heritage Pond in Dubuque? Thoughts? I can't find much info for it and haven't felt compelled to drive from IC up there just to fish it due to it's trout stockings. 

I remember ice fishing there as a child and I took my kayak on it last summer but no luck with bass.  I caught one trout and snagged two carp on my jerk bait.  Those were fun to catch.  It seems like a nice pond that is fairly deep but never hear much of people catching bass.  I think most people who fish it are targeting trout.

 

I agree that there is very little info about it.  My brother in law use to live close to it and fished it a few times last year and only managed to catch a couple small bass.  I may try it again one more time this year but if I don't catch any bass of size after that I'll crossing that one off my list of places to go.

 

I fish Lake Delhi, a local sportsman's pond and the Mississippi mostly.  All other places are well over an hour for me if not over two hours.  Last year I tried Lost Grove by Eldridge and would like to fish it again this year.  I would also like to try Belva Deer and Brushy Creek sometime.

[drscholl14]

Welcome from a neighbor to the north!  Good luck in your goals and I hope you get that flathead.  I love catfishing the rivers up here and flathead are one of the most fun to fight out of any fish I've caught.  Absolute blast.  

[Bluebasser86]

Welcome!

[lbriggs]

I wouldn't bother trying to catch a state record spot out of MacBride...fished there for 10+ years bass fishing and the biggest Kentucky spot in there was about 14 inches.

[TimberTodd]

Welcome!

[Sam]

Walter, cute dog.

 

Welcome to the Forums. We will share with you and you share with us.

 

Let me tell you my Iowa story. When I was at LSU I was one of the Men's Residence Hall officers and got to drive a car with the LSU logo on the door all the way from Baton Rouge to Ames, Iowa, for a residence hall conference.

 

What I remember about the trip was looking eye ball to eye ball at a hog.  Biggest hog I have ever seen. And there were a bunch of them. I stood at the fence and he looked at me and I looked a him.

 

Beautiful state, too. Miles and miles of corn fields.

 

Had a great time in Iowa and at Iowa State.

[MichaelCopeland]

Howdy Walter and welcome to our fishing family! Best of luck to you in achieving your goals! ?

[whitwolf]

Welcome!

[323Walter]

On 2/8/2018 at 11:59 AM, WRB said:

Welcome to BR, Spots have at least 2 strains, northern/Kentucky and southern/Alabama. Your state record being 2 lbs is more than likely a Kentucky strain Spot and 3 lbs is a giant.

If you know how to catch Smallmouth, Spots should easy. Spots are very aggressive bass so getting passed the 12" bass is your goal and not an easy task! Whenever I fish for Spots my lure choices are soft plastic straight tail worms* in green (Smallmouth Killer) with chartreuse tail and light oxblood with chartreuse tail (Morning Dawn). Spider jigs with 4" GYCB single tail** grub w/Hula skirt in the Baby bass and cinnamon colors. Where I fish Spots prefer locating near steep banks with grey granite rock with concentrations of baitfish. Spots like Smallies move around a lot and seem to prefer bright sunlight over cloudy days.

Tom

*Don Iovino or Roboworms

** Spots tend peck at double tail grubs, better for LMB.

 

Thanks so much for the feedback! If I were to try and locate the biggest spot in the lake would it likely be located in deeper water (or suspending over deeper water when the thermocline comes around) than where I'm finding all these cookie cutter smaller ones? I would think the biggest ones in the lake would spawn deeper as well but again I am not sure of that which is part of the reason I joined BR.

I'm not very familiar with fishing straight tail worms other than senkos. Are you weightless T-rigging them just the same? Forgive my obvious ignorance but is this the type of worm you'd rig on a shaky head?

The majority of the ones I've caught came on a hudd grass minnow in golden shiner or on a bone colored whopper plopper but this is the exact kind of info I came to the board hoping to learn.

Thanks!

On 2/8/2018 at 12:37 PM, Hawkeye21 said:

I remember ice fishing there as a child and I took my kayak on it last summer but no luck with bass.  I caught one trout and snagged two carp on my jerk bait.  Those were fun to catch.  It seems like a nice pond that is fairly deep but never hear much of people catching bass.  I think most people who fish it are targeting trout.

 

I agree that there is very little info about it.  My brother in law use to live close to it and fished it a few times last year and only managed to catch a couple small bass.  I may try it again one more time this year but if I don't catch any bass of size after that I'll crossing that one off my list of places to go.

 

I fish Lake Delhi, a local sportsman's pond and the Mississippi mostly.  All other places are well over an hour for me if not over two hours.  Last year I tried Lost Grove by Eldridge and would like to fish it again this year.  I would also like to try Belva Deer and Brushy Creek sometime.

I was not aware that there were sportsman ponds available to buy memberships to. I'd definitely be interested in either buying a membership or possible day pass if they have smallies!

FWIW I haven't done well on LMB at Macbride at all. Other than spots I haven't done well on much there period and even then the spots are tough to come by. 

However I do know a tree where a pig of a LMB lives. I see him every time I've walked by it. He cruises this particular area and will pass by if you wait long enough. I've tried to catch him several times but she is a wise old fish. I don't think he's any bigger than 4lbs but I want to catch him just because she's so dang smart. I've only tried to catch this fish from shore but you may have better luck from a kayak. I'd be happy to share her location with you if you're interested.

On 2/9/2018 at 2:03 PM, lbriggs said:

I wouldn't bother trying to catch a state record spot out of MacBride...fished there for 10+ years bass fishing and the biggest Kentucky spot in there was about 14 inches.

I'm hoping to get one out of the Iowa River or Res as well. I would think the spots in the river would begin traveling back upstream like the smallmouth when it warms up? The Coralville Res is huge but that is where the current record came out of. If anyone here has any info about where to look for spots in this 5000 acre reservoir I'd love to start breaking down water via a contour map!

[323Walter]

On 2/9/2018 at 4:25 PM, Sam said:

Walter, cute dog.

 

Welcome to the Forums. We will share with you and you share with us.

 

Let me tell you my Iowa story. When I was at LSU I was one of the Men's Residence Hall officers and got to drive a car with the LSU logo on the door all the way from Baton Rouge to Ames, Iowa, for a residence hall conference.

 

What I remember about the trip was looking eye ball to eye ball at a hog.  Biggest hog I have ever seen. And there were a bunch of them. I stood at the fence and he looked at me and I looked a him.

 

Beautiful state, too. Miles and miles of corn fields.

 

Had a great time in Iowa and at Iowa State.

Hahahahahaha, my Dad is actually a swine veterinarian. Wouldn't surprise me if that pig was thinking about eating you like a senko. Pigs and cats are two critters that can revert to their pre-domestication behavior in a VERY short amount of time. While bowhunting I have witnessed many a farm cat efficiently stalk many a mouse.

It used to be common that pigs would be allowed to live in the timbers to have their litters for a large part of the year. Many an Iowa farm boy was scared to death by being confronted by them while passing through the timber.

I vividly remember my Dad telling me the story of him having to go retrieve the body of a local farmer who had a heart attack while tending to his hogs and the gruesome scene that was. Now that I'm older I liken it to reeling in a tiny bluegill and having a jumbo bass or pike come up and swipe at it while it's showing distress. It didn't take long for that pig to decide the farmer was something edible once he went down. Was unfortunate that it happened to someone my Dad knew personally his entire life. 

Pigs can grow to absolutely mammoth sizes. If you are at all interested I'm sure a google search of Iowa State Fair Pig would be eye opening. The mega specimens that are chosen to be the pig on display there were mind boggling even for me and I've seen many of them growing up!

[WRB]

Finesse 5" to 6" straight tail worm I rig on drop shot and slip shot rigs, nose hooked size 1 mosquito hook or weedless hooked using Owner size 1/0 #5133 down shot hook using 5 lb Maxima Ultra green mono, spinning tackle.

4 1/2" ro 6" curl tail fineese worms use a 1/8 oz dart head jig if suspended or spider jigs worked close or on structure.

Big spots are near baitfish schools. Where I fish bigger Spots tend to locate around steep granite rock areas or concrete structures.

To

[Bent]

Welcome to BR!  I'm looking forward to hearing about your successes - I've sorted through a few 1 lb spots at Macbride over the last couple of years and wish I knew where to find bigger ones.  Not sure if this is up your alley or not but consider adding a trophy wiper to your goals, they are a blast to catch and I'm guessing you could get a big one to munch on a glide/wake bait in the right conditions.

 

Sending you a PM now on a couple of locations that may interest you.

[323Walter]

*Warning, long post ahead*

In my quest to break the Iowa state record LMB I've been compiling as much relevant info as I can on each state's record looking for patterns to emerge. I was surprised by the amount of trends associated with these fish. Here are some of them. I would like to share my spreadsheetOne of the more interesting ones I've discovered is how many of the lakes located above the surrounding area and are surrounded by timber. I have 42 lakes in my data set and 38 of those have timber either surrounding the lake or lie in a very heavily timbered watershed.

That is 90%. When factoring in that three of them are mountain reservoirs in states known for having deserts and one is a Power Plant lake in North Dakota, it is pretty clear this is a big factor. The one state that falls outside outside these parameters is Iowa!?!?! Argghhhh!!!

I have visited Lake Fisher and it is however elevated compared to the surrounding area and has some trees surrounding the shore but certainly not heavily timbered. It is however near a river with a good sized chunk of timber and may have at one time been covered in timber but is the outlier in my 42 data points.

The ones that don't fall into the timber bordering or timbered watershed category are category are:

Iowa (ironic I know) although this water supply lake is elevated compared to the surrounding area
North Dakota (the only power plant lake on the list)
AZ - 
Lake Mead
Lake Powell 

What I think I learned: You want to target a BOW that is elevated compared to it's surroundings, is surrounded by timber, or had been timber prior to housing being built. I believe this limits run off, and is a sign of ideal soil content? This helps tremendously when eliminating certain BOW.

I doubt I will find info on these private bodies of water but on the chance any of you reading this have insight on these I would love to know about them to further grow the data set. Although private former pit is a trend in of itself to a large degree.

Illinois
Kansas
Nebraska
North Carolina
South Carolina (this state has a tie, I can't find anything on the aiken county pond it came out of for likely good reason)
West Virginia
Massachusetts (I've had too many people from Massachusetts tell me that this fish came out of a different body of water than the one on the record)
Florida (this fish is likely substantially smaller than the true #1 of Florida of which there are no certified records)
Maryland
Wyoming

Types of bodies of water

Impoundments - 24/49 AL, AZ, AR, CA, DE, HI, ID, IN, IA, MO, MS, MT, NM, OK, NY, RI, PA, TN, TX, UT, VA (this possibly should be counted as a cooling lake, not sure if it was/is/isn't) SC (Lake Marion, SC has a tie) OH (this could have been classified as a farm pond but technically it's a 1.5 acre impoundment of a natural stream with sustaining populations of GSH, etc, so I consider it a VERY small impoundment and certainly not your average farm pond, MI (Alcona dam pond, Michigan has a tie)

Pits/Quarries - 6/49 IL, KS, NE, SD, NJ, OR - believe this is a former quarry but not sure (Unfortunate, would like to know more as three of these border my state, other than fishing a private pit I don't know what to look for in trying to get access to any private pits, some really produce and some just don't grow big fish)

Unknown/Farm/Stock - 5/49   WY, MD, NC, SC, WV,

Natural Lakes -  9/49 WI, MN, NH, ME, NY (I think this is natural by looking at google earth but would like to know if it is not) CT (natural in origin, dams built later to increase size) GA (Iowa considers oxbows to be natural lakes thus why this isn't scored as a river) Big Pine Island Michigan (Michigan has a tie) Lake Bosworth Washington, is this a natural lake? I think so but can't be certain, should be noted Lake Biwa in Japan is natural and one of 20 ancient lakes in the world

Power Plant Cooling Lake - 1/49, North Dakota, considering the location of the state if this impoundment didn't exist it could possibly have a state record lower than Wyoming. Braidwood in Illinois did produce an 11 in a tournament last year and 2 over 10lbs.

Rivers - 0 not surprising but I thought there might be at least one come out of a River

Incomplete - FL, MA, too many unknowns 

What I think I learned: I need to gain access to a private former pit as they produced 3 in states bordering mine, or target an impoundment that is surrounded by timber or elevated. The oxbow lakes on the western side of Iowa are known large bass producers as well. However a 5 hour drive each day is not practical. 

Springs and Water depth - Springs played a key role in growing two of the largest NLMB north of the mason dixon line. Indiana's 14-12, Ohio's 13-2, and likely Illinois 13-1 seemed to have benefitted from a year round supply of spring water. Numerous lakes had depths greater than 30 feet and some hundreds of feet deep (Biwa is very deep also). Even though Iowa's Lake fisher is relatively shallow at only 23 feet it is listed among the top 15 statewide in mean depth. Conversely the limiting factor of many Florida lakes is that they are very shallow for the most part. Yes I'm sure some deep ones exist but that is not the norm for the region.

What I think I learned - Oxygen content is vital, stable water temperature is important, during years of extreme heat or cold the deep water helps to insulate the lake even if it isn't hospitable due to thermocline for some of the year. Despite being located in central Iowa I suspect a bass in excess of 11 pounds could have lived in Ada Hayden as it has surprised the DNR by supporting trout year round. Also if West Lake Okoboji was located a slightly north in Minnesota or slightly west in SD it would likely break produce the state record for either state in the next decade. As it stands now it appears to be too far north to be a contender to break Iowa's state record but I think if the right set of circumstances occurs it certainly could produce a bass on par with WI or MI. 

Moon Phase - I've divided this into 4 data points. Full 100%-75% visibility, 75-50%, 50 - 25%, and New 0-25%

Full - 100%-75% 15 out of 40, interesting because of these 15 only 3 were less than 90% and 2 of the 3 were 88%. My PB which came out of one of my target lakes that has produced a 5.48, a 6.27. a 7.4 and a 9.3 since 2016 which are huge bass  all were caught in the afternoon on days of 95-100% with a storm coming in. The fact that this particular lake hasn't produced a bass between 1.25 and 5.48 is either really good for the short term or really bad for the long term. 

75%-50% 5 out of 40, if you skew the data to 50-87% and 87%-100% this becomes 6 out of 41 vs 14 of 41.  I feel this is statistically significant especially since most of us have to be selective about when we fish.

25-50% 12 of 40. The second highest grouping and somewhat of a surprise that it didn't beat out the 0-25% based on what conventional reading has taught me. 9 of these came in the 31-39% grouping. The other 3 were 44%, 47% & 50%.

New 25%-0% 8 out of 40. I expected this to be the second highest grouping vs the full but was surprised at what I learned.

What I learned: Prioritize moon phase in the 88%-100% & the 31-39% days. 23 out of 40 were caught in these windows. 0-31% and 50-83% are low priority windows. 

Forage-

The vast majority of the impoundments (everything in the river/stream that feeds them), east coast lakes with andronomous alewives, herring, in some cases trout species, etc, natural lakes with populations of perch and to a lesser degree bullhead, private waters that may or may not be adding extra chow (I'm looking at you Mr. Burgin in AL) and non native species (tilapia), it is pretty obvious that a variety or large quantities of FUSIFORM forage and in particular any of those that would be unique to that BOW compared to others in the state is likely to give your fish an advantage in gaining max size relative to those around him. Also a variety of game fish is another strong corollary. Many state record producing lakes also have reputations for giant or state record catfish and a few cases of state record crappies. 

Trout- By far the leader if you don't cont species that travel in from the impoundment. While I believe that NLMB are significantly less prone to taking down 12 inch and under trout I DO think that extremely large individuals 7+ or who are showing changes in predatory behavior like John Hope discovered are likely to eat a handful of these fish assuming the size is right.

I personally witnessed the demise of a mud hen that met it's end while trying to get it's speed up to take off. The water opened up, mud hen disappeared except for a few feathers fluttering down to the water, moments later my friend caught a 6.27 the largest I saw in 2017 from that spot but it did not have feathers or feet protruding out from it's throat. I suspect it's sister was the one who ate the mud hen and after witnessing that the 6.25 hit the big senko out of sibling rivalry.

So basically even though I don't believe the NLMB populations as a whole wreak havoc on trout I suspect that a very very small % of the ones capable of doing so no doubt will eat them if other food is not abundantly available or the trout make for an easy target. There is just too much data supporting this particularly on the east coast where naturally hatched trout are present and the high calorie content of trout may make the few ounces of difference in contending state records. Ironically the dozen or so trout lakes in Iowa are all low on my priority list with the exception of TT, Banner, and Wilson.

Perch & to a lesser degree walleye - Not surprising when you consider that in some wisconsin's waters fisheries biologists have determined that perch can make up to 75% of a muskies diet. They are a much more friendly shape for bass as well. Also play a dual role as a predator of yoy bass.

Yellow Bass and White Perch - These voracious micro predators are known for over stunting in Iowa but I saw enough lakes with them listed as species I believe they play a dual role primarily to maintain low bass population densities. Sort of nature's way of culling.

SMB, & Pike species - More of a population control species and I believe or their presence is a sign of ideal water conditions to support state record contending fish. Pike species are also very shape friendly as far as bass consuming them goes.

Shad, other andronomous species, - Duh, these were born to be bass food apparently. They wreak havoc in small bodies of water and are one of 3 species that are likely to cause the DNR to drain and renovate a lake. The other being carp and yellow bass. 

Golden Shiners, Bullheads, white sucker - These showed up a surprising amount and I suspect are found in most impoundments with god knows else. One of the better Iowa lakes has a large population of golden shiners and not surprisingly a bass population amongst the largest in the state and the crappies are also well above average too. This southern Iowa water supply reservoir is only 42 acres so I won't post the name of it here as the presence of bucket/crappie fisherman on similar bodies of water has lead to the swift demise of many similar lakes. However I am happy to share it with anyone who pms me and won't send the bucket army out there to ruin it for the local kiddos.

Bluegill and other sunfish - Woefully overrated despite being the only recommended forage by conventional knowledge. I am admittedly lacking data but the fact that I couldn't confirm a state record was produced in a bluegill only BOW. This is also the universal baseline forage for not just state wide record keeping but also nationally.

What I think I learned: State record bass need an advantageous food supply relative to their next door neighbors. They also need to be culled regularly or have another species present to keep their numbers down. I should be targeting lakes that are up for renovation due to gizzard shad and yellow bass, have muskies stocked, or have a forage species sustaining in the inflow river/stream. Also look for BOW that are producing unusually large crappies or catfish as many lakes have reputations for producing large fish of these species. Some also have the state record of these species. There are no SMB lakes of note nearby but I should further research Big Creek and Petocka as they both have sustaining SMB populations which are indicative of producing larger than baseline LMB. Big Creek has produced many entries in the master angler website already somewhat confirming my hypothesis.

If I were to be managing a smallish trophy bass lake I would abandon any hopes of providing quality bluegill angling and focus on establishing sustaining populations of crawfish, perch, golden shiners, and white suckers in addition to bluegills and red ears or pumpkinseeds as a bare minimum. Diversity seems to be important both in regards to forage and other sport species. I would also provide orange spotted sunfish to hopefully spawn and create smaller forage for YOY bass to give them an advantage vs their peers early on in life. I've come to believe that diversity iskey.Don't believe me? How about the world record bass caught in JULY from Biwa!?!? Wow! What would she have weighed in March?!? The Ocmulgee River has called over 100 species home and Lake Biwa in Japan has close to 100 species in addition to a trout species the Biwa trout. The FLMB there have wreaked havoc on these native fish and are not trying to be removed from the lake so the native fish don't become extinct. A significant number of species exist only in Biwa albeit it only due to them being isolated there for millions of years from their very similar cousins, but still, the point remains... Biwa is the all time record holder and likely has a larger fish calling it home currently. Compared to the rest of the world Biwa has a unique ecosystem as well as an aggressive culling program in place.  Look at Camelot Bell and their aggressive culling. I don't know if only FLMB were introduced to Biwa but the genetics trending downward is likely the only thing that could hurt it's chances and eventually make it go from front runner to long shot. 

I think those of you in the following states have a good shot to break a record this year.
 
1) Wyoming -  The current smallest state record at 7-14 and caught in one of the northern most counties that borders Montana. Between trout being the most popular sport fish & being the least densely populated state make me believe that this would be the easiest to break. As a midwest angler I was surprised when visiting my parents cabin there that walleyes aren't ruthlessly hunted down in the Boysen Reservoir and to some degree ignored despite them being the most persecuted fish in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

2) Florida - just need to get it on a certified scale and paper work. I can't find a true state record here due to incomplete reporting by secretive anglers. Can't blame them. Getting called a liar by thousands of people on social media, and having your honey hole invaded by ninja fisherman isn't appealing.

3) Tennessee, a 15-4 FLMB coming out of Chick is likely. With the way state records follow a continuing trend upwards after the stocking of FLMB in places like Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and the like this one seems the most likely to fall in 2018. I believe this will probably be broke, then re broke a few times before the ideal window closes unless sufficient culling and a steady stocking of FLMB creates ideal circumstances and even then it will likely top out somewhere between 16-17. A 14-5 was caught and released on NYE this year and could be over  15-2 by the time it loads up with eggs.

 

4) Oklahoma - see above, probably same lake as current record holder.

5) Delaware - Record was broke in 2012 and again in 2016 from the same lake. 2016 was a good year for breaking state records as RI, DE, and WA all broke old records that year. Washington's was actually broken in August and I believe the only current state record to be caught in the month of August.

6) Alabama - The FLMB stocking program should help knock this bass off, but it should always be remembered as the king of the NLMB. Despite FLMB stocking programs going on the current state record is somehow a northern strain bass. Caught in November!!!!  A 16-8, Really!! A state biologist said in Larry Larsen's book said it likely would have been 20+ with eggs (this seems high right?). During certification the biologist measured it at 29.5 inches! Makes you believe that George Perry's fish was legit regardless of what the doubters say right??? I believe! This is without question the most amazing individual NLMB to ever have been confirmed by state officials other than the Indiana 14-12. Both are amazing in their own right. I give the nod the Mr. Burgin's bass (came out of what is described as a heavily managed private lake what I would give to be able to talk with him about growing big NLMB!) over the MA bass since that one wasn't verified as a NLMB nor was the Illinois bass to my knowledge.

I don't hold rumors of people traveling to FLMB areas for a February vacation, catching a 13-1 or a 15-8, then traveling all the way back north to fraudulently submit a record in the 1970s when bass fishing culture is nothing compared to what it is today... California, Texas, and Florida anglers would likely agree that it's not easy to catch fish of that size even where they grow that big at the greatest frequencies in the US. In fact the 13-1 IL, 15-8 MA, and 13-13 Ohio were all caught in a small window between 1975-1976. The Il and MA bass were both caught in February one year apart. I'm seeing a pattern here and the odds of two individuals pulling hoaxes like that seems less likely than those fish reaching that size. I believe that weather patterns must have been stable or ideal to growing jumbo NLMB in the years leading up to that as that is a cluster of outliers. The Ohio bass is 100% not a fraud and I'm inclined to believe the other anglers as well as I think it's pretty un cool to call someone a liar just because they catch a lifetime fish. I don't blame the Florida anglers for wanting to stay tight lipped about their fish.

The Unbreakables:

1) Georgia, self explanatory. Longest standing of all state records too. Would love to know what the #2 certified weighed fish is. Michigan did break a basically 100 year old SMB record with a near ten pounder recently so anything is possible. 

2) Massachusetts going to take a 15-9 Northern state NLMB to break it. I doubt this gets broke in my life time.

3) Indiana, it's going to take a 14-13 to break it. Unless global warming allows for a FLMB program I think this is not likely. Oklahoma has a FLMB program and it's state record is only 1 ounce better. 

4) Michigan - will need 12 on the nose to break the two way tie. One fish as caught in 1934 and one in 1959. If one of these gargantuan NLMB records falls I'd expect some more to possibly come down with them as the Ohio, IL, and MA all came within a year of each other. Further snooping of records shows a similar cluster around 1997 and 1984.

5) Wisconsin - Going to need 11-4. Record has been around since 1940. I don't condone accusing any single angler of forging records but Wisconsin which might be the most heavily fished state per capita, is home to some seriously sketchy record keeping. Some of the more glamour species with long standing questionable records include - Walleye the fish of Wisconsin has stood since 1933, a highly disputed world record muskie 1949, Northern Pike 1952, Tiger Muskie 1919, yellow perch 1954, and SMB 1950. Wisconsin needs to retire these when they get to a hundred years old like New Jersey did with their 4+ pound yellow perch that was holding a spot in the record books since around the 1870s. The current 2.5 pound record yellow perch has stood since the 1970s which is a significantly smaller fish. 

I would like to share the google sheet if I knew how and if any of you would like to PM me with info about records in your state I'd like to hear it. Using newspaper.com to search for old newspaper clippings is a very time consuming process. I have managed to collect pictures of a fair number of these specimens and would like to consolidate them into the google spreadsheet at some point but don't know how I would do that.

Is it Spring yet? 

[Glenn]

This thread has taken off in a tangent.  Time to start a new one in the appropriate forum.

 

Thanks!