Fishing with my dad in Iowa last weekend...(Really long & lots of pics!)

WatterBoy · 05-21-12, 11:35 PM

Bass season still isn't open here in MN yet, so I made the 2-hour drive down to my parents' place in IA last Friday after work. On the way down, I contemplated what lure I should use first. My dad had warned me that the grass mats were becoming more prevalent on top of the water and the thick weeds/slime under the water were making it tough to throw anything except top-water baits. I had really liked the looks of the Koppers Hollow Body Field Mouse when I bought two of them at Cabela's this past winter, so I tied on the brown/white one when I got there and went to chucking that as my first option. That ended up being the only lure I threw all weekend, except for about 30 minutes on Saturday night when I caught a couple on a jig & pig! Every fish I'm holding below came on the same mouse that is pictured at the very end. Maybe it was just a case of "right time, right place" this weekend, but I sure do have very high hopes for this lure after catching so many fish with it the first time I ever used it. I'm not sure how the bass even knew it was up on the surface with all the crazy winds and rolling waves we had all weekend, but somehow they did!

Again, maybe it was just the aggressiveness of the fish, but I can't believe how well the hooksets went with this mouse...20 of 22 times that I set the hook I hooked up, and I landed 19 of those and lost 1 in the heavy weeds. I was using 20-pound Power Pro braided line on a Shimano Symetre spinning reel.

Friday night at the lake

3lb 4oz, 17.5" -- hadn't even been there 10 minutes when I landed this one, three other smaller ones followed before the 3.12 shown below.

2lb 11oz, 16.0" - Spro Poppin' Frog - my dad's only fish of the night

3lb 12oz, 18.0" - the last of my five bass for the night

Saturday morning at the lake

3lb 4oz, 17.5" - arrived at the lake by myself at 5:30 a.m., had landed two small bass by 5:45, and caught this one shortly after 6:00 just as my dad was pulling into the parking lot. I caught two more small ones before we left at 8:00, but unfortunately, my dad was skunked.

Saturday morning at the gravel pits

2lb 12oz, 15.75" for my dad's fish (5" wacky-rigged senko); 4lb 2oz, 18.5" for mine - a doubleheader! We made use of the timer on my camera to get a shot of the two us, the only ones there at the time.

4lb 5oz, 18.0" - high noon after I had hiked through the underbrush to get to the only semi-calm spot you can see at the far end of the pit behind me. First cast back there yielded this one! We left after releasing it because we needed to get home for lunch. Four more bass for me, two for my dad during this brief outing.

Saturday night at the lake

4lb 5oz, 18.0" - I caught the only fish at the lake during our brief stay there on Saturday night. We made the 20 minute drive from there to the pits because it's not weedy at all there and we had more lure options available to us there.

Saturday night at the gravel pits

2lb 11oz, 15.75" (5" wacky-rigged senko) - one of my dad's two fish for the night; I caught a small one on the mouse and two small ones on a jig & pig. I had a huge WHOOOOSH "swipe and miss" from what looked like a good bass literally ONE FOOT from shore as I was lifting my mouse out of the water.

Sunday morning at the lake

3lb 3oz, 17.0" - My dad finally relented and took me up on my offer to try the mouse late on Saturday night. He got his first one with it, and his biggest fish of the weekend, on Sunday morning. He had another one on, but lost it on the way in. This was his only fish of the outing.

4lb 6oz, 20.0" - I made one cast from the boat launch dock you see in the picture after having caught two small ones from the shoreline near my dad, and this was the result. This is only the fourth 20" bass of my life, so I was pretty pumped. It was a great way to end a fun weekend of fishing with my dad!

This is what the field mouse looked like after pretty much every fish, so it takes a little bit of adjusting to get the hooks flipped around and the tail and legs squared away again to get back to fishing...

And I'd say about every 4th fish, the hook came completely out of the mouse body and it took even more manipulation to get it ready to go again...

These are kind of blurry, but this gives you an idea of how the mouse stands up after 19 landed fish and 1 other one that got away after a good fight...just a little paint loss around the nose and tail and a few scrapes on its back. I thought it was very durable.

I left both of the mice with my dad when I headed back home on Sunday afternoon, and then I just stopped by the Cabela's outside of town here and picked up two new ones. As long as I was there, I also picked up Live Target frog since I was very impressed with the Field Mouse.

05-21-12, 11:35 PM	#1
WatterBoy BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Owatonna, MN Posts: 2,280	Fishing with my dad in Iowa last weekend...(Really long & lots of pics!) Bass season still isn't open here in MN yet, so I made the 2-hour drive down to my parents' place in IA last Friday after work. On the way down, I contemplated what lure I should use first. My dad had warned me that the grass mats were becoming more prevalent on top of the water and the thick weeds/slime under the water were making it tough to throw anything except top-water baits. I had really liked the looks of the Koppers Hollow Body Field Mouse when I bought two of them at Cabela's this past winter, so I tied on the brown/white one when I got there and went to chucking that as my first option. That ended up being the only lure I threw all weekend, except for about 30 minutes on Saturday night when I caught a couple on a jig & pig! Every fish I'm holding below came on the same mouse that is pictured at the very end. Maybe it was just a case of "right time, right place" this weekend, but I sure do have very high hopes for this lure after catching so many fish with it the first time I ever used it. I'm not sure how the bass even knew it was up on the surface with all the crazy winds and rolling waves we had all weekend, but somehow they did! Again, maybe it was just the aggressiveness of the fish, but I can't believe how well the hooksets went with this mouse...20 of 22 times that I set the hook I hooked up, and I landed 19 of those and lost 1 in the heavy weeds. I was using 20-pound Power Pro braided line on a Shimano Symetre spinning reel. Friday night at the lake 3lb 4oz, 17.5" -- hadn't even been there 10 minutes when I landed this one, three other smaller ones followed before the 3.12 shown below. 2lb 11oz, 16.0" - Spro Poppin' Frog - my dad's only fish of the night 3lb 12oz, 18.0" - the last of my five bass for the night Saturday morning at the lake 3lb 4oz, 17.5" - arrived at the lake by myself at 5:30 a.m., had landed two small bass by 5:45, and caught this one shortly after 6:00 just as my dad was pulling into the parking lot. I caught two more small ones before we left at 8:00, but unfortunately, my dad was skunked. Saturday morning at the gravel pits 2lb 12oz, 15.75" for my dad's fish (5" wacky-rigged senko); 4lb 2oz, 18.5" for mine - a doubleheader! We made use of the timer on my camera to get a shot of the two us, the only ones there at the time. 4lb 5oz, 18.0" - high noon after I had hiked through the underbrush to get to the only semi-calm spot you can see at the far end of the pit behind me. First cast back there yielded this one! We left after releasing it because we needed to get home for lunch. Four more bass for me, two for my dad during this brief outing. Saturday night at the lake 4lb 5oz, 18.0" - I caught the only fish at the lake during our brief stay there on Saturday night. We made the 20 minute drive from there to the pits because it's not weedy at all there and we had more lure options available to us there. Saturday night at the gravel pits 2lb 11oz, 15.75" (5" wacky-rigged senko) - one of my dad's two fish for the night; I caught a small one on the mouse and two small ones on a jig & pig. I had a huge WHOOOOSH "swipe and miss" from what looked like a good bass literally ONE FOOT from shore as I was lifting my mouse out of the water. Sunday morning at the lake 3lb 3oz, 17.0" - My dad finally relented and took me up on my offer to try the mouse late on Saturday night. He got his first one with it, and his biggest fish of the weekend, on Sunday morning. He had another one on, but lost it on the way in. This was his only fish of the outing. 4lb 6oz, 20.0" - I made one cast from the boat launch dock you see in the picture after having caught two small ones from the shoreline near my dad, and this was the result. This is only the fourth 20" bass of my life, so I was pretty pumped. It was a great way to end a fun weekend of fishing with my dad! This is what the field mouse looked like after pretty much every fish, so it takes a little bit of adjusting to get the hooks flipped around and the tail and legs squared away again to get back to fishing... And I'd say about every 4th fish, the hook came completely out of the mouse body and it took even more manipulation to get it ready to go again... These are kind of blurry, but this gives you an idea of how the mouse stands up after 19 landed fish and 1 other one that got away after a good fight...just a little paint loss around the nose and tail and a few scrapes on its back. I thought it was very durable. I left both of the mice with my dad when I headed back home on Sunday afternoon, and then I just stopped by the Cabela's outside of town here and picked up two new ones. As long as I was there, I also picked up Live Target frog since I was very impressed with the Field Mouse. Last edited by WatterBoy; 05-21-12 at 11:42 PM.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)