By Steve Weisman
The Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club (IGLFC) will host its fall seminar on Thursday, November 14 at Godfather’s Pizza in Spencer starting at 6 p.m. Iowa DNR Fisheries Biologist Mike Hawkins will be the featured speaker and talk about the state of fishing in our local lakes.
Terry Thomsen, club VP, said, “Mike and his co-workers always give a very informative and interesting talk about what they are seeing happen to our local fisheries. They also discuss any changes being implemented by our DNR and the reasoning behind those changes. As always, Mike will have a question and answer session following his presentation.”
Pizza and drinks will be served, which is free for all club members. Following the presentation, raffle drawings will be held for fishing gear.
The IGLFC’s mission is to help protect area waters and the natural resources. “Being part of IGLFC is an easy way to get to know people, gain and share fishing knowledge and help support the betterment of our natural resources,” notes Thomsen.
Memberships, which are $20, will be available that evening.
Fall season upon us
When the northwest winds begin to howl and daytime temperatures begin to slide toward freezing, it’s definitely a sign that waterfowl hunters will be watching for a waterfowl migration push. Nothing much has happened yet, although with “weather beginning to show up” in North Dakota and northern Minnesota, it shouldn’t be long.
The trouble is that often the temperatures around here seem to be so similar to those even a hundred miles north. It’s only when the really rough, cold and snowy weather hits north of us and the sloughs lock up, while we remain on the milder side, that we’ll really get to witness a true migration.
One way that I have been following the waterfowl progress is with Waterfowl360.com, sponsored by Ducks Unlimited. Although there are lots of hunting articles and videos, I spend most of my time looking at their updated waterfowl migration map. Hunters and DU biologists provide field reports, migration progress from Canada all through the 48 states. In addition, weather conditions and snow cover maps can also be brought up.
As I write this column, there appears to be a push of ducks coming out of Canada and down into the Dakotas and across into Minnesota. Maybe with a strong, strong northwest wind, we’ll get some of the action down here.
