So we spent the Memorial weekend on a sudden unexpected trip to Iowa to fish the Des Moines River for a chance to catch some wipers. Ho hum, not that we were really gonna catch them, I know that much but to not be so negative about it, I'll be trying out my new Shimano system: Calcutta 7' med. fast paired with a Stella 2500 and 8 lb Fireline Crystal.

The white bass hit hard and pulled very hard. The river was raging with very fast current too, making it difficult to fish. All I see are a lot of fishermen/women mostly asians and from the conversations many were Hmong no doubt. One guy got a 20 inch wiper. Nice size. I managed an 18 inch walleye. I was fishing different from everybody else. I fished with hard baits while everyone else were jigging it. I think I caught more fish per strikes but I through away most of them, back into the water, selective harvest only. I did lose a custom made inline spinner 5/8 oz. that was the ticket to catching the fish, plus some other customed hard baits. Fast current, snagpile rocks, and who knows how much snagpile fishing line's are in the water. So much snagging that a lot of people were losing their jigs much more often then I expected.