Stories from Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Fishing for catfish is a summer tradition for many Iowa families. You can always count on channel catfish when the bite slows down for other fish in the heat of Iowa summers. “Catfish will bite most of the time, no matter what the water temperature,” explains Daniel Vogeler, Iowa DNR fisheries technician. “They are biting in most lakes, ponds, rivers and streams across Iowa.”...

Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors recently announced a partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to pilot a program to engage high school and college trap shooters in hunting activities. Based on the Shooting Sports Outreach Program that Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors launched in Kansas in 2019, the pilot program will engage student athletes from at least 15 different Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) teams, both college and high school, in dove, pheasant and waterfowl hunts...

Across the Midwest, in fact across much of the United States, it’s been either hot or really hot for the past few weeks. The infrequent rains have been very welcome. As with the temperatures in many places, the fishing has been hot for anglers who adapt their techniques to the summer weather. Fishing in the heat of summer is different from other seasons in some ways, but it’s also the same in a couple of ways...

Finally, as we head toward the end of July, the water levels on the Iowa Great Lakes have slowly subsided to the point that the water is only going over the Big Spirit spillway by a little more than 2 inches and a little more than 5 inches going over the overflow at Lower Gar. ...

Okoboji's softball season came to its conclusion Wednesday, July 15 with a 10-0 loss to 13th-ranked Estherville Lincoln Central in the Class 3A regional tournament in Spirit Lake. The Midgets plated two runs in the first, two in the third and six in the fifth inning to end the night early...

The Harris-Lake Park softball team, coming off of its first victory of the season — a 6-5 win over Trinity Christian in the opening round of the playoffs — ran into a buzzsaw in seventh-ranked Akron-Westfield on Wednesday, July 15. The Westerners defeated the Wolves 13-0 in the second round of the Class 1A regional tournament...

Okoboji's playoff run came to a close Saturday night in Larchwood, as the Pioneers fell to West Lyon in the Class 2A district tournament championship. The ninth-ranked Wildcats defeated the Pioneers 10-0 to advance to the substate round. "We knew going into that game that we were going to have to play as well as we've ever played to give ourselves a chance," Okoboji coach Rory Marra said. ...

A pair of high school softball heavyweights threw nothing by metaphorical haymakers at one another for seven innings Monday night. In the end, Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley landed too many shots for Spirit Lake to handle, as the 15th-ranked Nighthawks upended the 12th-ranked Indians 16-10 in the Class 3A regional tournament championship in Spirit Lake...