In the remaining open water months, there is one very basic thing to keep in mind for fishing success, we’ve said it before and I’m sure we’ll say it again, but it’s so important that it’s a good thing to keep in mind: If you want to catch fish now, you’ve got to find what ...
Whatever my siblings and I lacked in material things growing up, we were rich in cousins. My mother was one of a dozen children and my father one of six. As close as I can figure, I have more than 60 first cousins ranging from 10 years my senior to 20 years younger. I am one of the older cousins in both of my parents’ families. In addition, I have scores of second cousins (my parents’ cousins’ children) ̶ some of whom I am close to ̶ but I have never attempted to count them. Several events in the past year have connected me with first cousins. During my mother’s last ...
If everything goes as planned, the current edition of RAGBRAI is underway as you read this. Unless you live under a rock in Iowa, you know about this annual event that started as a simple bike ride across the state and has turned into a very real phenomenon that attracts bicycling enthusiasts from all over country and all over the world. While I really enjoy riding my bike along bike trails and streets around here, it is a purely recreational endeavor. I generally don't see the need to find out how long or how far I can ride. Or, in the case of RAGBRAI, how crazy is what I wear ...
Summer continues. July is on the way out, August is here or near. Time marches on and that’s okay: What else can time do? Many anglers across the Midwest and North America report that fishing has been pretty good, bordering on excellent in some locations. And despite the thought that ...
What do you call those little tributaries that flow through Iowa’s countryside? Poets call them brooks and streams. In some parts of the country they are referred to as branches, kills or runs. I’ve also seen them described as gills, rills, rivulets and freshets. The most common term, I suppose, is creeks. I grew up calling them cricks. Cricks are among my favorite works of nature. A nice crick... er, creek... trickled through a pasture east of my maternal grandparents’ rural home in Grundy County. Against our parents’ wishes, we cousins walked up the gravel road to a bridge, ...
When I was living out of state while in my 20s, I very rarely met anyone who had been to Iowa. “Oh, yes, I've been through there. . .” was what I usually heard when someone inquired about where I grew up.At least once the question was raised to ask me about how the potato crop was this season. Sometimes the discussion was about just what the scenery is in Iowa, as in “We have the mountains and an ocean, you know.” The implication seemed to be that whatever is in the Midwest can't possibly be as good. Someone I knew who lived in a New Hampshire mountain valley told me that ...
