First Fishing Outing of the Season

Tuesday March 6th, Des Moines tied the record high of 74 F as spring surged into the Plains states! This is the 5th time we've set or tied a record so far this year! The sunshine and warm weather proved too tempting for me to pass up and by mid-afternoon I was loading up the boat and heading for the river.

So good to be on the water! To my
pleasant surprise, I had no major
mechanical malfunctions either!

Cirrostratus (high thin clouds made of ice crystals) was filtering the sunlight and the wind was strong enough to put some whitecaps on the cold water, but that didn't stop our enthusiasm any. I noticed several other fishermen on the river alongside walkers and bikers using the nature trails and enjoying the day.

My fish finder got a lot of hits with suspended fish just a foot or two below the surface. Most of the activity was on the edge of drop offs and near cut banks where the channel deepened substantially from the flats right before the river bend. Closer to sunset the activity was moving into the flats and most of the fish on the sonar were in less than 4 feet of water.

Cirrostratus in the western sky often foreshadows
 a storm's approach. Usually increased fishing activity
accompanies these conditions.

I was out for a few hours but didn't catch anything besides a winter-kill gizzard shad that happened to float by the boat. With the upcoming forecast I will be heading out to try again very soon. Here's some of my trip's hits and misses:

Hits: Sudden Warm-up. Water changes temp much slower than air, but a few more days in the 50s and 60s and that water temp will be inching higher. Fish are cold-blooded so warmer water = higher activity = more feeding = I really should have caught something.

Low Pressure: The barometric pressure was falling which often triggers a stronger bite as fish feed on the warm side of low pressure, falling more dormant as barometric pressure rises after the storm.

Misses: The wind! It was strong enough to cause issues with boat positioning. No sooner did I bait the lines and the anchor would loosen with the current and wind. Cold water fish are finicky and precise boat positioning is a make or break deal. I couldn't stay in position long enough for proper bait presentation.

Cold water. Water temps were in the 30s and the water flow on the Des Moines (like most rivers in Iowa right now) was low and slow. Snow melt has been a non-factor so we'll need one or two warm spring rains to greatly improve the fishing activity.