South Iowa summer gilling

[Illinoisgiller]

I just enjoyed a couple days with my son Bill and my two grandsons, Brandon and Jonathon.
We headed for Belva Deer lake near Sigorney. We stopped by another lake a little north of Sigorney named Yenrogis. It is pronounced Yen-rog- is . Now this strange name brought me visions of some obscure Indian tribe, but such is not the case. It is close to Sigorney, so they simply reversed the spelling. lol Who says that the people that name lakes can't have a little fun too. :party0011: The little lake has a lot of shallow areas ,but according to the lake map there are a couple holes that have a 15' depth. We shore fished for a short time but only got dinks, so moved on to Belva Deer.
We arrived to find 3 other float tubes on the lake.
We set up our 4 and went about finding the gills in the timber. I have an Eagle Fisheasy 320C mounted on my tube, and found the gills holding at 4 to 10' in the trees. The bite was real tough ,and the best bite was on Grizzly jig-Bill's Water Flea and a 1/8 silver ball head jig I tied up with sparkle chinille and no tail at all. Most fish were taken at 7' . The kids quickly tired of the tough bite, and worked their way back to the dock and had a ball the rest of the day catching the little bass that hang there. lol. The day was brutal hot ,but nice in the tubes. I didn't get the numbers , but we filleted 5 1/2 lbs. of gill fillets and 2 1/2 lbs of eater channel cat. When we got off the water we went to the swimming beach and got our core temp down to normal.
Having stayed in the local motel once before,we drove on to Oskaloosa and got a room. We also made sure we filled up with gas there at $2.42 per gal. Not cheap, but much better than the rest of the legal crooks. :icon_mad:
The next am we went to Lake Kehoma. The boys elected to spend the day swimming and I and my son loaded into the tubes. We found the gills very scattered bbut they were nice. Being another very hot day ,we only fished for 6 hrs or so and came up with 7 lbs of nice fillets from gills running from 9" to 10 1/2"
We got off Kehoma and had some daylight left ,so we headed back to Belva Deer. Again the kids stayed at the dock, and we took the tubes to the tree line in the lake.We fished for the last couple hours of daylight and I caught ONE gill and Bill done twice as good and caught two.:confused0024: I've seen the bite go sour before, but they just plain quit. I think the baromator must have took a drop with the front coming in. I had a camera with me but got few pictures, as I was too busy fishing. Mike

[Timotha7]

All in all it sounds like a great few days Mike
Thanks for sharing
Tim

[gofish]

giller glad ta hear ya had a good trip,even nicer with all the boys along too im bettin....

[Kermit]

Giller glad to see you made it over. Now that i have a report from my back yard i will have to try to get out this weekend.

[Schoe]

Great report Mike. It looks like you may have started something in those Southern Iowa lakes with the float tubes. Do you think those folks saw you last year?

It sounds like you and the boys had a great time and that's what it's all about. Schoe

[Illinoisgiller]

Kermit, Hope you get a chance to get out, especially with the cooling forcast. I would recomend small baits tipped w/wax worm. most action was on the upwind side and holding tight to the trees. I didn't try dew worm chunks as I didn't think I could keep them alive without a cooler. I haven't installed a fridge on my tube--------yet.:confused0068:Would have given you a call, but when we got off the lake we were just beat with the heat.
Schoe, Anything is possible, didn't think to ask how they got interested. I do know of a few people down there that got tubes because they seen how much fun I was having. :party0011: They are a fishing machine for sure. Those tubes are neat for moving about in the trees and for some reason, don't seem to spook the fish as much as a boat.
At one point the kids kicked out a 1/4 mile or so to see how we were doing and they were barefoot with no flippers. Gee, my grandsons must have webbed feet:confused0068:lol
I hope to make it down that way again this fall. Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

The wife was out of town for a couple days, so I decided at the last moment to run down to Belva Deer again. I got there around 2 pm on Fri. Got a nice mess of gills out in the trees from the north ramp. Ran into Hawghunter with a group from his site. Didn't get into the ramp till late so cleaned gills into the darkness.Made the trek to Oskaloosa for a bed and didn't get back to the lake till 9:00 am Sat. The wind was out of the east hard. I bout wore out the old legs trying to keep from blowing into the trees. The bite was tough. It was so tough that I only got a few. I had to go to a #10 salmond egg hook with a pair of wax worms, as a jig just got no interest. By 4:00 pm I was just plain tuckered out. lol I headed home and got sleepy and pulled off at a rest stop and slept for a half hour.
Was neat to get out again and a plus to run into a member also.:party0011: Mike

[gofish]

dont reckon ive ever seen ya have a bad trip yet giller! that there wind is why ill stick with my boat lol . well that an the scared of water thingy lol

[T Bartels]

Sounds great Giller!!!! Glad somebody beat the heat and caught a few!!! My Grandma's relatives live out by Sigorney, so we'll have to make a trip out there and do a little fishing at the lake. The grandparents aren't really "inclined" in basic fishing....lol.....so about all they do is fish for cats on the bottom. Is the fishing any good for them or is it kind of spotty?? Glad you and your grandsons got away on the trip!!! I bet we would get along just fine...lol:party0039:

[Soupy_1us]

Now this is what the sites all about....................Great Job 'giller !



But, it makes me sick to hear you're havin' more fun than I could ever dream.....and them "Tubs" you're usin'.... I guess I'm gonna have to clean the deer guts outta one of mine and try that kinda fishin'... Sounds like fun.
Problem is..............ifin' I get in that river now with mine... I might beat you guys to Fla for this OCT's fishin'.
Still, good to hear your stories.

[capt.kirk]

Now this is what this site is all about-----------Great report Mike. Kirk

[Illinoisgiller]

Gofish, A boat would have been of little use in those trees in that wind. These gills get large for a reason.:evilgrin0039: The water is super clear and they are used to boats trying to slip in over them. They spook around trolling motors also. If I was in a boat I would use brush clips and cast. Good luck getting them up out of the limbs in this timber.lol I've had a few trips that don't go as I would have wished, but guess that is why the call it fishing. lol With that said, there are a lot of gills caught from boats but they have to be carefull.
Taylor, The grandsons got a couple cats off the north ramp that were probably drawn to the fish cleaning station. I also talked with a fella fising for cats off the fishing jetty on the south side between the campground and the dam. He said his best this year was 8 lb and gets lots of 2 lb bullheads there just at dark. They would have to bring them in through the shore weeds though. I have gotten a number of cats there fishing for gills in the spring-early summer at 12' to 14' in the tree tops. I'd doubt they would try that though. lol There is no doubt that you would get along just fine with the grandsons. They are 12 and 13 yrs old and almost tolerable at times. :party0011:
Soupy& capt. Thank you!! ROLF Now Soupy,I can just picture a float tube (tub) full of deer guts. ROLF When I was telling about the naming of Yenrogis, I laughed out loud thinking of what you or 4rum could have done with that in a good story. lol I don't put my tube in ANY fast water. We have dams and the local news stations already have plenty of material. :confused0068:
Hope everyone get a chance to get on some fish, :icon_cool:Mike

[gofish]

2lb yeller bellies.....now theres some good eats....them gills sure would be safe from me ifn they wouldnt hit from a boat lol

[T Bartels]

Thanks for the info Giller!~!~ Should be a good time when we head down there!!

[Soupy_1us]

Yenrogis,???????????? I don't think they want that kinda talk on this site....
cause of the kids and women. So, I'll just act like I didn't see it also too.But, knowin' 4rum...his probably got an Aunt that's been named that or something. :) You know how them mountain folk are.

[wewamohawk]

hay there giller its real nice to see you and your son and the grandsons had a good time and the fish you got i bet was real good ;;;maurice

[fringe]

I haven't ever posted much, but I just wanted to say thanks to Illinoisgiller for the bags of fillets at Belva Deer...it didn't take us all at the Hawgz outing long to eat em up...they were much appreciated by everyone. It was nice to meet you, hope to see you again there someday.:icon_cool:

[Illinoisgiller]

You are cretianly welcome Mark. Enjoyed the short chat .Was neat to meet a few of the Hawgz group. :party0011:If I had been thinking (rareity) I'd have brought a couple bags down with me.
Hope we cross paths down the trail. Might consider meeting for one of those farm ponds someday if you wish. I carry my cleaning gear along and we could catch and clean a batch for the owner. I've done that more than a few times:icon_cool:
It make for great relations with the pond owners.:icon_cool::icon_cool:Mike

[fringe]

sounds good Mike, gillin is our favorite fishin...and btw, I was amazed at the way you was cleaning them fish in the dark...with an electric knife...brother, your a better fish cleaner than me!