In case no one else speaks my version of fishing textspeak (about as hip as I get) here’s the translation:

IA LMB PB = Iowa Largemouth Bass Personal Best

Prior to last year I had never caught a bass from Iowa, never really had to with plenty of Illinois water to choose from.  Closest I’d ever been I suppose were a few on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River more than a few years ago.   But having relocated to the Quad Cities area from Galesburg back in the summer of 2014, I caught wind of a nearby fishing hole that an August 2015 Quad City Times article referred to as the “area’s latest jewel.

Top Iowa Bass 6/19/16 9:51am 14.5″ 1-9 Senko wacky rig, definitely room for improvement

After a family day trip to Scott County’s Lost Grove Lake last spring for a look around I deemed it worth a try and invested my $41.00 in a non-resident fishing license.  A pair of trips in June resulted in 25 bass during just over nine hours on the water but quality fish were pretty much non-existent on the end of my line.  Top Bass wound up being a 14.5” fish that tipped the scales at 1-9 and was one of only two bass in my haul to exceed 12”.  On the bright side, I did see a handful of fish in the 2 to 4-pound neighborhood and have seen a couple photos of some sizeable catches on the internet.

But it is still a quite young lake and based on stocking reports and a firsthand look at the habitat of the 360 acre fishing hole I am enthused about its prospects for the future.

As such I am looking forward to a few more visits in 2017 in pursuit of a new Iowa largemouth bass personal best.  1-10 doesn’t set the bar too high, hopefully just a matter of getting some time on the water.  Talk to you later.  Troy