Most hunters are familiar with the concept of building points to win lottery tags in Western states for big game like mule deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, and sheep. Many play this “game” and invest countless hours weighing options in the springtime before sending in their checks and waiting to see if they get a rebate check back in the mail or that coveted tag for a highly sought after unit.

Though preference points and lottery draws are far less common in the East, the highlight for white-tailed deer is, without a doubt, Iowa. Opening the 4th of May, the application period stretches until June 2. Most units require 2-4 points/years to ensure drawing and once a tag is drawn it will cost roughly $600-$650 including each $50 preference point plus the final cost of the tag. Many hunters might scoff at this, but consider the numbers – only 2,100 nonresidents pick up a bow in Iowa each year. The numbers alone should suggest that this is a hunt worth waiting and paying for…and the numbers don’t lie. Iowa is at the top of the heap and should be on the application list for those interested in an exceptional deer hunting experience.

I’m starting to lose faith in my fishing skills. These Ohio fish are beating my tail left and right. With conditions and Internet reports screaming of an unfair advantage for the fishermen and a decided underdog status of the crappie population, I headed to Hoover Lake with intentions of filling 5 or 6 freezer ziplocks with fillets. 3 hours later, I dropped off my couple keepers with a guy wading in the shallows and limped into the office to lick my wounds and contemplate how the morning crashed and burned. Honestly…not sure. Targeted willow bushes, targeted woody cover, targeted flooded timber, drifted jigs down the creek channel, just couldn’t unravel the mystery. With a messy weather system coming into town tomorrow, it will certainly be next week before I get out for attempted revenge. Until then, I’ll do some more homework and see if I can figure out a successful strategy for next time!

Brought the sun up Saturday morning at one of the local lakes. It was my first time taking out the canoe as I finally got it registered with the DNR. Trying to target crappie, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out a pattern as they didn’t seem to be around the outer edges of the willow bushes or laying shallow on woody debris yet. I finally got on a little pattern of dropping a jig next to wood in about 5-7′ of water. It would get about halfway to the bottom, the line would twitch, and a crappie would be on the other end. As the sun warmed things up, I had to leave but it looked like many others were looking for crappie in the shallows with decent success. Now, 4 or 5 days after the fact, things should be prime and shallow water catches of crappie should be the hottest bite for the next couple weeks. I ended up filleting enough for supper with a 15″ channel cat thrown in. Hoping to get back out at least a couple more times and fill some freezer bags!

Tough would be one way to put it. Got out only 3 or 4 times, but struck out at a local spillway on 2 different occasions and struck out at a local creek that supposedly bank to bank with spawning white bass. A lot of the fishing opportunities I’ve encountered so far are very conditions dependent. For the white bass, flow was perfect and clarity was adequate but water temperatures were a couple ticks low. For the spillway, the water was on its way down and other anglers had the dreaded “you should have been here 2 hours ago” report for me. That being said, I am starting to explore more spots and will soon have the canoe registered/licensed (hopefully Tuesday).

I did find a couple black crappie moving into shallow water on early Saturday morning and am hoping that trend will continue as warm temperatures should drive the spawn into the action. A couple limits of crappie will go a long ways towards building my faith in Ohio’s fishing waters!

Title says it all. I anticipated at least getting out a few times this spring in my new home state of Ohio, but it appears that they don’t quite consider me a resident yet. Even though I’ve switched over my driver’s license and vehicle plates, bought a residence, pay Ohio income and property tax, and am drawing a paycheck from an Ohio institution, I’m not officially welcomed as a resident until I’ve lived here 6 consecutive months. Sort of ridiculous if you ask me, but I respect the laws of the land and turkey hunting (to me…) is simply not worth the $125 non-resident hunting license + permit fee. I’ll take the opportunity and maybe try to float the canoe an extra time or two since I did splurge for the non-resident fishing license…40 bucks if I remember correct.