From the shoulder high grass along the rough bank along Lake Iowa, Kevin York flipped his lure into the water. He was fishing for bass at the moment. Later, after backing in their boat, it would be catfish. "We do very well," admitted York, of Ladora. "We're probably out here, two or three times a week, pretty much every week."

For a few minutes, though, he was waiting...as next year's catfish arrived. At the boat ramp, the last of 4,500 fingerling catfish were being transferred from a stocking truck into buckets for a short boat ride to the middle of the lake. These little cats were going into floating cages for the next three months. "It's a cooperative agreement. We provide the three to four inch fish to the county conservation departments and the counties feed them all summer long," said Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist Paul Sleeper, as he and fisheries worker Greg Hall loaded them for their ride.

This was the last of eight counties in their district getting the caged catfish plants. At Kent Park, for instance, another 4,000 are in place. Each day now, county workers pour in pelletized feed to thousands of waiting, whiskered mouths. By late August or September, when they are released, the little cats should be 10 to 12 inches long. By the following year, they will be 13 to 15 inches, which is about when anglers start taking them home.

The catfish provide a balance in the lake ecosystem, in a body of water where they would otherwise come up short. "Catfish spawn in cavities. They swim in, lay their eggs and then guard them," explained Sleeper. "In a lot of our lakes, it's very hard to have a catfish spawn. Even if we stocked them (straight into the lake), those small fish would be very susceptible to predators. However, by the time they are released in the fall, they are out of range from most predators and they do very well."

York could testify to that as he pulls them through the year. "A lot of them are about the same size. I assume they are from the cages. Then you get three or four bigger ones, depending on how well they're biting." He doesn't keep that many, maybe a 3 or 4-pounder every other trip. It's the attraction of the lake that brings him back. "I bring the family out here. I have two little boys who like to come with me and just sit. It's pretty relaxing."

By the way, fishing at Lake Iowa--six miles south of Ladora--should be getting better. Extensive rock along the shoreline and brush poking above the water are still visible, as the 100-acre lake slowly refills. There was considerable shoreline deepening, too. It was drawn down for the habitat work, funded by a grant through the state's fish habitat fee program.

That will give those catfish more places to hide when released...and anglers more places to find them. "The caged catfish program allows us to release larger fish and more of them," emphasized Sleeper. "We just don't have the hatchery space to raise large numbers of fish to the sizes we get out of the cages. That gets more of them into that 13 to 15 inch range the anglers want, and sooner."

Hot Weather=Hot Catfishing

Hot weather turns up the heat on catfishing, too, especially during the spawn. Anglers who target channel cats in early summer have been busy. "I've been catching them for a couple weeks now," relayed retired DNR fisheries biologist Bob Middendorf, of Solon. "When that water hits 75 degrees, they are in to spawn. They're biting before that, too, but right now you can find them on the rocks."

Middendorf heads to Coralville Reservoir when the spawn is on. He knows of some anglers who pick up catfish on the flats, on bends in the channel. He's sold on fishing slip bobbers on the rocks, though. "Just about anything (bait) works; I use minnows, but others have success with night crawlers, or shrimp. Just about anything works; as long as it's weighted and at the bottom," suggested the Old Fisherman. "I'll troll real slow, move a little bit. A lot of people like to sit still when they fish for catfish. I don't." And while he could catch catfish on Coralville all summer, he doesn't have the same success next door, at Macbride. "I don't know what it is," Middendorf admitted. "They are better at night, and people catch them real early. On Coralville, they bite all day."

Middendorf and neighbor Henry had brought back six, on the day I checked in. Some anglers might turn their backs on catfish angling. What's the attraction to Middendorf? "There were a couple (today) that went 5 or 6 pounds. Boy, when they hit, do they take off," he said smiling.

River Walleyes

Area streams have received their annual dose of walleye fingerlings in the past week. Fisheries workers released 60,000 fingerlings into the Cedar River in Johnson, Linn and Benton Counties. Another 60,000 went into the Iowa River in Iowa, Tama and Marshall Counties. The Wapsipinicon River had 30,000 stocked at spots in Linn and Jones Counties. Spawned and hatched this spring at DNR facilities, the two-inch river-strain fingerlings have far better survival prospects, than if released as just hatched fry.

Meanwhile, Coralville Reservoir and Lake Macbride received an extra stocking. Each lake received 40,000 more fingerlings from 'leftover' stock. The two waters had earlier received their regular spring stocking.