Swimmer’s itch is starting to make its presence known in many of Iowa’s natural lakes in north central and northwest Iowa.

It’s been several years since I started using artificial frogs for largemouth bass. Before that, friends and I had used live frogs as catfish bait and I never liked it that much. I didn’t enjoy putting a live frog on a hook and offering it to a hungry catfish. At some point, no matter how effective the frogs were for catfish, I decided “no more.” I’ll find another way to catch 'em.

Favorable winter and spring weather across much of Iowa is expected to benefit pheasant hunters this fall.

Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife research biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said each summer, the DNR uses a model based on winter and spring weather conditions, previous weather data and more than 50 years of pheasant roadside population surveys to predict pheasant population trends for the fall.

The final piece of the puzzle for the Okoboji Blue Water Festival has been finalized with the professional walleye tournament angler, Chase Parsons agreeing to host the 10 a.m. fishing seminar on Saturday, Aug. 12.

OBWF co-chair Greg Drees shares his excitement about the addition of Parsons to the speaker lineup.

NJCAA All-American Brielle Bartelt will be continuing her athletic and academic career at University of South Carolina Beaufort. The Sand Sharks are located in Bluffton, South Carolina, and compete at the NCAA Division II level in the Peach Belt conference. She is planning to major in marketing.

Bartelt is looking forward to this next step

The top two batters in the state — Olivia Huckfelt and Jada Piercy — will lead the Spencer Tiger softball team in their annual home tournament Friday and Saturday where they will face MOC-Floyd Valley and Western Christian. Spencer has gone 6-1 in their last seven games heading into the final week of regular season action against Western Christian, Spirit Lake and Algona. The girls were scheduled to face 12-9 Humboldt at home Thursday night ahead of the weekend home tourney.

Heading into the last couple of weeks of play, the Spencer baseball squad has put together an 8-2 mark in its last 10 appearances, going 2-1 on the week. The next five games pit the Tigers against teams with a combined record of 33-60 before they close out the year with a pair of home games against Sergeant Bluff-Luton and Humboldt the Fourth of July week.

Spencer will travel to Pocahontas Area Saturday for a noon matchup before beginning a four-game week.

Sioux Central’s softball team definitely has some momentum heading into Thursday night’s scheduled contest on the road against state powerhouse Newell-Fonda. The Mustangs won the first meeting un June 3, 7-2.

The Spencer softball team head into a busy week on the heels five straight wins last week to improve to 10-8 overall, heading into a busy week which finishes with the Tiger softball tournament to close things out. The Tigers closed the week with big wins over Spirit Lake, Emmetsburg and powerhouse Storm Lake.

TIGERS ROLL TO 4-1 WIN OVER 14-1 STORM LAKE

“This was a nice week for the team,” said Spencer coach Brian Dirkx whose squad improved to 11-5. “We went 3 and 1 — we beat two teams that have been in-and-out of the top 10 in 3A.”

The Tigers downed both MOC-FV in extra innings Thursday and crushed Storm Lake in a week which saw Spencer finish the week with three straight road matchups. Spirit Lake handed their lone loss in four games, claiming a 2-0 pitching showdown Wednesday.

ESTHERVILLE — Corey Meyer returns to Iowa Lakes Community College to serve as head men’s wrestling coach and completion specialist, pending board approval, bringing strong knowledge of wrestling, community colleges and the college student experience. Previously, Meyer spent four years as an assistant wrestling coach at Iowa Lakes before joining the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire wrestling coaching staff for the last two seasons.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is seeking informal comments on administrative rules for Iowa state parks and related programs. Executive Order 10 (EO10), signed by the Gov. Kim Reynolds on Jan. 10 requires all state agencies to identify which administrative rule chapters will be retained or rescinded. The EO10 process includes public engagement with the opportunity for meaningful input.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will start treating Lost Grove Lake at the end of June with the approved aquatic herbicide Sonar A.S. to eliminate Eurasian watermilfoil.

Changes are coming soon to the way Iowans can hunt and trap raccoons, and how farmers can deal with raccoon depredation issues.

Summer has arrived. In the fish's underwater world, lots of things are going on. All of these things affect what the fish do, and also affect the ways that we can catch them. Consider some of the following ideas for catching more fish in the summer.