We wondered about the weather this last week as there was wind and rain predicted for at least part of every day. We hate to waste our pop can money to drive a long way only to discover we are unable to fish or perhaps may be force to deal with inclement weather. We talked a little about going back to Lake Pahoja in Iowa as we have had a couple good trip there earlier in the year.
Looking west at Lake Alvin from the parking area at the boat ramp.
It dawned on us that Lake Alvin was another option that we had not yet tried this year. Last year we made one trip over there and did quite well considering this is right outside of Sioux Falls and sees about as much pressure as a pregnant woman’s bladder. We decided to give it a try with the prerogative of packing it in and heading to Lake Pahoja if things got slow.
We usually do not give up too easily and shortly after arriving at Lake Alvin, I hooked a small bass about 12″ or so just off the shoreline. Dad also pulled a very nice fish right to the surface of the water only to have the fish open it’s mouth and just let go. We thought this was a good sign and proceeded to work the shoreline another hour and a half without catching anything. I almost spoke up to suggest we pick up and go over to Lake Pahoja but with the wind fairly strong out of the west, we would be limited there at were we could fish in relative comfort. About then, Dad hooked a very nice bass that made the small one I had hooked into look almost like a bait fish. We figured it to go about 3-1/2 lbs pretty easily.
We then went another half of an hour with nothing but out of nowhere, Dad pulled up another that weighed 4lbs 11oz. according to the scale in the boat. It was at this point, I switched to the same black and blue jig with the blue twin tail twister. Dad proceeded to catch another half dozen or so while I simply fished. The bite today was very soft and by the time I could react to the soft bite, it was just too late.
We were taking pictures of everything Dad caught over 3lbs but it simply got ridiculous and we finally stopped with the pictures. Everyone is gonna think it is the same fish over and over anyway, right?
We are guessing that Dad caught 15-18 fish and I can only remember 2 or so of these that was under 3lbs. We actually weighed three that were over 4lbs and another that weighed 3lbs 14oz. I would not have guess in all my years that anyone, including my very own Dad, could have put together a five fish limit out of Lake Alvin that would go over 20 lbs. I saw it done today. I did actually catch 4-5 fish myself but it took a while and if I did catch 5 fish, I am guessing my total weight would have been only about 10-11 pounds.
I did suggest that we try fishing in front of the dam because we were finding the fish in slightly deeper water and I naturally figure this to be as good of a place as any to find some more of this deeper water. We worked our way to the dam and while there were a few people sitting along the shore and on the handicapped dock, (don’t these people ever work??) we figured we could fish our way through and not bother them too much. Dad proceeded to catch about 4-5 very nice bass all in the 3-4 pound range right in front of all of them. They could not have paid for a better fishing lesson than he gave all of them (and me).
I still had a great time and I am really glad I did not suggest moving when I thought of it because I later found out that is what Dad was thinking too so had I mentioned it, I have no doubt we would have missed this great experience of fishing. I love being on the water so I will say once again, actually catching fish is simply a bonus. Being on the water, catching a few fish and watching Dad do such an impressive job of pulling in one of the nicest pile of fish I have ever seen in one place, really made the day a treat for me. We were surprised at what we saw today but I have no doubt we will try this short trip once again.
