I’d like to have a penny for every time I’ve cast out a Big O crankbait.

Oh, I’d still be sittin’ here writin’ fishing stories, but the view would be a lot better. West Okoboji lakefront is what I’m thinking.

But, back to reality. Back to the Big O, one fine fish catching machine.

I first used the Big O back in the mid 1970s. In those days I opened the bass fishing season on Lake Geneva in Minnesota every year.

The Big O was my go-to crankbait then and, I’m here to tell you, it still is today.

The Big O has a long and proud history.

The lure, which is made of plastic today, was originally carved of Balsa wood. Fred Young carved the first Big O lure in 1967.

Fred’s brother Odis field tested the lures. He was six feet, six inches tall so it is easy to see how the lure got its name.

Word started to spread locally about how effective this home-made lure was, but it wasn’t famous until Billy Westmorland, a legendary smallmouth bass fisherman, took the lure on the tournament trail. He took second place in a B.A.S.S. tournament just getting edged out by Bobby Murray.

Soon the lures were selling for $50 apiece and the demand was far ahead of Young’s ability to turn them out. In some places the lure was being rented out by the day.

It was in 1973 that Cotton Cordell bought the Big O and began manufacturing it in plastic.

Within 13 months 1.3 million Big Os were sold.

The Big O was the first of the “fat” alphabet plugs. Many other manufactures followed with their own “fat” crankbaits, but none live up to the fish catching ability of the Big O.

While the orginal balsa Big Os were fat, beefy baits that had an almost violent wobble, most anglers today use much smaller versions.

In fact, I seldom use any size other than the two-and-a-half inch Big O.

It weighs one third of an ounce so it casts very easily for both distance and accuracy.

For fishing smallmouth bass in the channelized Missouri right here in the Sioux City area, there is no better crankbait, in my opinion.

It dives to just the right depth, about four feet on the cast and when our smallies are active, they are up shallow right against the rip-rap or right out on the ends of the wing dams.

The short, squared lip causes the lure to deflect off rocks or other submerged structure and, believe it or not, I seldom lose one to a snag.

Farther upstream, where smallies gather below sandbars and chase shad and shiners, the Big O is a great choice. This is shallow water fishing. You can make long casts and retrieve it fast and stay above the fish. Smallies will go up for a bait so you want to fish above them.

For the Missouri River, I like to stick to shad colors. The Smoky Joe, Chrome and Black Back or the Pearl/Red Eye is what I’m usually throwing.

However, the Fire Tiger color is another good one.

Early on, tournament fishermen found the Big Os excelled in dingy or stained water. It still does today in the dark waters of the Missouri here.

Today the Big O is being manufactured by Pradco Outdoor Brands, the world’s largest manufacturer of plastic fishing lures.

A division of EBSCO, Pradco also markets game calls, muzzleloading rifles, scents, decoys, game feeders, game cameras, tree stands and other products for hunters.

If you haven’t used this old classic, tie one on next spring. It’s been part of my tackle box for nearly 35 years, and I’ll be throwing them for as long as I can.

Among the alphabet baits, the Big O rates a Big A+ in my book. And Missouri River smallmouth rate it the same way, I’m here to tell you.

I ‘d filmed a Mieke snagging three years ago, but we’d never had the opportunity to fish together as she hadn’t had the best of luck drawing a tag.

Since the border for South Dakota and Nebraska is the river, both states have a limited number of tags available with a drawing being held for those permits

Well this year would be different as we’d both received tags.  I had my resident Nebraska as well a South Dakota non-resident paddlefish tag and she had a non-resident Nebraska tag.

When I headed out the door that morning, I couldn’t believe my eyes it was only October 12th and everything was covered with a heavy wet snow and it was still coming down.

Being the optimist that I am, I just knew it would quit shortly and gone before I knew it.

The snow was already disappearing as Larry Myhre, Sioux City, IA. and I headed north to meet our guide Marlyn Wiebelhaus, Wynot, NE and Mieke.

Arriving at the boat launch, it was good to see that Mieke had made the trip down, as she was all ready to go.

Marlyn arrived shortly there after and we launched the boat, preparing for another great day on the water.

As we pulled up below the dam at Yankton, there was only one boat there and he was already fighting a fish

Since the season is only open in October, we knew that it wouldn’t be long before more boats would be showing up.

Since Paddlefish are plankton feeders, the only way to catch them is by snagging, which is a much different method than most fishermen are used to.

Marlyn snags a little bit differently that a lot of folks, those that cast out yanking and cranking their line, heavy sinker and hook back in.

Marlyn’s method is more of a gentleman’s sport as he simply has the snaggers in his boat drop off line until they feel that they have enough line out and their weight is on the bottom at which time, he slowly trolls through the area that holds the fish. The anglers keep yanking on their rods until a hook up is made.

Since fish generally face into the current, our best luck came as we trolled across the current, giving us a larger target to try and hook with our small treble hook.

Just as the boat started to move, I gave a yank on the rod and was immediately pulled up from my seat by a solid fish.

I fought the fish in to the boat and it measured out 34” just below the 35”-45” slot where the fish need to be released.

Marlyn indicated that that was a pretty decent fish to tag, but since we were filming a show I didn’t want to quit after one fish, so we decided to release it.

We hadn’t gone too far after my fish when just as Mieke pulled on her rod, lifting the weight off the bottom her rod bent over hard.

For a minute or so, we weren’t sure if Mieke had the fish or if it had her as she wasn’t gaining a whole lot on the fish.

It didn’t take her long to start gaining on the fish and when she did, a nice fish came on board, another just below the slot, which also went back in the water.

It seemed like every pass, one of us would hook up and bring a fish into the boat, several were small hammer handles while others we’re larger 40”-41” fish, those in the slot.

There’s some big fish out there as one that weighed 67 pounds had been weighed in at Captain Norms.

Mieke tied into one fish that she could hardly move and after a short battle, the fish decided that he had enough of this and broke her 40-pound line.

Looking around at the 8 boats that were now below the dam, it appeared as if everyone was doing well as it wasn’t uncommon to see one or even two anglers in a boat hooked up and fighting a fish.

Along both shorelines, there were numerous people fishing from shore and they too were having very good luck.

Throughout the year the paddlefish stack up below the dam and will stay there until there until boat pressure forces them down stream or over into the closed area in the fast water below the turbines.

We were finished in a couple of hours snagging a total of 14 fish; with the fish we tagged being just over 30” from the eye to the fork o the tail.

They’ll both be excellent eaters as once cleaned properly, and with no bones in their body, they are one of the finest eating fish around.

Snagging may be a little work, but once you tie into one of these powerful prehistoric fish, you won’t be disappointed as they are one unbelievable fish.

YANKTON, S.D. – The allure of holding a prehistoric fish which swam 50 million years before the dinosaurs ruled the world is hard to resist for Mieke Slaba, Wagner, S.D.

Each year she looks forward to pursuing paddlefish below the Gavin’s Point Dam with her father Gary Howey of Hartington, Neb.

Of course they have to be lucky enough to draw one of the 1,600 paddlefish tags issued annually by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. This year they were.

Mieke is not alone in her quest for paddlefish. Snagging is so popular that special regulations had to be put in place years ago to protect this valuable resource.

Although the chance to catch a really big fish, Nebraska’s state record paddlefish weighs 93 pounds and was caught from the Gavin’s Point Dam tailwaters in 1998 by Kathy Reiman of Yankton, is undoubtedly one of the reasons. Another is that this fish is incredibly tasty, if you remove all the red meat from the fillets.

And in late fall, paddlefish congregate by the thousands below the dam, jammed up here during a prespawn migration urge eons old.

We joined Marlyn Wiebelhaus, of Wiebelhaus Guiding of Wynot, Neb., at the boat ramp on the Nebraska side of the river.

I was carrying the camera, Mieke and Gary would be doing the snagging and Marlyn would put us on the fish.

Which he did in short order.

Mieke connected first with a good fish. Too good as it turned out.

A slot limit protects the good spawners. All fish between 35 and 45 inches long, measured from the centerline of the fish lying flat from the eye to the fork of the tail must be returned. So her fish went back.

The regulations require the use of only one treble hook with a gap of 1/2 inch or less, so snagged fish can be released unharmed.

It didn’t take long for Mieke and Gary to fill their tags. There were other anglers on the river that day and it seemed no one had trouble filling their tag, even those fishing from shore.

Mieke is a middle school teacher at Wagner Community School. She’ll have a good fish story to tell her students and husband Matt who also teaches there.

And the fish that swam with the dinosaurs, still swims in the waters of the Missouri River.

YANKTON, S.D. — Summertime fishing below the Gavins Point Dam means variety.

You may be fishing for walleyes, or you may be fishing for catfish, but by day’s end I’m betting you will have caught a large variety of fish.

This was certainly true a couple of days ago when Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., and I decided to drift the fast water below the power house for channel catfish.

It’s a trip we try to work in at least once every summer.

Lots of channel catfish hold in the fast water, hiding behind the numerous rocks and rock ledges that are found here.

Here’s how we do it. We motor up to the point where boats are not allowed to go any farther and then begin a drift downstream with crappie rigs baited with turkey liver and a 3-ounce bank sinker attached with a rubber band.

It works best if one person keeps the bow of the boat pointed upstream while the other fishes.

A moment of inattention will cause you to snag up.

You must try to hold the rig straight down and raise the rod up or lower it depending on the depth changes.

It’s usually good for a bunch of eating size catfish, but not this day. We caught two before opting out to fish the big eddy below the limestone point.

With the boat tied up we cast jigs and crankbaits and caught white bass, sauger, goldeye, gar, another catfish and several freshwater drum.

It was pretty fast fishing for the hour or so we spend there.

We hadn’t done so well on the catfish, but by changing tactics we were able to have a really fun fishing trip.

That’s why I like tailrace fishing.

There’s always something willing to bite, even if the object of your affection has lock jaw.

All it took was one fish to win last Saturday’s sixth annual “First Class Cat Attack!” on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers here.

That fish weighed 56.60 pounds.

Dean and Bruce Stroman, Sioux City, caught the big blue cat only a couple hours into the tourney.

They also ended the five-year Carter family dynasty of first place wins in this event.

It was the only fish they caught all day, but it was plenty big enough to beat the second place team of Keith Copenhaver, Sioux City, and Chris Sharp, Merrill, Iowa, who weighed in a limit stringer of 10 fish for 40.90 pounds.

The big blue turned out to be pretty valuable for the Stromans. They netted $1,530 for the first place win, $406 ($100 from First Class Credit Union and $306 from the Big Fish pot) for the Big Fish award and the $1,000 Carter Bounty donated by First Class Credit Union for a total of $2,936.

The second place team cashed a check for $1,071. They had four channel catfish and six flathead catfish. Their biggest fish was a 14.7-pound flathead and won third place for big fish. That paid $50.

In third place was Brant Kurtz and Travis Deeds, Correctionville, Iowa, who weighed in nine fish, all flatheads, for a total weight of 35.7 pounds. They won $715.

Placing fourth was Chad Saunders and Dan Gill from South Sioux City. They weighed two fish, one channel and one blue, for 28.5 pounds and won $335. Their big fish was a 18.75 pound blue catfish with took second for big fish. They won $75 from First Class and $204 from the big fish pot.

In fifth place was Jeff Wagner Jr. and Jeff Wagner Sr., Sioux City, who weighed in four flatheads for a total weight of 25.65 pounds. They won $205.

Larry Carter, Sioux City, and Mike Carter, Hinton, placed sixth with eight fish, seven channels and one flathead, weighing 24.15 pounds. They won $150.

In seventh place was Greg and Kyle Barnes from Jefferson, S.D. with four channel cats weighing 20.05 pounds. They won $130..

Eighth place went to Rick Rivers, Shenandoah, Iowa, and T.J. Hummel and ‘Super’ Sam Hummel, Imogene, Iowa, with four flatheads weighing 19.95 pounds. They won $105.

Cork Lemmon, Elk Point, and Dolly Huss, North Sioux City, placed ninth. They weighed two channels and two flatheads for 17.95 pounds. They won $100.

In fourth place for big fish was Gerald Heibel, Sioux City and Brandon Christiansen, McCook Lake, with an 11.8 pound flathead. They won $25.

Winners of the noon weigh-in were Eddie and Tim Van Dorn, Des Moines, with a 6.35 pound flathead. They won $100.

Bike giveaway winners were Daniel Boyd and Cami Graves.

There was a total cash payout of $6,205 with merchandise prizes worth $2,030 given tenth through 24 place.

A record 51 teams registered for the tournament. Competitors were from Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska Minnesota, Missouri Kansas and Wyoming.

There were 155 fish weighed in for a total of 500.15 pounds.

That’s the most weight for the past six years. Last year 120 fish were caught and weighed 308 pounds.