Helping you hunt and fish By Larry Myhre
Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal
It was a quiet, late November afternoon when Ron Peterson, publisher of the Journal walked into my office in the newsroom.
He sat in the chair across from my desk where, as editor of the newspaper, I was scanning our news budget before heading up the meeting with the floor editors to decide what the next day’s paper would look like.
“What would you think of producing an outdoor tabloid which we distribute free throughout our area?” he asked.
As the paper’s outdoor writer since 1973, it didn’t take long for me to answer.
“I think it would be a great idea,” I said.
And so it started, a free tabloid devoted to teaching Siouxlanders more about hunting and fishing in our area and throughout the upper Midwest.
The first issue, one of six to be published each year, hit the streets in late January of 2004.
The cover photo was of Dave Genz, known as the father of modern day ice fishing. He was on the ice holding a walleye. I had taken that photo a year earlier on Devil’s Lake in North Dakota.
The whole issue was devoted to ice fishing .
So that’s how it started.
The publication, in the intervening years has changed somewhat.
In that first issue, a 20 pager, every story was written by me.
There’s a problem with that, and it’s called lack of variety.
I soon began adding other writers. Today we have some of the most recognizable outdoorsmen in the upper Midwest writing for us.
They reveal a bunch of tips, techniques, where-to-go, how-to-do information in each issue.
And often, many of these breakthroughs are reported here before anywhere else.
Take, for instance, an article in the current issue by Ted Takasaki, one of the nation’s top competitive walleye fishermen. He talks about using aggressive jigging tactics on early ice walleyes. One of the lures he uses is the new Lindy Darter. A lure he thoroughly tested last winter. He reveals everything he learned in this article. The information is published here for the first time, but remember, you’ll be seeing a lot elsewhere about the Lindy Darter, only later.
If you ice fish, you know Dave Genz. He’s at the forefront of ice fishing technology and has taught all of us how to be more successful on the ice.
He’s also designed many of the lures, rods and other ice fishing paraphernalia which we take for granted today.
His story deals with getting on the ice before the sun breaks the horizon. It’s a tough thing to do and takes planning, but as Genz points out, it is often the most productive time of the day.
Other writers who appear in each issue include Babe Winkelman, a nationally-known outdoorsman who has spent the past 30 years teaching people how to hunt and fish. This time he writes about winterizing your boat and putting away your tackle for next year. In another story he talks about scent control you can’t buy at a store. Deer hunters, take note.
Jim McDonnell, Royal, Iowa, the guy we call “The Fishing Professor,” also writes for each issue. McDonnell, the original fishing guide on the Okoboji’s since the 1960s, often keys his stories to fishing success on the Iowa Great Lakes. The lure of yellow perch and goose hunting in northwest Iowa are two topics he addresses in the latest issue.
Bob Jenson, a long-time fishing educator and outdoor television host, writes about winter river walleyes and end of the season fishing tasks in the current issue.
Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., outdoor television host and outdoor writer, writes about how to fish early ice safely and in another story, how the sport of ice fishing has changed.
Jerry Carlson, an outdoor writer from the Minneapolis area, writes about hole hopping to catch more winter fish.
I fill in with a blueprint for fishing Iowa’s Great Lakes with a species by species rundown and the best lures and baits for each. In another story I detail the changes in ice fishing gear and what you should have for success.
This little tabloid has evolved into a teaching machine on lots of different outdoor pursuits.
Look for it at various outlets around Sioux City, the Iowa Great Lakes and elsewhere.
We have one goal. That is to give you the best how-to information out there on hunting and fishing in the upper Midwest.