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I think you guys are right on the money. Once thing about the hybrids that is true; they don't do well in a livewell. Even in a large livewell, they'll usually be belly up after a couple of thrashings and maybe five minutes in that confined space. They're like sharks. They need to be on the move with the fresh water moving over their gills.

 

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I hate to say it, but by all means, eat them. You're not likely to find a tastier fish. In fact, wipers are one of the only fish that can go right ont the grill without falling apart. Smoke 'em, bake 'em, fry 'em--they're great just about any way to like your fish. And if you have leftovers, mix it with some mayo, onion, little celery and you have a great sandwich spread for lunch the next day.

On the same subject, once you try wipers you will have doubts about the wisdom of releasing them in the future.

 

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Those are gorgeous fish! Forty-three days and a wake-up: Spring! That Iowa wiper looks to be about 6.5 pounds. Alabama has an advantage on the rest of us--they've been growing the things a lot longer. Beautiful fish!

That makes me think of one other thing. People always bemoan the dog days of summer when nothing bites and the like. I've never found that to be true of wipers. Except for the winter months, you can pretty much figure on ample opportunities to catch a wiper, even in the blistering heat of August. In fact, I don't know about where you guys fish, but in Indiana August is one of the better months for wipers. They just don't seem to care much about the higher water temperatures.

 

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Toothfish, I saw on the Iowa DNR site today that you have two bodies of water with wipers in Iowa: one the river and the other is an impoundment. I am assuming your son caught that bully in the impoundment. How deep is that body of water--overall?

Where I fish them in Indiana, the lake is about 10,000 acres and the depth for the most part is generally shallow, maybe 16-30 feet for the most part.

Also, I don't see downriggers on you craft. When you were trolling, were you working the flats near shore? That is a good strategy in my area. Just wondered if it worked about the same out west.

 

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It is a group, but it is a limited group. Last year on one of the sites I read about a guy who caught what he thought was a record wiper. He measured it and did everything but wieigh the thing and he was, as an afterthought, looking for anyone who had a length to weight scale for wipers. Last I heard, he was still looking for it. Lesson: weigh them. I was astonished when I started weighing the fish on digital scale who little they weighed relative to the fight they put up. I was thinking I was catching ten pounders, but I was weighing three and four pounders. It was a real eye opener.

My guess on the fish sitting in the measuring device is over 3 pounds buy not yet four. Since they (statistically) grow 3 lbs. on average annually, that fish is about two years old. Just a guess.

Good luck in '07 with your wiper fishing. If your son was not an avid fisherman before he took his first wiper, I'm sure he is now. My son (now nearly 30 years old) never caught a wiper until a couple of years ago. Needless to say, his is counting the moments until he catches his next one. There's no telling what might have happenend to his life if he'd taken one of those vermits in his teen years.

 

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That may work. I was absolutely amazed when I started weighing my fish on a digital scale. For a year or so I thought I was catching 10+ pounders. People would see the fish and ask if it was an 11 or 12 pounder. I figured it was in the ten pound range, and like all wipers, it gave every indication on the end of the line that it was heavier than that. When I started weighing them, I found that most of my fish were about 4.5 pounds, though they occasionally got larger than 8 pounds and 6 punders were no uncommon. Now, my goal for the past two years has been to break the 10 pound mark, and despite fishing in a large, clean lake with lots of forage, and fishing at least once a week, 8.5 pounds is my largest. I am confident I will break that mark this year. I got a copy of the stocking report for the lake over the past 10 years, and I'm pretty sure that elusive fish is in there in spades. Weigh them. You'll be surprised.

 

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Test it with a gallon of water. YOu can Google the weight, but if I recall it is about 8.33 pounds. Hope that is helpful.

 

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That is a gorgeous fish! I don't know about Iowa, but a fish that size is a rare catch here, although our state record is, if remember right, 22 pounds, anything over ten pounds is a rare fish.