I moved to Marshalltown in the summer of 1999 to pursue my career as a teacher after graduating from UNI. I thought I would teach here for a couple of years and then get back to my roots in Northeast Iowa. I grew up in Independence and love the area for many reasons, fishing the rivers of course is one of them, but family is there and we all know that is the most important thing in life. Well, here I am 17 years later packing up my family to finally move back to our hometown of Independence. Marshalltown has been a great place to live, obviously sense it kept me here for 15 years longer than planned!

I write this with a heavy heart, as Marshalltown has been a great place to raise a family, work in the public school system, create a lot of great friends and be close to so many outdoor adventures. Moving to the Marshalltown as a young 23 year-old taught me many things, as for fishing, it taught me that I better learn how to fish lakes, which are much different from where I learned to fish. I dove head first into the Tri-County Bass Club and started to learn from some of the best area anglers through their competitions. I had my first boat by the spring of 2000 and I would go to an area lake as often as I could to test what I knew about fishing against these “lake bass”. It didn’t take long to realize that fishing the Mississippi River and fishing small Central Iowa lakes had a learning curve … a big curve. It took a few lessons, and quite a few bad days of fishing, but I have always said in life, “learn from your mistakes”.

Learn I did, and I have a collection of trophies for my accomplishments, but the best times fishing seem to be the ones where money or a trophy wasn’t on the line, and there were no time limits, just enjoying the outdoors with friends outnumber the trophies in my life.

I learned a lot about fishing living here in Central Iowa, and have had countless opportunities to try different lakes, something that I never had growing up. I have come to appreciate lakes and what they have to offer to outdoors people, and it didn’t take all 17 years to figure that out!

I have made countless trips to Hickory Grove Lake, Rock Creek Lake, Union Grove Lake, the Pine Lakes, the Marshall County Lakes, and town ponds, fishing for bass, panfish and ice fishing, and I will miss them greatly. The southwest Iowa lakes such as 12-Mile, West Lake, Green Valley, and Little River are now a long drive from where I will be living, and yes … I will miss them too. However, I’m going home to where I learned to fish on the Wapsipinicon River, and I will be a short drive to one of the best bass fishing areas in the country, the Mississippi River.

I have spent almost half my life here in Marshalltown and look back now to think how lucky I was to live, work and enjoy the outdoors in this part of the state. I also hope that I have educated many people in this area through this column each week and chatting with folks around the community. Through the many emails and questions I get from people around the state, I know that I have helped a few people catch a few more fish and appreciate the great outdoors a little more … this I take pride in.

A few parting words; Take care of your parks, lakes and rivers and they will reward you. When ice fishing, “no ice is safe ice.” If you think you know everything about fishing, you have a lot to learn. I make it a point to learn something new each and every time out. The outdoors can teach people so much about life, but hopefully it teaches us all to slow down, breathe in the air and enjoy this journey called life.

—

Contact Todd Reed at treedbass@yahoo.com and visit www.fishingwithtoddreed.com