Northwest Iowa guide John Grosvenor shows off a trophy smallmouth bass caught in West Lake Okoboji. Grosvenor says the smallmouth population here is on the upswing, and the average fish size is trending upward. Photo courtesy of Dan Anderson.

The world-famous Berkley tackle company is based nearly at the geographic center of the Iowa Great Lakes.

Professional anglers and the hosts of big-time television fishing shows frequently visit Berkley's headquarters for business reasons. Those well-traveled anglers often hit the waters of nearby West Lake Okoboji or Big Spirit Lake to experiment with Berkley tackle or simply have fun while they're in the area. Mike Hawkins, an Iowa Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist based at Spirit Lake, says those jaded professionals often leave the area truly impressed.

"I've been told some well-known professional anglers and TV personalities made return trips to fish for smallmouth bass because they were so impressed with the size and numbers of smallmouths they caught on their first visit," said Hawkins. "There aren't many lakes in the Midwest that can do better for size and numbers of smallmouths than what we've got here."

If professional anglers who can fish anywhere in the United States choose to travel to northwest Iowa to fish for smallmouths, the fishing must be exceptional.

All indicators agree. The current state-record smallmouth bass -- a 7-pound, 12-ounce, 22 3/4-inch trophy specimen -- came from West Okoboji, and smallmouths from West Okoboji and Big Spirit Lake figure prominently in the IDNR's annual Big Fish Awards.

Hawkins has personally experienced the region's potential. While a thin, post-spawn 22-incher from West Okoboji is his longest smallmouth to date, his heaviest smallmouth was a 19 1/2-inch bronzeback he caught off Cottonwood Point on Big Spirit Lake. That fish tipped the scales at nearly 5 1/2 pounds before it went back into the lake.

Hawkins' said his catch-and-release policy when fishing for smallmouths at the Iowa Great Lakes mirrors other anglers in the area. "Our creel surveys show almost 90 percent catch-and-release for legal smallmouths in this region (minimum legal size is 15 inches)," he said.

"That's exceptional. Our anglers have really bought into the concept, and I believe that the high catch-and-release rate is one reason we have such a strong population of legal- and larger-size fish."

WEST LAKE OKOBOJI
John Grosvenor is a professional fishing guide (712-330-5815, www.fishokoboji.com) on West Lake Okoboji and is very familiar with the lake's smallmouth potential. "We catch a lot of smallmouths up to 19 1/2 inches," he said. "I'm not surprised by 20-inchers anymore, and last year I had clients put three smallmouths bigger than 21 inches in the boat."

Grosvenor focuses on rocks when searching for smallmouths in West Okoboji. He acknowledged that Pillsbury Point, Fort Dodge Point, Gull Point and other major rocky points are prime spots for smallmouths, but he said, "Everybody else knows that, too. They are great places to fish, but between the fishing pressure and all the recreational boat traffic zooming around those areas, I prefer to fish other places."