IOWA, USA — Get your rods and reels ready!
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is partnering with MyCatch by Angler's Atlas for the third annual statewide walleye fishing challenge. The tournament runs from March 30 to June 30. The data collected throughout this challenge will go to the Iowa DNR for assessing and managing local walleye populations.
This year, the challenge has been expanded to other states across the Midwest and into Canada. It's all part of a larger fisheries research project funded by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
You can enter for free or pay a $25 entry fee. Both entry options will make you eligible for prizes, although the cash payouts are only available to those who pay for their entry.
There are $70,000 worth of prizes this year, including a prize for the person who catches the least amount of fish. The first 100 anglers that report a catch after March 30 will each get a $20 gift card to Discount Tackle.
Iowa anglers only compete against other Iowa anglers for biweekly prizes. All of the catches across the Midwest will qualify for the grand drawings at the event's conclusion. Grand prizes this year include a week-long fishing trip to Lac Seul Evergreen Lodge in Canada as well as equipment from companies such as St. Croix Rods.
You can register for the Midwest Walleye Challenge here.
Anglers use the MyCatch mobile app to compete. But never fear: your secret fishing spots stay secret!
The app keeps the exact coordinates of fisher's locations private. The DNR's fisheries biologists only receive generalized lake and river data. For example, the DNR will only know if someone is fishing in Pool 13 of the Mississippi River. Biologists won't know fisher's exact locations within the Pool. Specific catch locations from anglers are also not listed on public leaderboards.
"The data we collected the last two years is very informative and valuable, both where anglers are reporting catches and systems that do not seem to have the walleye fishing pressure we expected,” said Jeff Kopaska, DNR fisheries research biometrician. “We encourage anglers to participate in this challenge to help us align future management decisions, such as stocking priorities with angler desires and expectations."
Data collected from the first two years of the challenge directly lead to changing walleye regulations near Davenport and Bellevue as well as across Northern Iowa along the Mississippi River.
"Now we're seeing better fishing and better fisheries up there," Kopaska said. "We're also learning a lot about some of our lakes and rivers and what the anglers are doing."
You can learn more about the data collected from the first two years of the walleye challenge, along with incentives new to 2024 through this DNR video.
Kopaska joined The Current on News 8 to discuss how the Iowa DNR uses the data collected from this tournament. You can catch the full interview in the above video.
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