Returning Class 2A state champion Spirit Lake took another step forward with a tremendous performance at the 2023 Lakes Conference Indoor Meet held Tuesday, March 14 at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. The Indians earned 13 top-three finishes and crowned six champions on the day.

Spirit Lake’s girls track team earned 11 top-three finishes and crowned three champions at the 2023 Lakes Conference Indoor Meet held Tuesday, March 14 at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake.

First-year head coach Kyle Zankowski said he was impressed with how his team performed in the face of limited practice time.

Okoboji’s boys track team earned five top-three finishes and crowned three champions at the 2023 Lakes Conference Indoor Meet held Tuesday, March 14 at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. Okoboji coach Brad Peter said he was excited for his team — which is a member of the Siouxland Conference — to be invited to participate with the Lakes Conference schools.

Okoboji’s girls track team gained valuable experience at the 2023 Lakes Conference Indoor Meet held Tuesday, March 14 at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. The Pioneers — members of the Siouxland Conference — earned five top-three finishes and crowned one champion on the day while battling the best in the Lakes Conference.

Here we sit at the middle of March, and there is no sign that the ice is deteriorating. By the end of the month, Iowa DNR personnel from the Spirit Lake Hatchery will be targeting northern pike to collect their eggs as they move toward the shallows to spawn. According to Kim Hawkins, Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery Manager, the crews will place fyke nets in the outlets of the sloughs that flow into Big Spirit Lake at Hales Slough and Buffalo Run.

There’s still snow on the ground and ice on the lake, but the predicted rain and thunder will knock both down very quickly. Every day we’re getting closer to another season of open water fishing.  Early season fishing can be really good and sometimes it’s not as good as we’d like it to be. Here are some things you can do to get early season fish to bite at least a little bit even when they don’t want to.

The first rhythmic and haunting cooing begins as the night sky fades and sunrise begins. The short grass prairie booming grounds prepares for a display found nowhere else in Iowa.

This is prairie chicken country and April 1 will be Prairie Chicken Day at the Kellerton Wildlife Management Area, in Ringgold County. Activities originate from the viewing platform on 300th Avenue, southwest of Kellerton.

Channel catfish move close to shore and are eager to bite in many lakes and the large reservoirs across Iowa just after the ice is gone. The bite starts sooner in southern Iowa impoundments since they lose ice a week or two before northwest Iowa natural lakes.

The popular trout stream stocking season starts on April 3. Find a list of stocked trout streams on the DNR trout stream map or the DNR trout fishing webpage.

The DNR Trout Program offers Iowa anglers a variety of trout fishing opportunities, including catchable stockings, fingerling stockings, wild trout, streams with restrictive regulations, easy universal access areas and remote streams with difficult access.

After winning the inaugural Iowa High School Hockey Alliance championship a season ago, the Boji Mammoths entered the 2023 season on fire and looking to put yet another championship on ice.

The Mammoths did just that, with a dominant performance in late February at The MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex in West Des Moines. Boji outscored its three opponents by a combined score of 21-1 to claim a second straight state championship.

Spirit Lake Park girls wrestlers Aroura Preston and Cassie McKeen — both representing Buena Vista Wrestling Club — finished on the podium at the Iowa AAU Girls Junior and Senior High School State Wrestling Tournament held March 5 in Cedar Rapids.

Preston and McKeen each went 2-3 to place eighth at 102 and 107 pounds, respectively.

Okoboji’s girls track team opened the 2023 season at the Iowa Association of Track Coaches Indoor Championships held Thursday, March 9 in Ames.

The Pioneers put together several solid performances on the day, and first-year head coach Jacob Evenson was pleased with how his team competed despite having limited practice time.

Okoboji’s boys track team opened the 2023 season at the Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) Indoor Championships held Friday, March 10 at Iowa State University in Ames.

The Pioneers put together a solid showing in their first meet of the year, earning four top-five finishes and placing fifth overall in Class 2A.

Spirit Lake’s boys track team — last year’s Class 2A state champions — opened the 2023 season at the Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) Indoor Championships held Friday, March 10 at Iowa State University in Ames. The Indians – now competing in Class 3A — kicked off the season in style, earning several top-three finishes and placing fourth overall as a team.

Harris-Lake Park junior guard Payton Reimers was recently named to the Class 1A All-Northwest District basketball team by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association.