Okoboji’s volleyball team kicked off the 2023 season at the Spencer Early Bird Tournament held Tuesday, Aug. 22. The tournament was originally slated to be held at the Spencer Fieldhouse, but was moved to Okoboji High School in Milford because of extreme heat.

The Pioneers went 1-2 at the tournament, earning a 2-0 victory over South O’Brien and falling 2-0 to Algona and 2-1 to Spencer.

Spirit Lake had its back against the wall in the football season opener at Algona last Friday. The Indians, after trailing 15-0 at the half, outscored the star-studded Bulldogs 30-7 in the second half of a 30-22 road victory. This week, the fourth-ranked Indians will square off with Sioux Center. The Warriors are coming off of a hard-fought Week 1 loss to third-ranked West Lyon last Friday.

Okoboji showed potential in its Week 1 matchup with North Union. The Pioneers, in their first game under the direction of co-head coaches Eric Clouse and Nick Mulder, were a drive away from earning a season-opening victory over the Warriors.

This week, they’ll face a Pocahontas Area team that’s also coming off of a loss. The Indians fell 34-14 to South Central Calhoun in Week 1. This is the first meeting between these two football teams in at least a decade.

Last week, Harris-Lake Park played the defending state champions close for more than a half. While the Wolves would have preferred to have earned an upset win over Remsen St. Mary’s, a hard-fought loss should give them confidence heading into this week’s matchup with Rockford.

Spirit Lake’s volleyball team opened the 2023 season at a tournament hosted by Humboldt on Saturday, Aug. 26. The Indians went 1-4 overall on the day. They earned a 2-0 win over Grand View Christian but fell 2-1 to Humboldt and No. 11 (2) South Hardin, and 2-0 to Fort Dodge and No. 6 (2A) Kuemper Catholic.

Terry Wilts recently received the Ace Cory Conservation Award at the Okoboji Protective Association’s annual meeting on Saturday, Aug. 12. The award was presented by OPA board member and Executive Director of the Iowa Lakes Laboratory, Mary Skopec.

As the summer winds down and fall begins, anglers should start thinking about some fall fishing strategies. Fishing opportunities for a wide variety of fish are abundant in the fall across North America.  

In many areas, crappies are the primary target. Crappies are fun to catch and they’re great on the table. If you keep a couple of ideas in mind you should be able to have outstanding crappie action until ice covers the lake.

The bluegill bite, which has been so consistent for the past couple of months on West Okoboji, always seems to change. It seems like from mid-August until mid to late-September, the bluegills are deep and on the move.

The DNR State Forest Nursery is gearing up for fall 2023 and spring 2024 seedling orders.

Seedlings can be ordered Sept. 1 - May 30. The bare-root (no container, soil root ball or moss included) seedlings are packaged in bundles of 25 inside sealed and labeled plastic bags.

Harris-Lake Park will square off with defending state champion Remsen St. Mary’s when the Wolves kick off the football season Friday night in Remsen. The Hawks have won each of the last six meetings between the two teams. The Wolves’ last victory came on Sept. 9, 2016, when they earned a 49-14 win en route to a championship game appearance and a runner-up finish in Cedar Falls.

A non-district matchup between Okoboji and North Union has become a bit of a tradition each fall, but this year’s Pioneers will have a new coaching staff and a new look when they travel to take on the Warriors in Armstrong to open the football season this Friday.

The Pioneers have lost back-to-back meetings to the Warriors. They fell 39-0 last season and 21-20 the previous year. Okoboji’s last win over North Union was a 17-13 victory at home on Sept. 4 2020.

Spirit Lake, coming off of a 10-win season and a quarterfinal appearance a year ago, kicks off its 2023 football season on the road against Algona. Over the last decade, the two teams have met five times. Spirit Lake leads the series 3-2. The Indians won the last meeting by a score of 40-17 back in 2020.

As we head into the month of August, we begin to look forward to school and fall activities starting. Sept. 1 actually kicks off two early hunting seasons — the dove season and the teal season. Let’s take a look at the dove season.

12TH YEAR OF DOVE HUNTING IN IOWA

For the past few years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made the September teal season available to Iowans. This early season runs for 16 days statewide (Sept. 1-16). According to Orrin Jones, waterfowl research biologist headquartered out of Clear Lake, the early season is timed to take advantage of the peak migration of teal through Iowa. Although all teal species are legal during this special season, blue-winged teal will be the most common in Iowa.

Anglers are catching more fish more often. Due to an abundance of magazine articles, television shows, YouTube videos, fishing seminars, and advances in technology, we’ve learned how to be more successful in our fishing.  \We’ve learned that fish do different things during different seasons.