Lake Belva Deer

(A sign reads “Belva Deer County Park, Keokuk County Conservation Board”)

[Abby Brown] Today I'm going out to do a little fishing on this peaceful lake in southeast Iowa. Wish me luck.

(Map marking Keokuk County in southeastern Iowa.)

This is Lake Belva Deer in Sigourney. It's a manmade lake that's as big as about 197 football fields put together. A visit to this lake is like a vacation. It's so pretty. But underneath the water, adventure awaits. Fish!

All right. I really want to catch a fish. And my friend is a ranger, and he knows everything there is to know about catching fish in this lake. So what do I need to do with this to catch a fish?

[Park Ranger] Okay, first you're going to cast it. That's the button release. Okay. When you press it in. Now when you open press it's going to let the line out. You're going to want to let go of it about halfway through your cast. Just like that.

[Abby] Oh yeah. There we go.

[Ranger] You're going to want to reel in at a steady pace to keep the lure suspended in the water and traveling.

[Abby] Okay.

[Ranger] The slower you reel, the faster the lure will sink. If you want to go deeper. The faster you reel the higher it'll travel. So you could have it almost on the top of the surface if you wanted to.

[Abby] Okay. Where are the fish?

[Ranger] Right now, with the temperature, the fish are probably 6 or 8 feet down. See that fish right there?

[Abby] Oh, I almost got one. I think I have a bite.

[Ranger] Either have a bite or you might be stuck.

[Abby] Oh, oh, I'm stuck. Oh, there we go. So just do it again.

[Ranger] Yeah.

[Abby] All right.

[Ranger] Fishing takes a lot of patience.

[Abby] Hurry up and wait, right? So what kind of fish might I catch today?

[Ranger] We have all of the classics. We've got largemouth bass. We have crappie, sunfish, red ears. We have bluegill. And they all spawn naturally in this lake. Fish that don't spawn naturally here are walleye. And we have that stocked by the DNR every two years.

[Abby] Okay. This is very peaceful. I see why people like this. This lake was made for fishing, right? By people?

[Ranger] Yes. This is a manmade lake centered around fishing. It's flooded timber which you can see the trees.

[Abby] Yeah. I've never seen a lake like this before with those trees sticking out.

[Ranger] Well, that's mainly because this is the flooded timber. Every winter as this lake ages, more and more fall.

[Abby] What do you love about coming out to the lake?

[Ranger] I love that you can just get out and do your own thing. There's really no agenda here. It's always fun to catch fish.

[Abby] Yeah.

[Ranger] There's plenty of frogs to chase.

[Abby] Oh. That's fun.

[Ranger] A lot of cool wildlife out here.

[Abby] Every county in Iowa offers great opportunities to get outdoors in nature. And in Keokuk County, you can dedicate a day specifically to fishing.

Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by The Coons Foundation, Pella and the Gilchrist Foundation.