I went out today and caught this Walleye. It was one of the bigger ones I’ve caught this year. There are several ponds back near “the Y.” The best way to get back here is to park on Beaver Ave in Johnston just over the bridge from Des Moines and walk along the levy. The trail right now was fairly overgrown near the street, but once I got in it wasn’t too bad.  I always have a fair amount of luck bouncing a worm on the bottom here. Sometimes I pull in a few little wipers too. There was another guy here today or I would’ve probably tried a little harder for them. He was bitching about last time he was here the guys before him left quite a bit of garbage.  So I thought I’d remind you to quit shitting where you live. Especially if the place you are fishing is about 3/4 a mile from the nearest road. No one is going to come up here and clean up your shit. Its just going to be sitting there next time you come fishing there. Littering is the kind of bush league stuff that ensures farm pond owners will be kicking you off their land. So please try to leave with whatever you bring fishing, its just common courtesy. I’m not going to rant anymore, but the guy had a point.

The Des Moines River near the Center Street Dam in downtown Des Moines during the rescue yesterday

A construction worker dangles from a crane, his arm stretched out to reach a terrified woman trapped in swirling water at the base of a dam. These astonishing images show the dramatic rescue of the woman after her boat overturned near the dam on the Des Moines River in Iowa. She was pulled to safety by the quick-thinking construction crew – but her husband, who was with her in the boat when it overturned yesterday, tragically drowned.

Jason Oglesbee

The heroic Jason Oglesbee, a construction worker working in the area pulled the woman to safety.

“I saw the boat drift down, and he started it up and he hit the bridge base,” construction worker Joe Lowe told local media. ‘”Then he tried to wrap it up with an anchor or line and then I heard him holler at his wife, put your life jacket on. He didn’t have one on.”

The unnamed husband’s concern for his wife may have saved her life. Her life jacket kept her afloat in the swirling waters of the river for up more than half an hour as construction worker Jason Oglesbee battled to reach her. Des Moines police Sgt. Joe Gonzalez said the workers saw the woman floating in a boil and they tried to move a crane over to her. Meanwhile, fire crews tried to throw life preservers from a boat.

Construction worker Jason Oglesbee dangled from a crane and saved the drowning woman in the Des Moines River yesterday

Emergency crews said it is likely the woman would have drowned had it not been for the construction crew’s heroic rescue operation. Clutching life preservers thrown to her by rescue services, the woman struggles to stay afloat near the dam before the rescue.  After the initial attempt with the crane was unsuccessful, the construction company rigged up Oglesbee to the crane with a harness and Oglesbee was able to grab the woman from the water.

‘They just harnessed me in and dipped me down in the water and I grabbed her,’ he said. When asked if he volunteered to be rigged to the crane, Oglesbee said he just happened to be wearing the harness. “‘I just told her to hang on tight. I won’t let go,” Oglesbee recalled.

Oglesbee is lowered to the water by the crane

The Des Moines River near the Center Street Dam in downtown Des Moines during the rescue yesterday He insisted the rescue was a team effort and was reluctant to talk to media, saying: “It’s no big deal. The whole crew did it. If it wasn’t for the team effort of Cramer & Associates, we might have two drowning victims,” Gonzalez said.

The body of the man, who was in his 60s, was pulled from the water about 25 minutes after the boat overturned at 4pm yesterday afternoon. The woman was pulled from the water at 4.35pm and rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced stable last night.

The body of the man, who was in his 60s, was pulled from the water about 25 minutes after the boat overturned at 4pm yesterday afternoon.

The Des Moines River near the Center Street Dam in downtown Des Moines during the rescue yesterday

Saylorville Spillway

I started the day out fishing here @ the Saylorville Spillway. It didn’t take long for me to get extremely frustrated. First, I cast out and my line went completely out…. so I had to restring my line in the field. Which was disappointed. There was a lot of water coming out of the spillway which made the river’s current move pretty fast. I didn’t stick around too long in this area because the current was just too strong for the fishing I wanted to do. I could’ve gone further down but I figured I could just try my luck at the lake.

Saylorville Lake - Lakeview Boat Launch

I fished here for several hours, running everything from crankbaits, poppers, spinners and buzz baits. Nothing worked. There was a fair amount of boat traffic there which could have been part of the problem.

Saylorville Lake - Lakeview Boat Ramp

There were a LOT of carp swimming around, since I’d had such a slow day fishing, I thought I’d try snagging a few carps.

Carp in Saylorville Lake

4/0 Treble Hook for Snagging

There were about 100-150 carp all swimming on the surface in very shallow (1-2 ft) of water from about 5-6:45pm. The entire end of that bay was filled. So I pulled out my treble hook. I managed to actually snag one but it go off before I could land it. I couldn’t get them to bite at my floating jig head or a worm on bottom, which was rather diappointing.

A rather boring day fishing, but I had a good time all the same. I mean, I was out fishing at least and the weather was great!