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Besides the damage this year’s drought has had on crops and on some cities’ water supply in west central Iowa, it’s also worsened fishing conditions for anglers.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Jeremy King tells Raccoon Valley Radio the lack of precipitation in the last few months has caused areas of water to become very stagnant with blue-green algae blooms across the state, “And I’ll be honest, fishing for the last two-and-a-half months has been really, really, really bad. Those fish have kind of just gone lethargic and into survival mode, hoping for fresh water and rain. And there is not a lot of hotspots where fish are biting, and it’s slowly tapering off that way throughout the summer with the extreme hot days we had for weeks on end.”

King adds that there is still a chance to catch some smallmouth bass in local areas like the Middle Raccoon River south of Lake Panorama, it just might take more work. He also encourages anglers to remember to show kindness and respect towards others by keeping six-feet away from others not in your household.