fishing reports Iowa River Fishing Reports--Johnson County

[JIvers]

The walleye bite was finally on this morning. I left one of my favorite late-spring spots on the Iowa River with a 16" and two 14" walleye on my stringer. I threw back a lot of smaller walleye, a few white bass, a small channel cat, and a carp.

Unfortunately, my camera suffered a fatal injury when I dropped it on rock, so no pictures.

No luck with crankbaits, but the walleye were hitting wild shiners really well. Crawlers produced some fish, too.

I don't have a lot of spare time in the next couple weeks, so now I have to decide whether to use it looking for morels or catching walleye.

[JIvers]

Still a very good walleye bite going by Coralville this weekend. I took home four 14"-16" fish yesterday, and threw back a lot smaller ones. I went back this morning and kept a 16" while releasing a couple of 14" walleye that I would have kept yesterday. No big females yet, but I have to think they are about recovered from the spawn here and will begin biting very soon.

I also caught a lot of crappie, but the size was disappointing. I got a bonus in my first flathead catfish of the year, even though he wasn't big by flathead standards.

Live bait was the best for walleye, with live shiners working better than crawlers. The crappie wanted hair jigs, which the cigar-sized walleye also liked. I finally picked up a few fish on crankbaits this morning, a product of the water warming up.

[JIvers]

I actually got in to a good walleye bite on the Iowa River a couple weeks ago. I took home three nice eaters between 14" and 17", and threw back a couple smaller ones. They were hitting chubs, and wanted no part of nightcrawlers or smaller shiners. I would have taken further advantage of that bite, but did not have the time.

Now the Iowa River is up, and my high water spots will be turning on once the water levels stabilize for a bit after coming up. I have a couple hours off from work scheduled in the morning for this week.

[JIvers]

A little surprise from the Iowa River yesterday morning--he pretty much destroyed the crankbait he hit:

This is the second muskie I've gotten out of the river by Coralville this year, and the larger of the two.

Aside from the bonus esox I didn't get much of anything yesterday, as the water is still a little high for the spot where I was.

This morning I pulled out a couple of small walleye and bass, along with a large carp, at a different shore-fishing spot. The water is supposed to drop on the Iowa a couple more feet this week, which should improve the fishing.

[JIvers]

Some good results on the Iowa River below Coralville, which is now at typical late-summer low water levels.

Got a 29" flathead before sunrise a couple weekends ago, and three eater walleye, the biggest 18", early this morning between fronts. Also some white bass and channel cat when I've gotten out.

[JIvers]

And it's sheepshead season, also known as September, on the Iowa River.

This time of year, if you put a crawler on the bottom near some rock you won't have to wait long for a 12" sheepshead to grab it. It is bad enough that I don't like to use crawlers much after Labor Day on the river.

I've gotten a few walleye as well on both crawlers and shiners, small sunfish, or chub, but very few channel cat or flathead. Not sure what gives there, even with the winter kill that hit the flathead hard.

I am hoping the rain pulses in the river levels get some walleye moving upstream, as the crappie bite on Coralville res. has so far been nowhere near as good as it was this time last year.

[JIvers]

Looks like an interesting week or two ahead for fishing the river here in Johnson County.

The heavy rain brought the Iowa below Coralville res. up 4' in the last couple days, and we now have high water levels more typical for May and June than September.

My usual fall spots for walleye and wiper are now unfishable/underwater, but my late spring/early fall high water spots will be in good shape for fishing the next couple weeks, and we are still in late summer patterns as far as the fish are concerned.

[JIvers]

I got in to a good walleye and channel cat bite last weekend in one of my summer high-water spots. No big fish, but lots of them.

I caught five or six walleye between 12" and 16". All but one came on live shiners and chubs. The other came on a crawler.

Once a walleye or small wiper (more of them in a bit) mangled and smashed a minnow, I put them back in the water and usually would have a channel cat hit it in a minute or two. No big channel cat, but lots of them.

Meanwhile, anything I put in the water would get hit by 4" wipers in short order. This was downstream of Coralville res., so I am guessing a good number of this year's wiper stocking there made their way downstream with the high water.

The river levels are dropping now, so I may be switching to more traditional fall walleye and wiper spots soon.

[JIvers]

The fall white bass run has started on the Iowa River. I got in to quite a few white bass this morning. Most hit on shiners and chubs, but a few smacked the crawler I had out.

The sheepshead were going crazy right at sunrise to the point I almost stopped fishing a crawler, but then they stopped hitting and the white bass turned on. I would get two or three white bass in a minute or two, and then the school would move on.

As a bonus, I caught two eater walleye and a 16" saugeye. There was some discussion of the IDNR no longer stocking them in Coraville res., but this is the second or third saugeye I have seen this year, so there are still some around.

[JIvers]

I got in to the best white bass bite I've had in a while on Sunday morning. From sunrise to about 9:00 AM I had fish hitting my baits about as fast as I could put them in the water. I also threw back three small walleye and a bonus 25" muskie.

The funny thing about this bite was the location and bait preference. Saturday morning I waded right up below the dam at Burlington Street in Iowa City and tossed crankbaits for over an hour. That produced one wiper, one white bass, and a dink walleye. Usually by this time of year with these water levels that is the place and method to catch lots of fish. Not on Saturday.

Sunday morning I moved back downstream to the more summer-ish spots where I'd done well the previous weekends, and brought live bait with me. That was the ticket. What was even odder was that the white bass preferred the few nightcrawlers I had left over the wild shiners I brought with me, although they hit those too. The crawler bite is normally done by now, and the fish right up to the tailwaters. The rain and increase in water level last week, along with the warm weather we had, may explain why the fish were still in summer patterns.

[JIvers]

More eating-sized walleye out of the Iowa River, along with a bunch of white bass. The rain last week brought the water up about three feet, and the fish moved in to a large current break that is pretty much a sure thing at these river levels during the summer months. It was pretty good this weekend, too, but now the flow is back down to about normal for October.

[JIvers]

I was told people have been taking some nice walleye out of the Iowa River this past week, but did not have a chance to check it out until yesterday morning, when I went out for a bit below Burlington Street. I was also told a few nice wiper and white bass had started to show up below the dam there, so I figured that even if the walleye/saugeye have started their spawn, or were not hungry, I would at least get some white bass. Nope.

I did not get a single fish in two hours. Maybe a nibble/missed hit or two, but no fish. Water levels have been very low for early spring, and we had a weather front blow through the Coralville area, so I am going to write off this dud of a trip to fickle early spring fishing.

[JIvers]

I did a little better on the river this morning--I came way with a 14" walleye and a couple of white bass.

The walleye did not have any milt in it, but it could have been an immature female rather than an adult male. I forgot to bring my thermometer both mornings, but I suspect the walleye are spawning now in southeast Iowa, if they are not mostly done.

A couple weeks and some higher water and the fishing for walleye should improve around Iowa City. The white bass will make things funner.

[JIvers]

Things have picked up a bit on the Iowa River, but the multi-species bite is not what it should be for the middle of April.

The sheepshead have shown up, a sure sign of spring, and I caught a few white bass this weekend, along with my first channel cat of the year. The water was muddier than normal due to the rain, so I was not surprised that everything I caught came on crawlers rather than minnows. No post-spawn walleye, although I expect to start seeing them very soon around Coralville.

I am hoping the rain brings the river up a bit, which should get more fish moving upstream.

[JIvers]

This has not overall been the best late spring of fishing for me on the Iowa this year. I never got in to any fish-a-minute days of white bass fishing, no great (by southern Iowa standards) walleye fishing, and I've not caught many channel catfish yet. I blame the lower water levels, but who knows. It could just be me. 

There have been bright spots. I've gotten some eating-sized walleye, such as the 16" pictured that I caught a few mornings ago. I've also gotten a few of flathead catfish. My first flattie for 2015 is pictured below. 

I've also been catching a lot of these strange bronze bass, sometimes with red eyes, that jump a lot when they're hooked. Whatever could they be? 

[JIvers]

I did not have a lot of success on the Iowa River this past summer, whether I was looking for walleye or flathead. With fall here, I decided to see if the white bass/wiper and walleye bite was picking up below the dams.

No white bass or wiper at all this morning, which I found a little surprising, but I did pick up one nice eater walleye, and a bonus 32" musky. The pictures show what they hit on. 

[JIvers]

I have not put a line in the water since October. Between deer hunting in Minnesota, work, and high water on the rivers in southeast Iowa I literally never went fishing in November this year.

With no ice to be seen anywhere near here I am going out tomorrow morning on one of my favorite high water spots for walleye on the Iowa River. Whether it will hold fish in December, much less whether they will bite, remains to be seen, but the river is definitely high enough to push them there.

[JIvers]

I have not put a line in the water since October. Between deer hunting in Minnesota, work, and high water on the rivers in southeast Iowa I literally never went fishing in November this year.

With no ice to be seen anywhere near here I am going out tomorrow morning on one of my favorite high water spots for walleye on the Iowa River. Whether it will hold fish in December, much less whether they will bite, remains to be seen, but the river is definitely high enough to push them there.

If the fish were there, they weren't biting. 

I had a couple of twitches that may have been nibbles at the live minnows I was using, or they may have been shad running in to my line. 

No ice-fishing for me next weekend, either, and while the Mississippi is starting to drop in Iowa it is still too high for my taste. I may go out and try somewhere else on the Iowa if the water level lowers a bit. Otherwise, I'm waitng for decent ice within decent driving distance.

[JIvers]

The near-constant rain made this a less-than-great summer for fishing on the Iowa River, and fall is not shaping up any better. Still hoping some of my high water walleye spots work well in October.

[JIvers]

The walleye have been MIA on the Iowa River around Coralville this fall. It is not the high water, I don't think--high water spots that have worked great in the past have not produced any walleye for me this year. Not much luck for white bass and wiper, either.

 

What I have gotten in to the last couple weeks is a nice smallmouth and spotted bass bite, of all things. This is in one of my spots that seldom produced black bass in the past with water levels where they are now. No huge fish, but lots of smallies and spots up to 15" or so. Also a lot of the 6" black crappies that seem to be everywhere on Lake Macbride and the Iowa River this fall.