Fall Trout Fishing In Iowa

[Driftless]

Wisconsin closes its small stream season on September 30th each year. By the end of October I am going stir crazy and need a trout fix. My buddy Ducky from Iowa invited me there a couple years back. We did well on the stocker bows and Ducky did manage a nice brown in the catch and release only area south of Dorchester.

Ducky “Rich” from iowa caught this on a white marabou jig.

The holes were full of big trout but they were quite educated and it basically took throwing something they had not seen before. Ducky tipped it with a wax worm. Ducky’s white jig did the trick.

Ducky spanking some stocker bows with his jig and a wax worm.

Wooly Buggers, spinners, small stick baits, and jigs are the ticket there. I have tried spoon lures in Iowa. The holes are not deep enough and the spoons fall like rocks. Leave your spoons at home. I always take my camera along when I fish. I snap a few pictures here and there. I get a kick out of fishing reports with no pictures. I have buddy "mark" that says: "No photos...it didn't happen."

Just north of Dorchester the stream alternates between private and public and it is all put and take. On the first couple trips over there all I had ever caught were small bled out looking bows. I use to catch a couple smallish browns to keep me interested. Wisconsin was closed so any trout was better than sitting at home wishing I was fishing. It was about a one hour and fifteen minute drive from my home. The drive from Wisconsin to Iowa was beautiful. I drove up the Mississippi and crossed over at Lansing. The bluffs on both sides are really beautiful. The people in Dorchester are very friendly and give out good tips for places to fish. You Wisconsin anglers…. Escape to Iowa when Wisconsin’s season is closed. Two falls ago the itch hit me again.

I decided an early morning assault was in order so I was on the stream at first light. I still caught the same bled out bows. The bows were not very smart. They ran in to each other trying to be the first to hit my spinner. They were chunky fish in the 13 to 16 range. I fished the entire pasture twice. The cross over stile was used often and the paths was beaten down directly to any hole of interest. The stocking truck left deep ruts along the stream. You could tell exactly where the trout were dumped in. It made me yearn for the secluded streams of southwestern Wisconsin.

I was just about to leave and change areas and threw along a corner right where we had parked our vehicle. There are huge rocks in the water there and it is not terribly deep. It played out almost in slow motion. I ran my panther martin size 9 slowly so it could invoke a hit from anything hiding under the rocks. I was not expecting what happened. It freight trained out from under the rock and slammed my panther. I saw the mouth open wide. The white area I could see was huge. It was surreal because it happened so quickly…..but I saw it like it was in slow motion. The big male brown engulfed the spinner and turned in one motion. I saw blood immediately. It was flowing from its gills. My friend Rick from Wisconsin and I talked after he netted it for me. I have never seen such a big brown in Iowa. We both decided it was either a dropped off brooder or a big brown with the spawning itch that came up from the Iowa River .Iowa has some serious monsters in its streams. There was no question whether I was keeping it or not. It was almost dead upon the netting.

I took it home and froze whole. The best way to keep a trophy preserved right is to wrap it in a wet towel. You should make sure the fins are not bent over and the tail is flat. You should place the wet towel on a board and lay all of it in your freezer. You can lay it flat on bottom of freezer with nothing under it too. Do NOT leave in the freezer long or it will burn. I took the huge male Iowa Brown to the taxidermist’s the next morning. He skinned my “””26 inch male brown”” small stream Iowa male brown later that night and gave me the orange colored meat to eat on the grill. Orange colored meat means stream fed trout. Stockers or brooders typically have light pink meat and are very soft and don’t taste good. This trout’s meat was firm and it tasted wonderful. Don’t let the old wives tales about big trout tasting bad keep you from eating your big trout.

It graces my wall of my living room.

[Scudly]

Nice post Len. Go catch another one this week. If I lived closer to Iowa I would be fishing there too!

[Driftless]

weather looks a little bad for wednesday.

I might go on thursday. I don't like traveling

that far alone. Take pictures of trout in my

hand gets old really fast.