Bellevue Lock and Dam Fishing Reports

[JIvers]

I got up at 5:00 this morning to haul my boat up to Bellevue to fish below the lock and dam. The ninety-five mile drive was easy, what with visions of walleye and sauger practically jumping in my boat. Warm weather, steady water levels, forty-degree water temps, fish that yesterday morning had not seen a hook since November 30--it seemed like a sure thing.

I fished for four hours, and never had a strike. Of the estimated fifty boats out there, I saw three or four decent walleye or sauger caught, three or four smaller walleye or sauger, one Northern, one channel cat, and a decent-sized Rainbow trout. (Yes, it was definitely a Rainbow, not a Brownie.) The guys I talked to who had been out opening day said it was really slow then, too. Well, at least the weather was nice.

I got back to Coralville (the ninety-five miles back was longer than the drive there), stowed away all my gear, and decided to go fish a small pond five minutes from my house. All the gear I needed was carried in a satchel. An hour later I had ten nice bluegill and two nice crappie in my bucket, plus some smaller stuff I threw back. Guess I should have stayed in bed and got some work done this morning.

[FishNightmare]

Next time go up to dubuque they were hitting that day really good at dark. Sorry it didnt work out and better luck next time. Latley though the fishing has slown down since this weekend but hopefully it picks up again soon

[JIvers]

I finally got my boat up to Bellevue to fish for walleye and sauger this fall, two days before the tailwaters there are closed to fishing for the winter. Between work, bad weather, and deer hunting, I have not spent near the time on the Mississippi that I would have liked this fall.

I was on the water from 8:30 to 12:30, and boated a few small sauger vertical jigging. I did pull up and release a bonus 30" Northern, so that made up for the rather slow walleye/sauger bite. I saw one decent walleye caught, and some other small sauger, but no one seemed to have a really hot boat today. My Northern came out of 24', and the sauger 25-28'.

[JIvers]

I made my first trip in over two years to the tailwaters of Lock and Dam # 12 at Bellevue today. I'd heard the walleye and sauger bite was sketchy there, and better at Guttenberg, but the Bellevue tailwaters are a little more user-friendly for a small boat like mine, so I gave them a chance.

I got on the water at 8:00 AM, and left the water at 1:00 with four eating-sized sauger, the biggest 15", in my bucket.

It was a streaky sort of bite: I would figure out something the fish liked, catch ten small fish and one eater in twenty minutes, and then that would die down, and I’d catch two or three fish in the next hour before I hit the right combo. Then I’d get eight or ten more dinks in twenty minutes, and the process would repeat itself.

The fish were hitting shallower early, and then moved deeper as the sun rose—no surprise there. Oystershell ringworms were the first fad, next a minnow on a red and white bucktail jig, then as it got brighter a chartreuse bucktail tipped with a minnow, and finally a minnow on a bare chartreuse hook.

If I’d stayed for the evening bite I’d have probably limited out, but I didn’t bring any food out with me, and I had other things to do today.

I think my next outing will be at Guttenberg. I’m glad the river is low and easily fishable for me this fall, as it doesn’t look like the ice will be here real soon this year.

[JIvers]

Work and other commitments have kept me from fishing much the last month or so; I did get up to Bellevue a couple weeks ago and found the bite below the lock and dam slow, so I trailered up and headed to Guttenberg...where things weren't any better.

With the cold front that just blew through Iowa yesterday evening after the rain, tomorrow may not be the best day to see if the walleye and sauger in the tailwaters are cooperating, but tomorrow is the day I can go, so I am hitting the Mississippi. I've done good in the fall under these conditions before, and the water levels make fishing easy, so I am hoping tomorrow is a productive day.

[JIvers]

Never mind about the trip to Bellevue today.

Too cold in the morning, and too much to do around here today.

Maybe this weekend...

[JIvers]

FINALLY.

I made it to Bellevue today, and had my best day of fishing in two months. It was not a great day, but it was a good day.

I hit the water a before noon, and went with a hair jig fished vertically, with a live minnow on a trailer. I quickly caught three sauger, with the biggest of those being a 14". Then I had a drought, which proved to be the pattern all day for me and the other boats I talked to. I would catch three or four fish in five minutes, then go twenty minutes without a fish. At one point I ended a half-hour drought with a sauger and under-size walleye doubling up on my rig.

If there was a bait of the day for me, it was the minnow on a trailer. The old reliable chartreuse hair jigs and minnows on floating jigs accounted for most of the rest. I tried dragging ringworms and twister tails, but that got no interest at all.

I caught a lot of small sauger and 12" walleye; I also caught some small (none were over 6") yellow perch. Here is a picture of one of the dwarf perch:

Two things I did not catch today were yellow bass and white bass, something one other boat commented on as well. A few years ago the yellows and whites were a nuisance at Bellevue in the fall, but not today, and I was told few have been seen there in the last month.

I ended up keeping four sauger. Here are two that were in good shape for a picture--the others two were in that 13"-14" range as well:

Not the best day, but the weather was nice, and I caught a lot of fish, even if none of them were large, so it was still a good day.

I may make it up to Bellevue or Guttenberg next week, depending on the weather, and then hopefully I can put the boat away and hit the ice.

[JIvers]

I made it to Bellevue again today--things were slower at the tailwaters than a week ago.

I caught a 13" sauger on a minnow trailer not five minutes in to fishing, and thought I was looking at another decent day, if not a good day. Turned out that 13" sauger was the highlight of the trip.

In the next two and a half hours, I boated two small sauger, and a couple 5" perch. That was it. I saw a couple other small fish caught by other boats, but they weren't doing any better than I. I decided things weren't going to get any better, so I trailered my boat and headed home in the afternoon.

There was a good deal more grass and trash in the water than there was a week ago, and I think there was a more water coming through the roller on the east end. Today was the best, if not only, day for me to go to the Mississippi in a week, but if I had my choice I would have waited a few days for the weather to stabilize after the temperatures dropped yesterday.

Looking for fish downstream from the lock and dam might be productive, too, but I don't know that stretch of river at all, and don't really have the time to learn it. So, if things are off right below the dam like they were today I'm pretty much out of luck.

I may make it back to Bellevue or Guttenberg once or twice more before we finally get some ice to fish on, or I may not. Hopefully not, if it means I am ice-fishing around Iowa City, but I'm not winterizing the boat just yet.

[FishNightmare]

Anyone doing any good on sauger and walleyes? They biting on artificial or just bait?

[JIvers]

And, a fishing report for the Bellevue tailwaters--an ice-fishing report.

I was told people were fishing on the ice below the dams at Bellevue, Dubuque, and Guttenberg, so I headed up that way today and fished below lock and dam # 12 for about three hours. The ice was in very good shape, with about 10" where I drilled, and ice going up almost to the rollers:

One guy ventured almost to the head of the locks, and said the ice was fine all the way there. I was also told some people had crossed the channel to fish the first wing dam below the gates on the east side, but with fresh snow I couldn't see if this was true.

An older fisherman told me he had not seen ice like this at Bellevue since 1979; quite a few locals had to stop and look at us from the parking lot. I took a picture of two people taking a picture of me, although you can't really see that in the photo:

As for the fishing...it was pretty slow. I quite a few small saugers, including the 10" saugeye-ish looking fish:

I had a couple hit firetiger Jigging Raps, and a couple hit a minnow on a deadstick. No one else I talked to did any better, although I did see one 17"-ish walleye come up. I doubt that ice will last long, but if it does I hope the bite is better if I head back to Bellevue, or maybe to Guttenberg, next weekend.

Before heading to Bellevue I stopped at Lower Lake Sabula for an hour or so, mostly to check it out for future reference as I have heard good things about it. The bite was pretty much non-existent there, and I was told the IDNR had been there checking oxygen levels in the water. Apparently the fish there are on the verge of a winterkill. So, I will just wait to fish that until next winter.

[JIvers]

I am going to make a trip up to Dubuque tomorrow to see if the ice is still good right below the lock and dam there. If it is, and the fishing is decent, I plan on going back Sunday: maybe there, maybe Bellevue, maybe Guttenberg.

I have other stuff I could be doing, but I suspect that after this weekend it will be a long wait before I can again fish through the ice in the tailwaters at Bellevue, G-berg, or Dubuque in March.

[aanderud]

Take advantage while you can. It may be decades before it happens again, or it might be next winter!

I lived in Cedar Rapids for 4 winters from '01 to '05 and we had fishable ice every year there on the lakes, but even that was unpredictable as far as thickness. Some winters there was 20 inches to drill through and some winters only 6.