Looking to fish either Coralville or Red Rock spillways on March 13 & 14. Anybody have any info on water conditions and the bite? Need to take the boat somewhere. If all else fails all hit the Miss. somewhere. Any info is apprieciated.Water below the Dam in Nashua is High and muddy as soon as it straightens up the walleyes should be good. Thanks,JD
Went out yesterday shore fishing for a while.
Coralville Tailwaters: Water is about the color of hot chocolate, with visibility of about 2″ tops. Lots of dead shad starting to blow up into the bay on the right (looking downstream), should be a catfisherman’s paradise for the next week or so. Also lots of people netting dead shad to take home and make cut-bait for the summer.
My daughter and I spent our time drifting slip-bobbers and casting jigs. Found nothing in about an hour. Fished from where the eddy starts down around the bend.
Cedar River: Stopped and did some casting around the roller dam. Water is high, but not flooding, probably a solid foot above normal with lots of water coming over the dam. Fished above the dam just down from the old Iowa Electric intake and got nothing. Moved below the roller dam and snagged a 12″ shad and a carp that easily went 15 lbs while tossing jigs and drifting them in the current down behind the point where the river narrows. Water is the color of chocolate syrup.
Should be noted that the only ice I saw was on a farm pond, set in a valley with shade, and it was rotten enough that it’s probably gone after last night’s showers. Resevoir appears totally ice-free from Greencastle to the spillway from what I could see. Catfishermen this is the time if you’re into nonstop action in the bays on stinky dead shad (take a box of latex gloves and a cutting board and knife you plan to throw away afterward).
The flow out of Red Rock is 17,000 cfs. Plenty of water to launch a boat. I haven’t heard any fishing reports but as the water temp nears 40 degrees, the walleyes should start picking up.
I was home with a sick kid on Friday, so when naptime came, we went for a drive. Stopped down at tailwater west to see what was going on, but no fishing was had due to grouchy babies who wake up when the engine shuts off.
Water was down considerably, and a lot clearer than the last time I was down there. I would say visibility is about 10″ or a foot, which is about as good as I’ve ever seen it. There were a pile of guys shore fishing, and a pair of boats. We didn’t stick around long enough to see if anyone was catching fish.
I’ve now promised myself that as soon as the wind drops below 132mph, I’ll throw the trolling motor on and dig the batteries out of the basement. It’s time to get that thing rolling again for the summer.
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