Coralville Cats

Well, the DNR fishing report was once again… wrong. Fished Coralville yesterday from the 380 bridge down past the marina for cats. Only picked up three, two small flatheads and a nice-sized forktail. Carp wouldn’t leave the crawlers alone; caught two of them about 10lbs+.

Water is very low and completely filthy. Couldn’t see the fork in the livewell with only 6″ of water in there. The flow is really high coming into the res under the bridge, but it’s more or less at winter pool level. I was told they opened the gates in preparation to take in last Tuesday’s rain and then it hit NE. Not many rec boaters out though.

Cant be low. Corp charts page says its at 683.7 and thats 4 feet higher than a couple months ago. You been smellen or eatin too much catfish bate John.

If you fished from the 380 bridge on down, then you probably missed the best catfish fishing of all which is above the bridge, some in & some out of the channel. I agree with you though, the DNR reports are usually out dated and bogus. [ John ]

A couple months ago it was at the lowest I’ve ever seen it, though. Usually I only fish it a couple of times/year when it’s mid-summer, hotter than blazes, and I and the kid need to jump in and cool off after getting some fishing in.

When we started up by the bridge, we kept an eye on the guys to the west. Didn’t appear as though any of them were doing too hot, so we didn’t investigate further.

John, where did you put in at? Curtis bridge? Did you have any trouble there? Im startin to get the trollin again fever now that i’ve been back from Lake City for a week and a half. Was it crowded up at that end of the lake?
Trigger

Is Curtis Bridge the one about 2 miles to the west of the res that’s blocked to traffic now? I’ve been told (by an ‘eye pro, no less) that all the fish move up there in the summer, but that the shallow mud-flats make it next to impossible to navigate up that far from the main part of the resevoir, as the channel is no longer marked. Whatcha trollin’ for?

We put in at the ramp right below the 380 bridge. If you go south past Dan’s Overhead Doors and then take the next left, it leads back in there. I’d forgotten how long Coralville actually is, but it’s almost 18 miles from the interstate bridge down to the dam. That’s a lot of running in my boat!

Me and some guys from work are planning another jug-fishing adventure down there the 13th of July in the morning. Anyone is welcome to join in – I think it will be fun for the kids to chase the bottles around. We’ll probably be at the North end to avoid the heavy boat traffic.

Naw where you put in is Curtis bridge. The one west of there that is blocked off to traffic is the old Green Castle bridge. There is a ramp on both sides of the river there also. one is a concrete ramp (south side) and the one on the north side of the river is just gravel. I have put in on the North side one before. There is a large hole right on the down streem side of the old bridge. Other than that from there on down to 380 its just barren featureless flat, nothing. Makes me feel old but I can remember driving accross that old bridge back when it was open to the public. Matter of fact, A rather large Walleye broke one of my poles back then right above the bridge. That was in my Pre boat days.

If it makes you feel any better, that bridge hasn’t been closed for that long. I remember driving across it on many occasions – usually to see if the fishermen were doing well after shooting at the garbage dump down there.