Hot Walleye Lake/River 2007??

So where is the open water fishing going to be hot this 2007 Season? Make a vote for one Lake and one River system. Either by sheer numbers of keeper fish, or large fish taken. When i’m talking in numbers, i’m fish that would meet the size requirements for the body of water being fished. We all know youcan go to Big Creek and catch more 10-13″ eyes than you can handle.

My lake vote goes for Spirit Lake. With the amount of fish that came out of there last year, i can see some carry over into this year…hopefully.

My river vote goes for the Cedar River here in NE iowa. This river seems to get thicker with eyes each year, and has plenty of good sized eyes.

Most every walleye lake or river is hot at one time or another during the course of a year. In Iowa it is hard to beat the Mississippi for walleye both in numbers and size. Iowa’s inland rivers have also become good walleye waters. The Wapsi can be an unbelieveable walleye river especially the stretch between Independance and Delhi. I had a DNR person tell me several years ago that the best kept secret walleye river in Iowa was the Upper Iowa River. At the time he told me the average size of the fish caught was well over the legal size limit with several fish in the 20″ plus range. Another inland river that does not get much pressure is the Turkey. I have talked to people who have caught unbelieveable numbers of walleye out of the Turkey primarily in the stretch from Clermont to Elkader. The Maquoketa has produced some nice fish with at least one that I know of exceeding 10Lbs caught at Maquoketa a couple years back. The smaller rivers are all stocked with walleye and the DNR says they do not reproduce in these smaller rivers. The DesMoines River is always a good bet for finding walleye. I believe the state record walleye comes from the DesMoines. Here on the eastern side of the state there aren’t any walleye lakes to speak of but you can find walleye in just about every river.

Eyehunter

I have had alot of success on the Upper Iowa River below the dam in Lime Springs for walleyes and the Turkey River below the dam at Cresco. Numerous fish caught at the 17 to 20 inch range!