Iowa River-Coralville Tube

Anyone been out? Trying to decide on where to fish tomorrow afternoon/eve. The flow was down around 7,500 the other day-still rippin, but less than it had been.

Part of me wants to jig/lindy rig along the dam in Macbride at night, but I think I am just attacking windmills, as far as the walleye in that lake go.

Joe

walleyes are hard to come by right now but the white bass are going pretty good at the tube. this week things will happen with the warm temps forecast. i just don’t know if the walleyes spawned or not in the first warmup. i caught males that were milking and then it cooled way down. so, they’re either absorbing their eggs or still looking to spawn. i’d guess it’s over but not sure. at least the males should go again soon. i’ll post if i hit the river this week.

I did OK on Macbride this evening–seven or eight crappies and a Macbride bluegill. Two of the crappies went 10″ and 11″; the rest were the 6″ white crappie of which there seem to be a lot this year.

No walleye, but I have had spotty success with spring walleye on Macbride in the past. FWIW, I have found that traditional Minnesota-style lake walleye tactics are pretty much worthless on Macbride. I strongly suspect the key to understanding Macbride walleye is in the shad population and the way they behave, but I have not nailed a consistent pattern on them. If anyone has, I would be happy to hear about it… I have caught just enough Macbride walleye to *think* I am on to some things, but not enough to make any conclusions about them.

The Iowa is supposed to drop quite a bit this week (barring a lot of rain again), so I am going to hit it if I have time. Due to high water and a busy schedule, I have not fished the Iowa anywhere below the res. yet this spring.

Andy, you don’t know me but I have learned a lot in a short amount of time by paying attention to your posts. I was wondering about the walleye spawn as well. On Saturday I caught my limit of walleyes on the Wapsi. All between 15 1/2 and 19 1/2. Two were 17 1/2″ females that had not spawned but appeared to be ready within the week. The 19 1/2 was spawned out and the the others I believe to be males. My guess is that most of the females have not spawned, but I’m sure some already have. Either way, there should be a pretty hot bite all around this week.
-Fishinhawk

Hey Vike/Andy-

Rugby and I fished over at Macbride this evening. We anchored in a little cove and toyed with the crappie before trying our luck at the dam for Walter.

We got on the slope by dam; and pitched plastic til about 9:30, with maybe one hit in 90 minutes of fishing.

I don’t disagree, Vike, on your observation about “traditional” lake walleye techniques falling short in there, I only mentioned it out of sheer frustration. Both the Berringer book and the Hot Spots Fishn’ Map discuss a pattern of fishing the dam face in spring using jigs and lindy rigs. To date, I have not been able to make that pattern work.

The Mississippi is high, so MacBride seemed as good a place as any to try this evening.

Rugby and I stumbled upon a banner day at the tube about a month ago. Struck with cabin fever, we took a ride to the tube and saw guys with stringers of walleyes on the universal access pier. Of course, 2 days later when we took off work and got the boat in, the tube was wide open and the river had risen 3′.

Joe

Thanks Fishinhawk! Can you say approximately how far north of iowa city you were. Just like the ice line, you can sort of guage the water temps by latitude. I’m guessing “most” of the eyes in the iowa from the coralville res. south have spawned. but you are right, this should be a great week with fish recovering or just getting going.

Andy- I was between Anamosa and Central City.
The three I caught today were all males between 14 and 16″ kept two 16 inchers and let the 14 go for next year. That should do me for walleyes to eat for the year, so now I’m after mrs. big. 2 Years ago I had a great spot for big walleyes but the river changed and last year my hole had filled in. I’m still looking to find a spot like that again. In 4 days I was able to catch 2 5.8 lbs, 1 at 7 lbs 15 oz. and one that hangs on my wall that weighed 9lbs. 11oz. out of one little hole. I keep telling myself it will happen again someday, but who knows. Good luck this week all!!
-fishinhawk

Thanks, fishinhawk. Sounds like a nice little spot you had. What time of year did you catch those hogs and how deep was the hole?

Some walleyes are being caught now on the Iowa river below the coralville dam. My buddy got 4 nice ones last night – I didn’t make it out

Andy:

You guys still throwing/jigging plastic below the tube, or have you switched to cranks?

Joe

I was out this morning on the river in Iowa City. I caught some white bass, but not as many as I was expecting for this time of year. I also got some small channel cat and an eating-sized cat, plus a pleasant bonus of two nice crappie and an 8.5″ bluegill. No walleye, though.

1/8oz and plastic. chartreuse and brown 3″ Power baits or try chart. pepper ringies. sometimes cutting them down about an inch improves their performance. the iowa river eyes don’t readily take large baits all that often… for me anyway.

Been fishin the Iowa all over the place recently. White bass were going crazy for a while, and the past couple of days have resulted in some nice crappie and walleye/saugeye. All caught on jigs and plastics, minnows, or worms. Fish were biting below the tube and down by burlington st.

There’s a nice walleye/saugeye bite going on the Iowa below Coralville res…

For the last week I’ve had to decide between hunting for morels and walleye
fishing in my newfound spare time before and after work–I usually went with the morels since they will be gone very soon, but I hit the walleye a couple times too, with good results.