fishing small rivers

Ever fish the small rivers and creeks early in the spring for walleyes and crappies. The smaller rivers and creeks around here, theres about 15 within 50 miles of me, is what i do every spring. I’ve found that a little jon boat and canoe and a small outbord or electric is the way to go. A guy can always wade fish but if you have a small boat its alot easier to just do a simple motor up and down the river. The rivers here are pretty shallow and i hardly ever open the motor up all the way. These smaller rivers are nice because its easy to see the deeper water and the gravel and sand bars that are around the holes. A real sleeper of a river is the maquoqueta river. Its dynamite for smallmouths and you get early spring walleyes plus walleyes when the water warms up. I fish this river below the railroad tressel at manchester for walleyes and catfish and i’ve gotten walleyes up to 5 pounds there. My wife is a worm and sinker fisherlady and she fishes the bottom and gets walleyes too. I had a canoe there and went downriver about a mile and theres all kinds of cuts and pools down river from manchester that hold walleyes and catfish, i’ve never caught a crappie there or a bigger smallmouth, too many catfish and walleyes i guess. Down river by camp courageous is where i smallmouth fish, when high water comes in the spring it brings the bigger smallmouths up river into the holes and as soon as the water clears is the time to go. If anyone likes to fish for catfish the upper end of the north skunk is dynamite for catfish. After the water comes down in the spring its fast and furious with stinkbait and splitshot. You got to try the skunk if your a catfisherman. Alot of the water in these rivers is best suited with a canoe as you can go anywhere then and the whole rivers yours. Even a small jon boat is too big for the gravel bars and when you get into the cut banks is where you can find the smallies. I sight fish alot of the gravel bars because you can see the smallmouths laying there with thier dorsal fins out of the water tring to ambush minnows and you can watch them work. Give smaller rivers a try and don’t forget the creeks that feed into these rivers too, Ive heard of some real nice smallmouths barely deep enough to get my dog wet coming out of these small creeks plus the eating size chub fishing is fun too. If a guy has a small jonboat and a canoe he can fish any body of water around here and you’d be surprised at the size of some of the smallmouths that a person might think wasen’t in there. Small live bullfrogs, if you can find a hatch in a pond or back water, and no smallmouths of any size is safe, the water boils when they see these swimming around near them. Don’t forget to canoe the creeks in the warmer spring months because the fish are fatten up because of the past long winter months and they are hungry.

HEY MOSSYDAN,
EXCELLENT REPORT… I HAD HEARD OF THE FISHING POTENTIAL IN THESE SMALL WATERS – YOU JUST GOT ME FIRED UP. SOUNDS AS THOU YOU WOULD NEED A “PUT IN” PLACE AND A “TAKE OUT” PLACE IF YOU HAD A CANOE OR SMALL BOAT.
NOT HAVING FISHED THESE WATERS ARE THERE SOME SPOTS WHERE YOU CAN JUST WADE AND FISH UPSTREAM OR DOWNSTREAM THAT ARE NOT TO HARD TO FIND? SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING I MIGHT TRY ON A DAY OFF FROM WORK…
THANKS AND TIGHT LINES.
NOEL

Hey los, you probably know where Elkader is on hwy.13 beings your from n.e. Iowa. The turkey river right as it goes under the bridge and down river from the bridge is always a decent spot to fish. Ive never canoed down from the bridge but i’ve heard its good. Wade fishing from the bridge down until i got tired is what i did. That day i found all the smallmouths in fast water and none at all in the slower water. Another rule of thumb i use if thier not in the slower deeper water than look shallow and it works most of the time for me. I’ve never caught anything real big in that stretch but i’ve got them around 2 pounds but they did fight hard. If you could get a canoe and go down river it would be the thing to do. I’ve fished up river by the park where its deeper, it looks good but i’ve never caught anything worth talking about. Downtown right in Elkader theres a dam you can wade fish below, i’ve caught smallies there but you have to watch for the holes and its all rock bottom below the dam. Never caught any walleyes there but i’ve heard guys talk that they got a few. The Volga river, down 13 from elkader by mederville is another decent spot you can wade fish by where you live. If i lived there i’d fish these rivers more by hitting the county roads and fish every road crossing over the river i could find. People are pretty friendly up there and i’ll bet you could ask to fish these banks on thier land and some would let you. Theres quite a few bevers in the waters up there too, building dams and the whole bit. I fished the hwy 13 bridge by Elkader and limited out with keeper smallmouths for the frying pan one day. The upper Iowa river is supposed to be the best smallmouth river in Iowa. Go to Decorah and fish right around town, ive heard some real good reports about the smallmouths there about 5 pound fish and smaller nicer ones. Anywhere the roads cross the upper Iowa is where i’d start.

Almost forgot, you can canoe from road to road and put in and take out where the road crosses the river. The creeks are diffrent because some farmers put up fencing across them too keep thier cattle in from wandering around. Ask if you can canoe the creeks too. Ive gotten smallmouths up to 20 inches in the shallow creeks around here from may on.

Hey mossydan,
Thanks for the info. My neighbor said when he was younger he fished the Maquoketa and was surprised at the quality of fish in that small river. This and you making reference to it makes me want to check it out… Have you actually fished it?
Thanks,
Noel

Are you kidding, some of my best smallmouth memories are from this river in a canoe. Try drifting a crawfish through a hole there in late spring and see if it makes it to the other end.

Hey Dan, I bought a 14 ft jon boat with a 9.9 Johnson motor last fall for fishing smaller bodies of water and the backwaters on the Mississippi River. Getting back to basics and fun fishing is great. A person would be surprised what they can find in those waters. Lots of fun thats for sure.
Thanks, Bill

You aren’t kidding Bill, if theres enough water to cover thier dorsal fins thier in there. If i were a smallmouth and looking for food i’d get back to the most unpopulated areas for my dinner as i could even if i had to travel over gravel and sand bars which ive seen them do. There dosen’t have to be 3′ of water to hold a 4 pound fish just 12″ and a nice undercut bank with a few grasshoppers on it and an occasional frog and minnow does the trick, especially in may and june when the water still has alot of oxygen in it. I fish the cooler creeks and smaller rivers when it gets hot outside because they have more oxygen in them and fish are more active at all times of the day. Plus there always seems to be something swimming, crawling and jumping along the banks and on the bottom of these smaller bodies of water. I think the fish in there have learned they can fend for themselves pretty well.

Noel, if I was coming from McGregor, I would just start at the dams that empty Backbone lake just South of Strawberry and hop from spot to spot all the way down to Manchester. My experience has been that the size improves the farther South you get, until Lake Delhi, and then there are some peaches below the dam, but for being a catch-n-release only area it doesn’t seem to hold as many fish as I would expect.

Another top-notch place to fish smallies is the Wapsi around Quasqueton dam. If you hit Manchester and basically head straight west on 20, get off at the Winthrop exit, then head South it will take you across the bridge in about 6 miles or so. There are a couple of other accesses between Quasky and Independence, but I’ve never really concentrated on that stretch.

I went to school in Decorah, and the upper Iowa can also be really good, as can the Volga and the Turkey. Any of these dinky Iowa rivers hold smallies, some have size, others have numbers. If I was to hit the UI, I would start around Bluffton (North of Decorah) and maybe work my way down from there.

As always, good luck, and let us know how you do.

Guys you didn’t mention the Cedar river. From the Minn. border down it is a great Smallie river. My son and I have found that if you work the feeder steams you may hit the mother load filled with Smallies. Our best day on a small creek produced 68 Smallies up to 19″. This location was seven miles from the main river channel. We have had many 20 to 40 CPR days on small creeks. The best part is there is no one else around. I also fish all of the mentioned locations you guys fish plus Central City below the dam. Our go to bait on the small streams has been a Kalin 3″ grub on a 1/8 oz. Owner Jig. The best color is Pumpkin green flake with salt/pepper. We tip the tail with Spike-It orange. Our backup is a Tube or Mepps in-line spinner. When I’am fishing the main rivers I throw a Bandit crankbait 90% of the time. The other 10% I go to a larger tube or grub 4″-5″. With the C/B I also catch a lot of eye’s and Northerns. Maybe we should hookup and spend a day fishing.

Hey Hersh im willing to wade for some early spring smallies. I have a buddy that fishes the upper cedar for smallies and he says the same thing. He says the same thing about the northerns. He says lots of rocks and really good structure. Message me if you want to go for an early trip in march.