Hey all,
Contemplating a move to the Iowa City area (my gf is finishing up her schooling at U of I) – any Iowa folks know of decent places to fish in the area? I know there’s Lake McBride nearby, but don’t know how quality of a fishery it is. Just looking for any suggestions of places to check out.
Hey Nate just seen your post. First off the fishing is better in general in your neck of the woods,,,but Iowa has good fishing too. Presently I’ve been fishing the Iowa river around the Iowa City area for white bass and hybrid stripers and doing good. If you like lake fishing the county parks within a 50 mile radius of Iowa City have good lakes but like the bite everywhere it depends on a lot of things. River fishing is good in most rivers for catfish in that area and the other day I lost a 20 lb plus channel right at the bank that hit a 5″ Rapala, the knot broke and away my lure went. If you like hunting for walleyes and are fairly good at locating them in a reservoir the Coralville reservoir is full of them but you just have to locate them. Below the dam there, a guy got a 14 lb’er two months ago but that depends on the discharge, right now its minimual and the whole river from there down to Iowa city is very fishable, lots of nicer crappies using minnows under a slip bobber but you have to find them too with a sonar, not a big deal if you have a boat.Mc Bride is good too for walleyes too and again you have to find them too, fish the stumps on the upper end of the lake and don’t fish the crowds. Up around Cedar Rapids I heard a reliable report that Muskys are hitting very early in the morning and Pleasant creek lake on you won’t believe it but cut bait on the bottom fishing for big catfish. The guy I talked to said hes caught a 42″ incher and a 50″ incher. He said he talked with a couple guys down from Minnesota and they were also getting them on cut bait and that’s why the made a few trips here this spring. Anyway fishings good here but you just have to look for it and talk to knowledgeable fishermen. Ne Iowa has some better water for smallies and has 800 miles of stocked streams from now 2 hatcheries, used to be 3 but they closed one, but a walk away and you’ll get into the hold overs that get big and you have to walk for those and a scenic area too boot, Good Luck.
Inland and Iowa? Kinda redundant-kinda very redundant.
Inland and Iowa? Kinda redundant-kinda very redundant.
HEY!!!!! what do you mean redundant? I’ll have you know Iowa boasts 2, countem, 2 “coasts”. One is the Mississippi River coast and the other is the Missouri River coast. So there! Good grief.
Hey thanks guys- we just looked at houses in Iowa City this weekend and found a nice lil place with a garage that my boat will just fit in! Pretty excited.
MossyDan, thanks much for the information – looking forward to chasing those walleyes around.
@timhurley – we’ll take any coasts we get, coming from WI and our awesome third coast 
Nate:
You’ll find that the state has great people everywhere… It also has pretty good fishing, but even the pretty poor pheasant hunting these days is still far better than you will ever imagine pheasant hunting to be!!!
I lived in NE IA in Decorah many moons ago for two different stints. One was in school at LUther College and the other was shorter one when I was still foot loose and fancy free. Then with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, I ended up in Muscatine, 40 mile SE of you on the river for a wonderful 4 years during the early .’90’s.
Musky fishing is on the up and up all over the state right now. NE IA has the fishing mossydan mentioned. The whole state has farm ponds and the backwaters of the river hold most of the same species it holds to the SW of you in BRF.
If I were to offer you the only piece of advice (which might lose ya your GF), try to figure out how to deer hunt while you are there!!! It was verboten for anyone to hunt from out of state back in the day and during my second stint I was too busy to do so. But figure out how to if you can, SE IA can hold some of the best bucks in the entire state!!!
Mark
Not to stir the pot – but I have done MUCH better fishing in Iowa than I have in MN for my last trips. I live in Northern Iowa so I am pretty close to some great fishing around the area. I grew up in Iowa City (MANY years ago) and I did a lot of river fishing, but by far the best was trying to find those farm ponds!!
Im an hour or so from you on the Illinois side. I fish the Mississippi and there are ramps both sides of the River just off I-80. Hit me up.
Found some bass tonight down in good ol Iowa!
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I’d like to expand on the question a bit. We are looking at a move to the Ames area. What do you feel are the best ICE fishing opportunities in Iowa. Perch and Walleye have been my main targets, but I’m open to any specie.
I thought someone caught that walleye a few years ago, I think the perch is still there though! 
I’d like to expand on the question a bit. We are looking at a move to the Ames area. What do you feel are the best ICE fishing opportunities in Iowa. Perch and Walleye have been my main targets, but I’m open to any specie.
Found some <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass tonight down in good ol Iowa!
What was the weight and length Nate?
Nate did you catch that hybrid at Mcbride, it looks like the shoreline of that lake.
Happy to piggyback on this thread… My daughter just started an internship in Iowa City at the Children’s hospital where the football fans are waving to the kids these days. Pretty cool stuff —
I told her I would get down there this Fall and bring my boat. She loves to fish, but I don’t know the area at all. Any ideas where to launch (McBride, Coralville?) and catch bass, strikers, wipers, etc would be awesome. Send me a PM if you’d like – thx!
Hey guys! Yeah was a beauty of a hybrid – got it Lake MacBride but foolishly let it go before taking any measurements – my guess is maybe 28″…it was a tank for sure.
Frydog- still learning the area myself, mostly have been pullin lots of wipers…if you wanna go out sometime when you’re here just give me a holler!
Hey guys! Yeah was a beauty of a hybrid – got it Lake MacBride but foolishly let it go before taking any measurements – my guess is maybe 28″…it was a tank for sure.
Nate, one of our club members had landed a 32.5 wiper in 2006 caught in the DSM river. I believe that he has posted on IDO’s site as well in the past. I do not remember the weight that was recorded but it ranked extreemly very high in the “Wiper” catigory for state records. I believe the state record was 33″ the year before in 05.
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