Anamosa Report-Fished 02/19 AM

About all I caught on the Wapsi today below Anamosa was a cold! Nonetheless, it was nice to get out and get some fresh air for a few hours.

I decided to sleep in and run some errands (took some recycling to Bluestem) before I hit the river, so I got a late start. By 9am, I was working the eddies and breaks below the coffer dam near the old power house. Bucktails tipped with plastic grub tails and plain jigs tipped with the same could not produce so much as a strike. The water was very cold and quite high, the whole tailwater area was pretty much underwater, quite different from the low-water conditions of late fall when you could easily wade across to the sandbar and work the river side of the coffer dam. With the high water, be very cautious if you are wading. I had one little spill that reminded me pretty quickly how cold the water is at this time of year.

I hiked downtream and worked a few stream inlets to no avail. Before heading home, I broke enough ice on the boat ramp to work the deep hole leading into the channel, but again, no takers. Around noon, I ended the day working the stream inlet by the golf course.

I suppose it may still be a bit too early. I know there are walleye in this stretch of river, I have seen guys with them on their stringers. However, it seems all I am able to catch in this area are willow cats, so take my report as you will! I’m gonna keep at it, though. One of these days I’m gonna get lucky…

I think its time to put the ice sled away and get the boat ready for pools 9-11.

Regards,

Joe

Hey kornking, i fish that same few square yrds of the channel on the west side too. There are some nice walleyes in there. I have my best luck putting in my jon boat with a little 6 hs. i have and slowly go up river on the east side shallow as i can get, right over the gravel, then cross over to the west side above that hole. I anchor out and slowly jig an 1/8th oz. chartruse bucktail tipped with a minnow up stream very slowly. I found on days that are warmer and no wind when conditions are real stable is the best. The mouth of the creek that comes in down river, by the golf course, is good for early crappies coming in too warmer water, even if its only a few degrees and a foot of water. Keep going back to that hole along the road because they are in there, there are a few that go bigger too. My biggest is 4 pounds there with quite a few 2 too 3 pounders. This time of year i work my jig very slowly and use light line and a light jig with the biggest minnow i can find to slow the fall and i get solid strikes all only a few inches off the the very bottom. Work them slow to almost a drag is the way i get them. I’ll throw out and let the jig sit on the bottom for a full minute then work it in small lifts of the jig. My speed when i jig is each time the jig falls let it sit 2 or 3 seconds then lift again. I’ve never gotten a hit fishing like i would in 35 to 40 degree water this time of year, it has to be slow for me. In march when the water clears, as it looks like it will sooner than later because the runoffs early this year is the time to get just a little more agressive. Message me and let me know how you do.

Hey Mossy:

Thanks for the tips! I have an 18′ super-jon that I could probably get in there and run off of the electric, but it really is better suited for larger bodies of water like the Mississippi. I’d probably tear my E-tec’s lower unit pretty bad on that rock in the wapsi. Something smaller would be better.

I do have an old 5 HP ‘rude sitting in my barn that I got fixed up last year that I was trying to sell. I’ve been toying with the idea of instead of selling it, trying to find a 12-14’ used beater jon or deep-vee launch that I could slap that puppy on and maybe make-up a smaller rig better suited for interior river fishing and other smaller bodies of water.

I think you are on to it, working that section with a smaller boat/motor. Its a little too big during high water to wade effectively, but still too small a body of water for a big fishing rig to navigate safely and effectively. I was eyeing up the channel yesterday, but the rocks were really icy on that steep bank by the road, so I decided to try some of the more accessible spots.

We’ll keep in touch.

Regards,

Joe

Hey Joe, good to hear you got out. Sounds like maybe a bit too early though. One thing I have found to be true from what I have read and then experienced is that high flow sends the fish to the banks. The banks slow the flow and the lazy Walleyes don’t like to be in the turbulence. So making some casts parallel to shore when the water is up like that is worth a try. Come on 40’s and 50’s its time to get some open water fishing done.

Hey Rugby

I’m with ya man. If its gonna be a shorter winter this year, then let’s get on with spring! I’m ready to head to Guttenberg/Lynxville whenever you are. I’ll probably be taking some time these next few weeks cleaning out my tackle box and prepping the boat.

I headed out to the Coralville spillway Sunday afternoon with my son, just for a little car ride, and the ramp there is wide open. We could get the boat in there now with no problems. The water was running pretty fast, but with a boat, we could probably effectively fish some of the breaks and eddies that would be harder to reach from shore.

Regards,

Joe

I live forty miles from Anamosa, but I think I am going to give it a try some morning if the weather cooperates in the next week or so. Since I have a decent drive ahead of me, I like to know the water levels before I go, so I don’t waste a trip. The best place to do this is at the Corps’ site rivergage.com, if you guys don’t already know about it. The gage at Anamosa doesn’t seem to be working right now, but the ones at Independence and DeWitt are, so you can sort of judge by them whether it is low enough to wade, if you don’t live right by the Wapsi.

For the record, I fished the Iowa in IC this morning and once earlier in the week, and got nothing–I’m not quite sure where to post that…