Iowa Great Lakes are great for fishing. Okoboji gets to be like a washing machine on the weekends in the summer, but we still caught fish on a hot Saturday last year. We went back in early November and boji showed me how good it could be. Multi species awesomeness. Did not try Spirit lake, but have heard it’s great also.
I live in a Des Moines suburb. It’s four hours for me but it’s worth it for a two dayer. It’s one of the best in Iowa for sure.

There are three lakes in southern Iowa that have walleye. Three mile, Twelve mile, and Little river. None of them are real easy to fish for walleyes but they’re in there. Dad’s bait shop is in Afton, IA just a few miles from Three and Twelve. Three mile and Little river have a recreation area and some no wake zone. Twelve mile is 5mph throughout.