Raccoon River, Panora Iowa

It was another beautiful morning here in Iowa, morning temps were in the 70’s and the humidity was low. I had decided to make a trip out to the Raccoon river near Panora Iowa, to check out the small mouth fishing that had been going on there. Though my fish are no where near the size and quality of those posted on these other reports, I humbly submit these little giants…lol….I arrived a bit later than I had planned on, snooze monster got a hold of me…but as I arrived at about 9:00AM I was greeted by a nice cool breeze, and a river all to myself. I loaded up my fly fishing vest with my arsenal of flys and lures. My original plan was to fish with my fly rod exclusively, however I took my spinning gear as back up. I wandered down to the river and started making casts into a very nice area below a small dam. By the looks of the area you would have thought there would be a bunch of fish willing to jump out and attack my fly. No such luck.

I wandered on down stream a bit and again started through my fly rod around and hitting pockets that I felt surely held fish. I started out the morning with a white/motor oil colored Clouser Minnow. I had some success with the pattern on a previous trip to the Skunk river, so thought I’d start with this here. Not even a nibble. I changed my fly pattern around a bit, trying to imitate a crawdad with a brown colored woolly booger, also tried a white and chartreuse Clouser Minnow, all with no luck. I decided to pick up the spinning rod and give it a go. Two casts into the same area I had been throwing the flys I hooked into my first bass of the morning. A nice little fighter of about ten inches.. LOL.. I thought to myself.. “I knew that held fish”.. Landed the little guy and he posed for the photo op and I let him go. As I was wading down to another nice area, I noticed a bunch of bait fish swimming off as I walked. I took another look in my fly box and found a good ole standby…a Muddler Minnow. I tied that bad boy on and and after a couple cast…BINGO!!…fish on..

I thought….”Got em!!” Figured the pattern and I’m on it. I started casting again and again…thought I didn’t manage a fish with every cast, like we all hope to do, I did hook a few more. I moved on down the river, continuing to fish the pockets of water that I felt would hold fish. I would watch my fly line and every now and then see it jump, knowing that it was not the bottom causing that I set the hook…FISH ON!!.. at one point I had a very nice small mouth on, but my reel started acting up..and as I was trying to figure out what was causing me problem..I lost him.. take my word for it…it was a nice smallie… I found a nice area that held quite a few fish so I camped there for a few.. On one of my casts the line jumped and I set the hook…much to my astonishment and with a big grin I landed a crappie…LOL.. only the second time I’ve ever landed a crappie on my fly rod. The funny thing was that I caught two on my fly during this outing…

As I spent more time fishing the area I had several misses and a few more bass landed. Man are those little guys a blast to catch on a fly rod. I love spending time on the river all by myself and casting this fly all over the place to have them little fighters hit it like a ton of bricks. Today though would prove to be another first for me in the world of fishing. As I’m making my casts with my Muddler Minnow, which by the way I fished exclusively for the remainder of my day, I feel my line jump and once again I set the hook. The fish is putting up a nice little fight, but as I get it closer, I look down and think to myself.. “No way!” … LOL.. yep.. A WALLEYE….LOL.. I have never caught a walleye on my fly rod. Well low and behold there it was… not only did I catch one, but three for the day on the fly. What day…I finished the day with six small mouth bass that I landed, several more that I hooked but got off, two crappie and three walleye. Another great adventure in Iowa fishing!!…Tight lines all!