Backwater Hardwater

Backwater Hardwater

By Rod Woten

Ask any ice angler from Iowa what their favorite fishery is and you’ll hear names like Brushy Creek, Clear Lake, Spirit Lake or Okoboji. For good reason those are all near the top of everyone’s list. There’s another fishery on the state’s eastern seaboard that you don’t hear mentioned much. I can assure you that the quality of this fishery is right up there with most of the others in the state, yet those that fish it are relatively tight lipped about it. Ask any ice angler that fishes these waters about “Prairie”, Bussey, or O’leary’s and you’ll be met with a glassy eyed stare. There’s also good reason for that….

Old Man River
Anglers in eastern Iowa are very blessed to have the Mississippi River running right through their front yard. While the river and all of its associated backwaters can be dynamite fisheries during the spring summer and fall, many are unaware of how great the winter fishing can be in the backwaters. These off-the-main-channel areas can resemble everything from a small stream to a large lake, but they are numerous along the entire Iowa portion of the river and the fishing can be dynamite in any of them. One of the biggest issues with these backwaters can be access, some can be accessed only through larger parts of the river or a braid-like tangle of channels and flowages. For the backwaters that have shoreline access, parking can be limited, ranging from small gravel lots to shoulder of the road parking. For some of the more obscure backwaters, your best bet is to find a local to show you the ropes or gather as much information as you can from the local bait shops. While many of these backwaters can be challenging to find and access, your diligence can pay big dividends!

Skinny water and multi-species opportunities
One characteristic that most of these backwaters share is that they are fairly shallow. For many of these backwaters, six feet is fairly deep, with some averaging as shallow as two to three feet. This means that noise can affect these fish very easily, so stealth is pretty important. Try to minimize walking around or dropping things on the ice. It’s also not a bad idea to allow newly drilled holes a few minutes to “cool off” as the fish below relax and resume normal activities once the noise of drilling has dissipated. It also means that your electronics won’t be giving you as much of the story as they usually do in deeper waters. Even at the widest cone angle, at only two or three feet of depth, your flasher will only be showing a very small view of the water below. In some cases the water may actually be clear enough to forego the electronics and sight fish.

The structure and makeup of the backwaters can also change from year to year with flood, current and low water cycles, so the spot you caught fish in last year may not be the same spot you catch them in this year. The best way to fish these areas is to travel lightly and be highly mobile. Don’t camp out on a spot until you find a concentration of fish. Typically these high concentration areas will be a travel corridor and once you find one, it’s a fairly safe bet that you will have fish coming through pretty regularly. If things suddenly slow to a crawl, then something has changed and it’s time become mobile again and start looking for another concentration.
One of my favorite parts of fishing the backwaters of the Mississippi is the abundance of fish species that you could potentially hook into. The list is almost limitless and includes bluegill, crappie, perch, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, catfish, walleye, sauger, northern pike, white bass, yellow bass, drum, carp, buffalo, dogfish and many others! When fishing the backwaters, I like to go with a little heavier panfish setup than I normally would just in case I hook into a northern, walleye, or bass. I am especially excited about the perch that are coming from the backwaters the past couple of seasons. The perch population is definitely on the upswing, and in addition to the quantity of perch being caught, there are many QUALITY perch being caught. Based on what I’ve been seeing, I honestly believe that the next state record perch will come from the backwaters of the Mississippi in the very near future!

Tread lightly
The one downside to fishing the backwaters is that one must exercise an extra measure of caution when on this ice. While backwaters are by definition removed from the current of the main channel that does not mean that current does not flow through the backwaters. At times there may be no current, but at other times there may be current flowing in only to switch in 30 minutes and begin flowing out. Current is good for fishing because it brings in food and fresh oxygen to the fish, but it is bad for the ice because it will erode the ice from the bottom up. This means backwater ice can be variable, with 12 inches in one spot and 4 inches only a couple of footsteps away. For this reason I ALWAYS wear my picks around my neck when fishing backwater ice in event I go though and need to attempt to self rescue. I also always carry and USE my spud bar (also known as an ice chisel) to test ice with every step. It’s also not a bad idea to bring a long a throwable PFD and 100 feet of rope. Caution must also be exercised for those backwaters that must be accessed via the main channel. Ice must always be considered as questionable and treated as such. The amount of current flowing through the main channel means the ice can be very weak in all but the coldest of years. I try to avoid this type of access whenever possible, but if I must go this route, I always go with a buddy, wear a PFD and check every step with a spud bar as I go.

Worth the effort
Ice fishing the Iowa’s Mississippi backwaters can be a little bit more work than what many are used to. Access can be a little more difficult, the ice conditions can vary greatly and the current can make it hard to keep track of your jig. However…the benefits of persevering through these obstacles can be amazing. The backwaters can be loaded with fish, with a good shot at a BIG fish of any of the multitude of species that swim through them. It only takes one trip to the backwaters, and I’m pretty sure that you’ll be back for more!