Trout Fishing in Northeast Iowa
Trout Fishing in Northeast Iowa
Some call it Little Switzerland, others call it river Bluff Country. Apparently, the correct name for it nowadays is The Driftless Region, or more colloquially, The Driftless. Regardless of what you call it, there’s no denying that it is a very special place. It’s a place where it’s very easy to forget that you’re still in Iowa.
Where To Catch Trout
There are over 100 streams that hold trout in the Northeast corner of Iowa. Depending on the stream it could hold a combination of any of the 3 species of trout found in the state: rainbow trout, brown trout and brook trout. Both brown and rainbow trout are not native to the Iowa. For the most part, the rainbow trout rely on stocking to maintain the population, while the browns have adapted to Iowa well and are a self-sustaining population, generally speaking. For the most part, the majority of brook trout stocked in in Iowa are other strains imported from outside of the state.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has an excellent interactive map that shows what species exist in each stream, access points, stocking data and just about everything you would need to pick a stream to target. Spending even just a few minutes on the website will quickly yield a bucket list of streams to fish.
Trout Behavior
Understanding how trout behave in this environment will greatly improve your chances of catching a trout. The first thing to know is what the trout are eating. For the most part, trout eat the small aquatic insects that live in the streams. These insects include several different species of mayfly as well as caddis flies, midges and a few others. At certain times of the year the trout feed on “terrestrial” insects that fall or are blown into the water such as ants, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, worms, etc.
The trout also feed on other smaller prey fish in the streams such as minnows, sculpin and young of the year trout. Since trout live constantly in current, conserving energy is key for their survival. For that reason, they will often hover in areas just out of the main current and waiting for food to be brought to them by the current. This enables them to save energy by not having to hold their position in the strong current, but still be slow enough to take advantage of the giant food conveyer that drifts food their way. These are typically the food sources that fly fisherman are trying to mimic, whether it be on the surface or below it.
The best places for trout to wait for food without having to fight the current is a “feeding lie”, and the best ones are often called “prime lies”. Sometimes if the water is clear enough you can actually observe the larger trout in a pool chasing the smaller trout out of the prime lies. This definitely gives some great insight as to the pecking order in that pool and which trout are the bigger ones. Learning to read the stream and predict where the feeding lie are is a very important skill to master for trout success and practice definitely makes perfect.
In water that is moving less swiftly, trout will often expend the energy to chase down their meal, especially smaller forage fish, like minnows and sculpins. These are the type of food sources that spin fisherman are trying to imitate with spinners and small crankbaits and fly anglers are trying to imitate when using streamers. Learning to identify this kind of water and switching baits accordingly will greatly improve your odds as well.
Trout can be susceptible to predation by the likes of eagles, herons, raccoons, etc. Because of this trout will often also seek out places where it is harder for a predator to see them or reach them from above. I often like to target areas that are just deep enough that I can’t make out the bottom. Also look for areas like in the shadow of boulders and rocks, under overhanging vegetation, under cut banks and under tree root balls that line the bank. One of my favorite places to look for trout is in a riffle. In these areas there is just enough structure below the surface of the water to disturb the surface of the water.
I liken it to a mini-rapids if I were a mini-whitewater kayaker. This disturbance on the surface means the predators can’t see into the stream to see the trout and makes an EXCELLENT hiding place for them. Additionally, after a good rainfall, many streams will become muddied or stained for a period. I like to wait until the stream is almost back to its previous water clarity; when it’s just stained enough that I can’t make out the features on the bottom.
This condition provides great cover for the trout and they can become very active at this time. At this point, however, the water is also clear enough that they can once again see whatever bait you may be presenting to them. I have also noticed large number of small worms in and along the stream after some moderate rainfall events and have had great luck “matching the hatch” by drifting a San Juan Worm pattern or Squiggly Worm patter at these times.
Trout Tackle
Tackle for trout can be very straightforward. It can be as simple as a cane pole and a can of corn or some nightcrawlers. Generally speaking, there are two main methods you can use to catch trout in the northeast corner of our state…spinning tackle or fly tackle.
I’ll start with fly tackle because it’s my favorite method and it can also be more complex than spin fishing. It can, in fact, become as complex as you want to make it, but that is the topic of an entire other article. In addition, there is probably an ENTIRE third article focused solely on how to present the fly to a trout. For brevity and to keep things on an entry level, I will only cover the basics. For starters, lets’ talk about rod selection. I would recommend no heavier than a 5 weight (5wt.) fly rod and matching weight forward floating (WFF) fly line. Consider this the “Swiss Army Knife” of fly fishing and it can present the smallest dry flies as well as the heaviest streamers while still pulling duty as a farm pond bass and bluegill rig.
I recommend a rod between 8’6” long and 9’ long. Anything longer can become problematic when casting on technical streams with lots of vegetation in, on or around the stream while anything shorter is harder to cast and doesn’t have as much reach. I often opt for a 3wt or 4wt rod to more closely match the size of trout found in our streams. Don’t let fly casting be the reason that you don’t try fly fishing. For the most part, our streams are small enough, and quite frankly, overgrown enough, that a simple roll cast is the ONLY cast you’ll need.
Generally speaking, trout are feeding either ON the surface of the water or BELOW the surface of the water. The bugs they are eating on top of the water are the adult or near-adult stage of bugs like mayflies, caddis flies, midges, stoneflies etc., or terrestrials as mentioned before. The bugs they are eating, below the surface are the pre-adult stages of these insects which most know are nymphs. Even though only a portion are actual nymphs as there are also larval stages and emerger stages among others depending on the specific bug.
Depending on time of year, time of day or sometimes even air or water temperatures, specific species of bugs will be “hatching”, or coming to the surface and metamorphizing into their adult form. In this case you should try to find a dry fly that matches the size and color of that hatch. In my opinion, matching size and shape is much more important than trying to identically match color.
If there isn’t an active hatch happening, that’s when it’s time to find a nymph to fish below the surface which. Nymphs are typically under some sort of a strike indicator to alert you as to when the trout strikes. Indicators can be foam, cork, plastic or fibers and you can fasten them to your line in a myriad of ways. Another popular way to fish nymphs is a “hopper-dropper” or “dry-dropper” rig.
In this case a foam hopper or dry fly works as an indicator for a nymph tied below. This is a great way to fish both the surface and sub-surface at the same time and can be a very exciting way to catch trout later in the season when there are lots of grasshoppers and other terrestrials on the surface of the water. With that being said, some of my favorite dry fly patterns are Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, Griffiths Gnat and Blue Wing Olive. For nymphs it’s hard to beat Pink Squirrel, Hare’s Ear, Prince and Zebra Midge. With these flies in your box, you should be able to catch trout in virtually any stream in northeast Iowa.
Spinning tackle is much more straightforward than the fly tackle. Any 5’5” to 6” light to medium-light action spinning rod should work very well. I typically spool up with 3- or 4-pound monofilament line, but will sometimes switch to fluorocarbon for especially clear water or move up to 6-pound test if I expect bigger fish or lots of snags in the water or along the banks. My go-to lures for trout when using spinning tackle are Panther Martin Spinners in just about any size and Original and Countdown Rapalas in #3, #5 & #7 sizes. When I use spinning tackle, I typically target the larger pool that are harder to fish with fly tackle because the trout are deeper and there isn’t nearly as much current to drift a fly.
Experience It for Yourself!
If you’ve never been trout fishing in Northeast Iowa, I can’t recommend it enough. It truly is addictive and it’s some of the most scenic beauty in all of the state. One of my favorite sayings is, “Trout don’t live in ugly places”, and the describes Northeast Iowa’s Driftless Region to a “T”. You get the chance to catch THREE species of a fish that live nowhere else in our state and it truly is very easy to forget that you’re even in Iowa.
