Kicknbass Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 I wouldn't call this an exotic trip, but this location in the forum is the best spot for the post. I was out on business traveling through NE Iowa and I found a little time for trout fishing. Outside of Manchester Iowa the state has a hatchery on a small sping branch. This section is all artifical w/ a 14" limit of who cares, because their getting released anyway. This is a tiny little technical stream but well managed for trout. This little spring branch averages 2-3 feet deep w/ few deeper and only about 2-3 steps wide in the narrower spots. It appears that the state has stacked large flat rocks along the edge of the stream in many places near the hatchery park to create ledges or under cuts for the wary trout to hide. I got a look from a large fish 25" plus that came out from under one of these ledges, but only a quick look and then he was gone. I am quite sure that the battle would be brief if I was able to get him hooked on this stream. 2lbs test tippet + 3 wt rod + 25" fish + small water w/ many ways to break you off = short battle and another "one that got away" big fish story. I planned on fishing about 2 hours, but got consumed trying to catch fish. I spent about 4 hours sight fishing and catching 3 trout species, rainbow, brown, and brookies. Most of the fish averaged about 12-13 inches, w/ a couple over 14". The largest fish caught was about 15 inches. This was quite a tussle on my 3 wt in this small stream. The fish in this little spring branch are very skiddish. If they see you, the bite is over. I started throwing a bead headed scud under a floresant indicator. What a waste of time. The fish just spooked w/ the flo ball floating overhead. I switched to a small #10 wooly w/ a san juan worm dropper and caught several on the san juan, and a few on the wooly. When I lost this combo to a poor back cast, I switched to a Royal wuff w/ a brown nymph dropper and caught a few more, all on the brown nymph. When a large fish wrapped and broke me off, I switched to a bubble bee colored zug bug, and caught a few more. In total, I caught 14 or 15 fish. Not a bad day for trout fishing in any State. " Too many hobbies to work" - "Must work to eat and play"
Danoinark Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 Kicknbass...great report...I love spring creeks...Dano Glass Has Class "from the laid back lane in the Arkansas Ozarks"
CaptainT16 Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 Wow, that would be a great place to try. I would much rather fish a stream or small river then a lake. Sounds like a great little place to try if I ever make it up that way. Great Report! "He told us about Christ's disciples being fisherman, and we were left to assume...that all great fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman." - Norman Maclean-A River Runs Through It
Members Andrew Schaefer Posted June 9, 2006 Members Posted June 9, 2006 I wish I woul've noticed this thread earlier. Spring Branch is a great little stream, I've fished it a dozen or so times, I got my first grand slam there. If any of you guys are gonna be up this way you should send me an e-mail and I can give you some good spots to fish. Some of the streams up here aren't very good but there are some that are awesome.
Kicknbass Posted June 13, 2006 Author Posted June 13, 2006 What is the best location near Waterloo? I have business in Cedar Falls and travel 1-2 times a month. I like to break the trip up w/ 2-3 hours of recreation. Any suggestions? I found the hathery location from the IDNR website. It is out of the way from STL but seams to be the closets trout water along the route. " Too many hobbies to work" - "Must work to eat and play"
Members Andrew Schaefer Posted June 15, 2006 Members Posted June 15, 2006 Well the absolute best streams in Iowa are up in Winneshiek and Allamakee counties but there are some closer to home. Next time you are at the hatchery go into the office and pick up a trout map. It has all of Iowa's streams marked and it shows all of the roads, even the level B dirt roads. The closest decent stream to Waterloo is just about an hour away. Its the Maquoketa River upstream of Backbone lake. There's two other small streams close by it but the Maq is much better than the other two, I wouldn't say its better than Spring Branch as far as fish size and numbers go but its a decent sized creek that holds some large fish. From Waterloo or Cedar Falls you want to head East on U.S. hwy 20 for 45 minutes untill you get to the state hwy 187 exit, then head north for 15 miles through the town of Lamont and then go east on 10th street, which is a gravel road, for 3-4 miles and it will take you right over the river, which is more like a creek that far up. The land on both sides of the bridge is private but the landowners have agreed to allow the public to fish.
Kicknbass Posted June 18, 2006 Author Posted June 18, 2006 Thanks, I may give it a try, next week. I'll post if I do. " Too many hobbies to work" - "Must work to eat and play"
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