| Most interior river levels continue to fall and anglers continue to catch a few walleye, smallmouth bass and channel catfish on the rivers. There have been good reports on area lakes of anglers catching crappie, bluegill and largemouth bass as the lakes begin to warm in and around the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area. Trout streams are in excellent condition. For more information contact your local area bait and tackle shop. |
| River levels continue to fall in both Jones and Jackson counties. There have been good to excellent reports of anglers catching smallmouth bass, walleye and channel catfish on the Maquoketa River. |
| Smallmouth Bass - Excellent: Try casting and retrieving spinnerbaits or a jig tipped with half a night crawler for some good smallmouth bass action. |
| Walleye - Fair: Try fishing a jig head with plastics with or without a live minnow. Look for the deeper pools, current breaks and tail ends of riffles for some walleye action. |
This 80 mile stretch of river offers many carry-down type of accesses and five hard surface boat ramps at Pictured Rocks Park, Joinerville Park, Maquoketa City Access, Spragueville Access and Maquoketa River Access. The upper section of this segment is more accessible by canoe or a small jon boat and motor. Below the Spragueville access and downstream the river is big enough to fish from medium to large fishing boats during normal water levels. A fisheries survey in 2024 on the lower Maquoketa River above the Spragueville Access found species such as walleye, sauger, shovelnose sturgeon, smallmouth bass, northern pike, channel catfish and white bass.(2025)
In nearly all cases, Iowa fish are safe to eat. Cleaning and/or preparing the meal causes most of the problems regarding taste or color of fish. Like all living creatures, fish are susceptible to diseases, parasites, and other naturally occurring conditions in the water. If you suspect your fish is affected by any of these conditions, do not eat it. Consider eating smaller and younger fish which usually have lower levels of contaminants than larger ones. Most contaminants accumulate in larger, older fish. For additional information, check out our resources for eating and cooking Iowa caught fish.
To learn more about fish tissue monitoring, visit our Fish Tissue Monitoring page .