| Clarity on most streams is good. Stream flows up with recent rain. Rain over weekend may cause streams clarity to decline. |
| Brook Trout - Slow: Use midge, minnow, or leach patterns for fish looking to get more bang for their effort. Midge hatches on sunny afternoons. |
| Brown Trout - Good: Brown trout activity improves when water gets cloudy. Float a line past an undercut bank or current seam for luck. |
| Rainbow Trout - Good: Hatchery holdovers remain in the stream teasing anglers. Use a small spinner bait or hair jig floated past undercut bank or through a deep hole. |
Fingerling Rainbow Trout are stocked annually. Brown Trout reproduce in the wild and are not stocked. Fishing the Yellow River by canoe or kayak is the only legal means to trout fish without landowner permission on most of this river. There are three areas that provide public access for fishing along this stream. There is public fishing, picnic facilities, and a rustic restroom at Stonebrook Park along Yellow River Drive. There is a public fishing access at Forest Mills Road. There is also a public fishing access and a picnic area available at the Volney Canoe Access. See the printable stream map for more details. Remember to always respect private property along the Yellow River.(2022)
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 .