Moving to Iowa City from Memphis- any bass fishing around there?

[reelblues]

I live in Memphis and am an avid bass nut. I mainly fish the Tennessee river these days but have fished all kinds of lakes and reservoirs. I currently have a 21ft skeeter. It looks like I may be moving to the Iowa City area. My question is, is there decent bass fishing near there? I got online and really only found promotional kind of stuff put out by the DNR. I have read through some of the threads and I can see it’s a different world up there. We’ve already been fishing a few weeks down here. Anyway, I’m used to finding good fishing within a couple hours drive. Is that doable there? I’d really appreciate any info You can give me on what bass fishy is like there - length of season, fishing pressure, tournaments, reasonable expectations, etc. Thanks!

[RyanJ]

IA City is about an hour 10 mins West of me. I live in Clinton, IA which is right on the Mississippi River. Good fishing here April to late Fall for all types of fish. Pool 13 and 14 are your closest river pools that will produce. Close to IA City is Coralville Lake (reservoir). Big for water sports folks but bass are there along with many other species. Nate Gravert is still pretty involved in bass tourneys. Great guy, I’m sure he will be along here soon to give his 2 cents. He can point ya in the right direction as far as bass clubs!

[RyanJ]

Reelblues.....I forgot about Lake Macbride, prolly 25 mins North of IA City

[IABassin]

Shoot me a PM when you are around here, I'm 10 minutes from IC and would be more than happy to show you around!

[reelblues]

Thanks for the replies. I have a couple months to decide if I want to move or not and the fishing situation is a big factor in my decision, so I appreciate the input.

[basscat tyler]

There’s many good but smaller lakes around IC and the river isn’t too far. Good weekend trip.

[ChadG]

Fishing is good in the area, the waters will be quite a bit smaller than you are used to on the Tennesse River systems. The tournament scene will proabably be a fragment of what happens on the Tennesse River also. 2 hr drive to most tournaments on the Mississippi River. Most area lakes will be around 200-500 acres and no wake restrictions on most of those. The season is April to November most years. Ice the other months. Coralville Reservoir (3000ish acres)is very close to Iowa City but not very fishable during warm weather months on weekends. Recreational traffic is insane.

[reelblues]

Thanks! I can fish during the week since I’m retired. I do that now as the Tennessee River where I fish is overly crowded during the weekends now. Are the no wake lakes crowded or pressured much? What would your definition of a good day be on a smaller lake, numbers wise? Is the Mississippi river better for numbers or size?

[Bamaman]

I moved to the Midwest once after graduating college in Memphis. I was ready for a change, but i had no idea what a culture shock it was to move and work in Central illinois. In looking at Iowa City on Wikipedia, you're going to be seriously shocked.

Coralville Lake is only 5280 acres, or versus 40,000 acres of your beloved Pickwick Lake. That's a big difference. Coralville is a Mississippi River impoundment, but that's really a different Mississippi River than you're used to seeing in downtown Memphis.

After 3 years of living in a sea of corn and soybeans, I was ready to move back south--even to East Memphis. Lived there 12 years before getting home to my beloved Middle Tennessee. Ended up in Muscle Shoals with the Tennessee River in my front door and 2 Robert Trent Golf Courses down the street.

[basscat tyler]

Coralville Reservoir is an Iowa River impoundment. Though I would focus on the smaller lakes around there myself. McBride is connected to Coralville, though not navigable to each other. It is better for fishing imo, The Upper Mississippi has great fishing in it.

[PowerFish]

There is quite a bit of bass fishing. You will get used to smaller lakes, and will get used to a little bit of travel to get to bigger water. There used to be 75 boat tournaments on 700 acre lakes, but the DNR is limiting a lot of them now to 30 boats. While the lakes are small, the fishing is quite good, and you're only a handful of hours away from places like Lake of the Ozarks, Truman, Okoboji etc. It's certainly not like the southeast with so many large impoundments, but it can be very good and rewarding.

[Iowa Bass Hunter]

Unless something has changed in the last few years you can scratch Coralville off your radar. Not many bass in there. Mcbride dumps into Coralville. It's a much better place to bass fish. Although can be stingy at times itself. It also has a stupid horsepower restriction for half the year. Those are the two lakes closest to IC.

If you take a drive you can hit lots of small lakes. Pleasant Creek(newly renovated ), lake Iowa, Lake Darling (newly renovated), Belva Deer, Sugema, just to name a few. Very good fishing can be had. Most lakes in Iowa are no-wake. Built for fishing.

The mighty Mississippi River. Although the whole river is pretty good, pool 13 and north are the best. Pool 13 ends at Davenport. The further North you go up the river the better the fishing gets. Pool 9 at Lansing, Iowa (furthest northeastern corner of Iowa) is considered one of the premier places around here. Good size and lots of fish. Learning the river can be tricky, navigation is the scary part. The fish will be understood with time. My favorite place in the world is pools 8-9.

Here's an interactive map https://programs.iowadnr.gov/maps/m/...las/index.html

Here's a list of the lakes with info https://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/Wher...nds-Reservoirs

[reelblues]

Thanks so much for the input guys. I currently have a 250 HP 21ft fiberglas boat. considering the small water, no wake and Mississippi river, would a lower hp aluminum boat be better? Looks like i’ll be there for 6 years, so I would consider trading boats if it made sense. Is the Iowa river fishable?

[RyanJ]

Nothing wrong with that setup for around here. Plenty of guys running fiberglass 19 to 21 ft rigs....especially on the Mississippi river. It can and will get very rough. You will be glad you have a 21 fter then trust me

[jjpatton]

I grew up in iowa city and now live near the mississippi river in the quad cities where i 80 crosses. I'm reasonably familiar with pools 9-18 of the river which covers the eastern border of iowa and have fished many of the smaller lakes.

most of the above replies are spot on... the miss will be your best bet...lots of the smaller lakes have good fishing esp during the week but are a pain with no wake/etc. i grew up on the iowa river and there are bass, but most of them are white bass. there are some largemouth.

as for boats your skeeter will be fine. .. if you need help with anything holler at me