Fished NE Iowa, the Driftless Region

[jonbo]

Well, Beaver's Bend fisher-people, I have fished the Driftless now, Iowa, specifically. This post is a little late. It was actually late October we went. Sorry for not posting earlier, but here it is.

The Driftless Region, as you may or may not know, encompasses a corner in NE Iowa, SE Minnesota, and SW Wisconsin. It's a geological name having to do with the glacial period. Unlike what we're used to thinking of the midwest plains, it's a bit hilly. It's full of these really neat spring creeks and small rivers. Small water fishing all the way. Brook trout are native but often displaced by stocked rainbows and browns. I get the impression the browns are like what we have around here, stocked as fingerlings and also stream bred.

Because we went in late October, my selection of Iowa to visit was pre-decided. The other states have closed trout fishing for the season. (Well, hmm, I know Wisconsin does. Not positive about Minnesota.) Anyway, Iowa it was. It was not a mistake. We stayed at Bear Creek Cabins which sit on S Bear Creek (right across the road). It was just spectacularly lovely. The ridge behind the Creek was in full fall colors. An eagle flew up and down it all the time. That was our view from the front door and deck.

I didn't catch many during the week, but it was good. Being with Wifey on vacay, I didn't actually fish a whole lot between the touring around, but really enjoyed it. Fished a certain special place I won't hot-spot here. That was really tough. Bucket list item knocked off. Probably wouldn't try it again. It was hard fishing. The creek was about 4 ft wide in most places, but with the tall grass, you had to cast perfectly down about an 18" wide lane. My skills weren't really up to it, but, oddly, I still really enjoyed making the attempt. I had one on that came off.

Other than that, staying at Bear Creek Cabins, I prowled South Bear, right across the road, several times. That's where I discovered that fishing Driftless Region spring creeks is a whole different game than the pretty open tailwaters that I'm used to. By golly, it's tighter! I've never caught so many trees, bushes, grass. The fish, what with the recent droughtiness, low water, minimal turbidity, they're some mighty spooky critters. I found right away a pretty large pool on the stocking truck's track filled with fish, but never actually bothered fishing it. You can fish those anywhere in the US that they stock. 

Instead I prowled the skinnier water mainly, and found individuals that required stalking after. That was pretty hard to do, but fun! You're creeping along the bank. Zip! A fish takes off. You watch where he finally stops. You creep up, creep up, creep up... make a wrong move. Zip! Off he goes again. I finally stalked one into a bit of a dark kind of plunge pool, tossed a pink squirrel into it (If you fish the Driftless, you have to use Pink Squirrels for your nymphs. It's a requirement), and he took it! I think he was a stocked rainbow. He jumped several times before coming unbuttoned.

Another time there I wandered upstream to a mid-sized pool with some dead wood behind it where I saw several fish podded up. I fished them for about 30-40 minutes. Every time I moved wrong, or caught my backcast in some grass and had to go retrieve it, BAM! they all took off. Gradually they'd come back. Finally I was tight-lining or stripping, I think a Bird's Nest fly close to the bottom with a split shot to keep it deep. I gave a couple of quick hard strips at one point and provoked probably a reaction strike from a fairly nice brown. He jumped several times before coming off.

The only other place I went to, Mike Rogers, my great guide for that one day had marked me several spots on the local little trout map you get. I picked the one right by town. My wife and I had been there 'cause it has a really nice walk/bike path right along it and we exercise fast-walk together. I said, "I think I'll fish this run. I know where the parking and walking to it is" so that's what I did. It was really nice. Mike had told me a really good pool to fish, but I had no luck there. I found I had a beaver buddy. Everywhere I went, there he was, popping his head up, diving. No fish.

So I went upstream half a mile. Ditched my beaver buddy. In a bend I found a little hole. I pulled several stocked rainbows out of there with a size 16 PT under a bobber. Good ol' bobber nymph fishing! There were little mayflies coming off that day, and a few risers. I didn't get any action with either a dry or an emerger. I tried swinging leeches, too, as someone had recommended, pero para nada.

The other streams weren't nearly as demanding as the first one I told you about, casting-wise. They were still narrower than what I'm used to fishing and took somewhat more care casting and more stealth, in general. But it sure was fun.

I didn't catch many, overall, but it was really cool fishing Driftless Spring creeks. It really was. Touring the area with my wife was just as neat. That area of Iowa is just spectacularly scenic, loveliness wherever you go. We loved touring around. We nailed the fall colors. Decorah was the main town. It was pretty. I recommend Toppling Goliath Brewing Company for a beer and a burger. Also, the sports bar in town, T-Bocks, has really good beer AND food. Drive over to Lansing, just 30 minutes, along the Mississippi, and drive up the hill to their over-look. It's spectacular! Lansing is extremely pretty. The Mississippi there, the towns, beautiful. So, I recommend the Iowa Driftless, totally, for both scenery AND fishing. Bear Creek Cabins is a great place to centrally locate in Iowa. I also really recommend Mike Rogers of Bear Creek Anglers if you're in the Iowa Driftless and need a guide. He's a really good guy, very knowledgeable, and patient with a fairly mediocre caster.

No pics, sorry. I don't really know how to post pictures on forums.

[dannys]

Great report Jonbo! It's great to read a positive post though not a lot of fish are caught. I have read a lot about the Drifless, have been to the MN/IA/WI area for work, just never was able to pause for fishing. Maybe one day......

[jonbo]

It's really fun fishing. Spring creeks are different from what we-all might be used to. Bring a rod next time!

[hoss]

Thanks for taking the time to post, really an interesting read!

[shiner]

My wife and her enormous family are from Dyersville area, so i fish eastern/northern iowa 1-3 x per year. I have explored most of the (iowa portion) of the driftless region, and agree that it is beautiful, and challenging. I don't have a problem with stockers (I am on this board and fish LMF, so there..) but of late I have been a little more adventurous and have located a few streams with "native" populations of browns. Brookies are of historical interest, as most are the victim of pig poop runoff from the cornfields, and competition from stocked fish.

The hatcheries all have a run of brookies, and i have read some reports of plans to rotenone streams and replenish with brookies, but have not seen anything come to fruition.

3 weights (or lower) and stealthy stalking are required. I have always found it far better to walk in the water and fish upstream rather than trying to cast from the bank, the fish generally see less of you, and you have a better backcast opportunity in these little creeks 4-10 ft across.

A box of soft hackles is the key to the region. I tie dark adams gray (with silver rib) and hares ear dubbing (with gold rib), in very small sizes, 20 and 22 and usually tear them up. 18's work ok too. If you tie, making some little olive and tan scuds in 18-22's will produce as well. Tiny glo-bugs are a must too, and i think that pink squirrel would be excellent. I tie very small conehead buggers and dead drift them with a slightly larger soft hackle behind without an indicator, and swing them at he end of the drift as my last act in a pool that i already have nymphed, and always get eats.

I've never used a guide up there, but I hear (and see on the net) that there has been a proliferation in the past few years.


I agree that decorah is a neat little base of operations, and agree with the recc for T-bocks. I stayed in decorah last fall and had an epic day which was punctuated with buffalo wings, a few beers at the sports bar, and watching the cowboys beat the packers (4 guys in packers gear were not too happy, but were friendly at least). The bear creek cabins look nice, but i stayed in the hotel winnesheik, which an awesome ole timey hotel, super clean and midwest-luxurious.

If you are planning a trip i am going to recommend getting jene hughes book "Iowa Trout Streams". This is out of print but you can get old paperbacks for not too much $$. I have been using this book for 20 years or so, and most of the info is still valid. He is incredibly detailed on where to park, stream access, good holes, what to use, and nearby services.

"Flyfisher's Guide to Wisconsin & Iowa" is another excellent reference, by John Motoviloff. He borrows much of Jene's info, and provides some updated info on access, and a few new streams. There are QR codes which you can scan to your phone, which helps with mapping your way. Be advised that quite a few of these waters are out of internet service areas, so toting the books along is important

[jonbo]

I like to catch browns as a slight novelty from catching rainbows. In the different places I fish, I usually catch 15-20 rainbows per brown. That said, I've caught a few browns at the LMF recently. Otherwise, I'm not particular. I guess I also kind of value the browns a little higher as I think that usually they're not just recently stocked.

My approach in the Iowa spring creeks I fished was to creep slowly up the bank, scanning. It worked pretty well. It was a heck of a lot of fun, anyway. I caught a few on mayfly nymphs, a couple on emergers. Mainly what was neat was it was a lot different from fishing the more open water in our mid-south tailwaters and took different technique and approach.

The other thing that was remarkable to me about the Driftless Region was how lovely and quaint everything was. I really recommend it as a vacation destination for a couple with a week or so. Bear Creek Cabins where we stayed makes a good base point if anyone wants to know. It has a decent fishing creek right across the road and a very nice view.