Don't pass up interior rivers!!!

[crappie98]

We ice fished an interior river today for eyes.  Ended up quite well.  Kept 8 eye.  16" to 23".  Also caught nice smallies and some rock bass.  We were fishing on 16" of ice in 7 to 15 FOW.

[cyclones30]

Nice! I grew up in Greene and always wanted to do that but never had the time or equipment back then. I've got a few places that should be great if I can get back up there to do it. Probably won't be this year though....  Thanks for sharing!

[Eyeseeker]

Were u actually on a river or the backwaters? Good job, nice lookin fish. Need any help eatin them?lol

[crappie98]

was on the main channel of the river.

[Eyeseeker]

Wow. Must b quite a ways north of me if the iceis holdin up that well. i was out saturday on the river but was in theboat. I combined my open water and ice fishin together. Dropped the vexilar off the transom and sat on the splashwell jiggin with my ice rod. Usin a swedish pimple and turned the gain way up so i could c it good. Did real well on crappies. Glad nobody was around cuz it prob looked kinda silly

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

Went out on the North coon river below a dam in sac city ia. Caught a few decent catfish on jigs/minnows. Fished in 5 ft of water over 7" of ice.

Thanks for the insight on rivers!

[MelroseHawkins]

Wow. Must b quite a ways north of me if the iceis holdin up that well. i was out saturday on the river but was in theboat. I combined my open water and ice fishin together. Dropped the vexilar off the transom and sat on the splashwell jiggin with my ice rod. Usin a swedish pimple and turned the gain way up so i could c it good. Did real well on crappies. Glad nobody was around cuz it prob looked kinda silly

Hillbilly ice fishing!!

[cyclones30]

Anyone fishing the shell rock on Saturday? Had to run to Marble Rock for some tax stuff and saw there were a few guys above the dam. Some good spots up that way...

[walleyewarrior50595]

That was me and my buddy up there. Found ten ft of water for quite a stretch . Marked a few but no takers.

[cyclones30]

That was me and my buddy up there. Found ten ft of water for quite a stretch . Marked a few but no takers.

I've always had a few spots in mind above Greene but haven't tried yet...

Any tips for fishing in current? I'd guess something with plenty of weight so you can actually see your lure on the flasher and not have it drift down....

[walleyewarrior50595]

Current wasnt much of an issue really. 1/16 oz jigs and spoons. First time I've tried the river though.

[jumbo chaser]

I'm going to mount my vex on a small boat and do some hillbilly ice fishing before long down here in southern Iowa LOL

[grizzwald660]

seen a post somewhere. maybe on here and the guy had his transducer downstream a long ways. maybe 30 feet.

[SpoonieLuv]

Depends on the current, usually a 2 holes drilled next to each other will work fine. With more current you might have to drill the hole for the transducer a couple feet from the one you are fishing to swing the lure into the "cone". If you have to drill more than 3 feet away it's to much current and I have never done well in that much current.

[MidnightRambler]

Some people probably got in to some walleye through the ice below the Coralville Tube this winter, but for the few days that ice was mostly safe I was too busy to do anything more than check it one day. 

Maybe next winter...

[Mr.Seaguar]

If you are gonna icefish where theres current keep your life insurance paid up, for your family's sake

[cyclones30]

The areas I'd be going to have a consistent 8-10" right now. We drilled some test holes just to see, but these are above a dam so the water is slower and snowmobiles have been riding on it daily for 2 months... they had 6 parked side by side and it didn't even make a noise.  I'll never ice fish real current areas

[SpoonieLuv]

All bodies of water have some "current". The areas I have been fishing have 16" of ice and moderate to slow current depending on where you set up/find fish. No ice is safe ice, so we all should be paid up on the life insurance. Fact is most of my close calls have been on lakes not rivers with currrent. On rivers you are always checking the ice, on lakes most people check a couple spots and then think the entire lake is safe when it is not.