Photo by Tom Evans

There are two kinds of walleye anglers in central Iowa. One group considers a boat behind a pickup, a couple of tanks of gas and a map of Minnesota essential to a successful walleye fishing trip. A smaller group of walleye hunters will cheerfully wave goodbye to their lakebound brethren, grab a pocketful of jigs, and head for a couple of local rivers to fill their stringers with hefty walleyes.

The grinning anglers who patrol the banks of the Des Moines and Middle Raccoon rivers in central Iowa know that they have the potential to catch just as many walleyes as will their northbound brethren, and often larger ones. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources aggressively stocks Iowa's major inland rivers every year with a riverine strain of walleyes that have flourished in both numbers and size.

A "WINDOW" FOR WALLEYES
Forty-one-year-old Rod Campbell, called "Mr. Walleye" by other anglers on the Des Moines River in central Iowa, hesitantly agreed to talk about the exceptional walleye fishing he enjoys less than six miles from his back door in Boone -- "as long as I don't have to give away any of my secret spots," he stipulated.

Campbell has fished the Des Moines River for more than 25 years. His detailed fishing journal proves that walleye fishing on the Des Moines River has gone from "good" to "outstanding" during that time.

"I've got photos of me back in the '80s with stringers of nice 2-pound 'eater' walleyes," said Campbell. "The walleye fishing was pretty good. But lately it's gotten to the point where it's almost unbelievable. It's nothing to catch 5-pounders anymore. Last year, I caught 12 walleyes that were 7 pounds or larger. My largest fish from the Des Moines River was a 27 1/2-incher that weighed 10.5 pounds. You can't do that well in a lot of the lakes up north."

Campbell, who fishes without a boat, starts patrolling the banks of the Des Moines River soon after ice-out. He's looking for a "window of opportunity" that signals the best walleye fishing of the spring.

"Right after ice-out the river runs high with snowmelt, but then it mellows out, and there's usually a period of time, a window, before spring rains start, that it runs relatively clear and mellow," he said. "What I'm looking for is the first significant warmup within that window. That's a trigger for walleyes. Another trigger is just enough warm rain to bring the river up a little, but not muddy it up. That will really put them on a bite."

Campbell acknowledged that several well-known spots on the Des Moines River near Boone have produced lots of walleyes for him over the years. The south end of the Fraser Dam, both ends of the Boone Waterworks Dam and the rocked jetties at "Big Eddy" on the major bend in the river due east of Fraser are perennial producers for him.

"The dams are obstacles that concentrate fish when they're making their run prior to the spawn," he said. "Big Eddy has the rocks, the deep water and the current breaks that will always attract walleyes. Those are definitely spots I always consider when I go fishing."