"The river below the dam is relatively clear, and the water levels don't go up and down as much," said Marty Balukoff, an angler from Ankeny who often makes the 35-mile drive from there to tempt walleyes from the Middle 'Coon. "I check http://ia.water.usgs.gov to see what the water flow is at the (Redfield) dam. If it's between 200 and 300 cubic feet per second, I try to figure out a way to go fishing."

Balukoff said that one of his best spring days on the Middle 'Coon came in that ideal 200 to 300 cfs range. "I caught a 3-pounder, three 5-pounders, a 5 1/2-pounder and one that went a little more than 6 pounds in just a little over an hour," he recalled. "They all went back into the river, because I only keep the smaller one for eaters. But that's just an example of how good the fishing can be in the spring on the Middle 'Coon."

Balukoff usually uses either a 1/8- to 3/8-ounce chartreuse or black twistertail jig tipped with a 2- to 2 1/2-inch minnow for fishing the Middle 'Coon. If his jigs don't draw the attention of walleyes, he switches to a black/silver or blue/silver Storm Thunderstick or Storm WiggleWart.

"There are times when they are just more interested in a crankbait," he said. "I've also had good luck in the past year or two using bone-colored Thundersticks or WiggleWarts."

Balukoff's strategy of taking a spring afternoon off from work is not without forethought. He has experimented with early-morning, late-afternoon and midday fishing trips to the Middle 'Coon.

"In the spring, they seem to turn on after the sun has warmed things up, around 2 or 3 in the afternoon," he said. "Guys who fish on lakes always want a cloudy day to make the walleyes bite, but for me, the best days in the spring to catch walleyes have been the nicest days to be fishing-clear, sunny days, when you're looking for an excuse to be out of doors."

While Balukoff often begins his sunny-day searches for walleyes at the Lennon Mills dam on the southwestern edge of Panora, he's had success walking the banks of the river all the way downstream to the dam at Redfield, and beyond.

"I'm looking for rock bars, rock walls, riprapped areas -- anything rocky," he said. "When the river flow is in that 200 to 300 cfs range, if you find rocks associated with deeper water, and fish the current breaks around those rocks, you're probably going to find walleyes."

That's a pretty simple formula that works on sunny spring days on either the Des Moines River or the Middle Raccoon River: rocks, deep water, current breaks and a pocketful of jigs -- a formula more convenient, cheaper and, potentially, more walleye-productive than a couple of tanks of gas, a boat behind a pickup and a map of Minnesota.