<p>The section of the Turkey River that flows by Big Springs carries good numbers of trout year round. This river gives Iowa trout anglers a chance to catch trout from a real river with enough current to make even small hatchery stock rainbows really put up a fight. Located near the town of Elkader, the Big Springs rearing station is used to stock some of the streams in that area. After the water is used by the facility, it dumps out into the Turkey River. I'm not sure of the flow-rate, but I believe it is one of the largest springs in the state. This influx of cold water is substantial enough to bring the Turkey's water characteristics within acceptable limits for trout year round. During the summer, the fish will be more closely associated with the stretch of river immediately downstream of the springs. Once late fall comes and the water temperature drops below 65 degrees throughout the river, the fish start to spread out both up and downstream. </p><p> </p><p>Insect life is abundant in this rocky portion of the Turkey, and when coupled with the size of the river (which makes finding room for a backcast quite easy) it proves to be an opportune fly-fishing choice. There are very few places in our state where you can simply pick up your line with no fore-thought to your backcast and not end up tangled in something. This is one of them. If you want to get out and practice your 50+ foot casts before that trip out west, this is your best place to do it and still have a chance at catching some trout. The spin fisherman will also find the Turkey's trout willing participants. I've had luck on a number of offerings; it just seems to depend on the day. Sometimes it's a little spinner or a jig; sometimes a small crankbait. You'll want to use light enough line that you can cast quite a distance though. There isn't too much brushy structure to get hung up on, so you can get away with the lighter lines. A friend of mine coined the term "rainbow flop" to describe the cork-screw like, erratic motion of a typical 10-13 inch stocker in most of Iowa's trout streams. Until I fished the Turkey, I never knew Iowa had any smaller rainbows that could really put up a fight. The effect of the big river current is three fold. First off, a fish swimming away from you with that current has a lot more help than one from a pool or slow moving run normally associated with our trout streams. Secondly, the depth of the water gives that fish more room to maneuver in the water column, in our smaller streams they cannot go up and down much without running out of real estate. Those are the aspects of the river that play into the equation. The third effect is due to the fact that these fish have to live their lives under these conditions. This is purely speculative, but I believe the fish are generally stronger than those found in smaller streams. These fish have to fight the current on the bigger river on a daily basis making them better conditioned for their fight with you. These three things add up to more fight per inch than the fish in the smaller streams. Finally I would like to note the possibility of multi-species fishing on the Turkey. It has a very healthy smallmouth bass and walleye population; you never know what you might run into. This along with everything stated previously make it a unique and fun place to spend a day drowning a worm in the Hawkeye State. </p>
</p><p>Insect life is abundant in this rocky portion of the Turkey, and when coupled with the size of the river (which makes finding room for a backcast quite easy) it proves to be an opportune fly-fishing choice. There are very few places in our state where you can simply pick up your line with no fore-thought to your backcast and not end up tangled in something. This is one of them. If you want to get out and practice your 50+ foot casts before that trip out west, this is your best place to do it and still have a chance at catching some trout. The spin fisherman will also find the Turkey's trout willing participants. I've had luck on a number of offerings; it just seems to depend on the day. Sometimes it's a little spinner or a jig; sometimes a small crankbait. You'll want to use light enough line that you can cast quite a distance though. There isn't too much brushy structure to get hung up on, so you can get away with the lighter lines. A friend of mine coined the term "rainbow flop" to describe the cork-screw like, erratic motion of a typical 10-13 inch stocker in most of Iowa's trout streams. Until I fished the Turkey, I never knew Iowa had any smaller rainbows that could really put up a fight. The effect of the big river current is three fold. First off, a fish swimming away from you with that current has a lot more help than one from a pool or slow moving run normally associated with our trout streams. Secondly, the depth of the water gives that fish more room to maneuver in the water column, in our smaller streams they cannot go up and down much without running out of real estate. Those are the aspects of the river that play into the equation. The third effect is due to the fact that these fish have to live their lives under these conditions. This is purely speculative, but I believe the fish are generally stronger than those found in smaller streams. These fish have to fight the current on the bigger river on a daily basis making them better conditioned for their fight with you. These three things add up to more fight per inch than the fish in the smaller streams. Finally I would like to note the possibility of multi-species fishing on the Turkey. It has a very healthy smallmouth bass and walleye population; you never know what you might run into. This along with everything stated previously make it a unique and fun place to spend a day drowning a worm in the Hawkeye State. </p>