The Volga River flows from Volga Lake through Fayette and east towards Garber where it joins the Turkey River to flow into the Mississippi. Smallmouth fishing is good in nearly all reaches of this small river. Here's a picture of me with a typical Volga smallmouth.



This fish is about what you can expect from the Volga (Not really, that is a new pic of a larger Volga smallie I caught on 7/15/04). The river is not the best place in the state to catch a trophy smallie, but it does hold large numbers of fish in the ten to fourteen inch range. There are a fair number of fish in the two to three lb range, but your chances of getting much over a three or four pounder are not very good. If big is what you are after, try the Maquoketa or Cedar in the catch and release areas.

The appeal of fishing the Volga lies in the beauty of the area, and the potential for catching some hard fighting smallmouth bass in a pretty small stream. The fish in the Volga do not have much water to work with, so you can wind up with some pretty aerobatic performances. Instead of being able to head down deep, even the bigger fish tend to take to the air in hopes of shaking your hook.

Since most of the fish you will catch on the Volga are of modest size it is a great place to get out an ultra light rod and have some fun. A fifteen inch fish on an ultra light rod with four pound test is one hell of a fight. That same fish on a medium action spinning rod with eight pound line would still be fun, but not as much of a challenge. The smaller rod and line also allow you to cast ultra light plugs and jigs that can be the key to getting the smallies to bite.



When fishing the Volga, concentrate on deeper pools with rocks and trees. This is true for virtually any smallmouth stream, but because the Volga is so shallow once summer takes hold this is the only place fish will be. During the hottest times of mid-summer, concentrate on areas downstream of riffles. Since the oxygen carrying capacity of the water is at its lowest point of the year, finding the water with the highest oxygen content is often the key to finding the most and biggest fish.