Any Iowans Out There?

[George Cleveland]

As was noted in a previous thread started by me ("Wisconsin Trout
Fishermen-Proposed Law"), there is a move afoot to remove protections on very
small streams here in the state of Wisconsin. The sponsors of this piece of
thievery say that they are basing the modifcation on current laws in Iowa. While
N.E. Iowa is graced with pretty little spring creeks the topography makes
channelization by agri-business difficult and economically unrewarding. However
in central Iowa, where I spent a good deal of time a few years back, my
impression is that the Iowa navigability law has allowed many or most small
streams to be channelized, restricted to big ditches. Is this correct? How has
the faster runoff from these straightened streams affected flooding in the
towns and cities along the larger rivers? Has the loss of micro wetlands along
the old stream corridors negatively affected wildlife and fish? (I remember
bring told that the fishy looking Marblerock River in central Iowa was only a
meager producer of bass and catfish.) Obviously I am biased on this issue but in
order to avoid the sin that I'm accusing the sponsors of this bill of engaging
in ; i.e. only accessing information that gets through their ideological
blinders, I would like to hear if I'm wrong about my impressions of Iowa's
stream health. Are there big fish in the arrow straight creeks that flow through
the corn fields of Iowa? Do heavy rains flow effortlessly through the cities of
Mason City and Des Moines? Tell me what I don't want to hear. Or confirm what I
already suspect.

g.c.

[Memphis Jim]

No.

[BJ Conner]

It's been a few years but I did a lot of fishing in eastern Iowa in
the smaller streams. The country there rolls more and i don't
remember any of the creeks being channelized. Most of the streams
wandered around and most of time didn't look big enough to have fish
in them. Summer rains would bring fish up from the Cedar and the
Wapsi into the creeks. I didn't fly fish any of them but there were
smallmouth and largemouth bass to be caugth along with some supprizing
big catfish. I also discovered that soft shelled turtles have a long
neck and strike at you almost like a snake.


(George Cleveland) wrote in message >...
> As was noted in a previous thread started by me ("Wisconsin Trout
> Fishermen-Proposed Law"), there is a move afoot to remove protections on very
> small streams here in the state of Wisconsin. The sponsors of this piece of
> thievery say that they are basing the modifcation on current laws in Iowa. While
> N.E. Iowa is graced with pretty little spring creeks the topography makes
> channelization by agri-business difficult and economically unrewarding. However
> in central Iowa, where I spent a good deal of time a few years back, my
> impression is that the Iowa navigability law has allowed many or most small
> streams to be channelized, restricted to big ditches. Is this correct? How has
> the faster runoff from these straightened streams affected flooding in the
> towns and cities along the larger rivers? Has the loss of micro wetlands along
> the old stream corridors negatively affected wildlife and fish? (I remember
> bring told that the fishy looking Marblerock River in central Iowa was only a
> meager producer of bass and catfish.) Obviously I am biased on this issue but in
> order to avoid the sin that I'm accusing the sponsors of this bill of engaging
> in ; i.e. only accessing information that gets through their ideological
> blinders, I would like to hear if I'm wrong about my impressions of Iowa's
> stream health. Are there big fish in the arrow straight creeks that flow through
> the corn fields of Iowa? Do heavy rains flow effortlessly through the cities of
> Mason City and Des Moines? Tell me what I don't want to hear. Or confirm what I
> already suspect.
>
> g.c.

[George Cleveland]

On 11 Oct 2003 21:17:29 -0700, (BJ Conner) wrote:

>It's been a few years but I did a lot of fishing in eastern Iowa in
>the smaller streams. The country there rolls more and i don't
>remember any of the creeks being channelized. Most of the streams
>wandered around and most of time didn't look big enough to have fish
>in them. Summer rains would bring fish up from the Cedar and the
>Wapsi into the creeks. I didn't fly fish any of them but there were
>smallmouth and largemouth bass to be caugth along with some supprizing
>big catfish. I also discovered that soft shelled turtles have a long
>neck and strike at you almost like a snake.
>
>
(George Cleveland) wrote in message >...

>> g.c.

Northeastern Iowa is very similar to SW Wisconsin and SE Minnesota. The hilly
terrain has preserved a lot of the small streams simply because there wasn't
enough arable land to bother ditching the small streams. There are a number of
pretty good trout streams there. Central and Western Iowa is a different matter.
In fact if I hadn't asked my girlfriend at the time about all the ditches full
of water, I never would have known that they were once tiny creeks (her family's
business was agricultural drainage).

g.c.

[B J Conner]

"George Cleveland" > wrote in message
...
> On 11 Oct 2003 21:17:29 -0700, (BJ Conner) wrote:
>
> >It's been a few years but I did a lot of fishing in eastern Iowa in
> >the smaller streams. The country there rolls more and i don't
> >remember any of the creeks being channelized. Most of the streams
> >wandered around and most of time didn't look big enough to have fish
> >in them. Summer rains would bring fish up from the Cedar and the
> >Wapsi into the creeks. I didn't fly fish any of them but there were
> >smallmouth and largemouth bass to be caugth along with some supprizing
> >big catfish. I also discovered that soft shelled turtles have a long
> >neck and strike at you almost like a snake.
> >
> >
> (George Cleveland) wrote in message
>...
>
> >> g.c.
>
> Northeastern Iowa is very similar to SW Wisconsin and SE Minnesota. The
hilly
> terrain has preserved a lot of the small streams simply because there
wasn't
> enough arable land to bother ditching the small streams. There are a
number of
> pretty good trout streams there. Central and Western Iowa is a different
matter.
> In fact if I hadn't asked my girlfriend at the time about all the ditches
full
> of water, I never would have known that they were once tiny creeks (her
family's
> business was agricultural drainage).
>
> g.c.
I fished most of the trout streams in the NE. French Creek was my
favorite. On weekdays there wasn't enough time to drive up there, thats
when we would try anything with water in it.