I had the chance to finally fish Lake Rathbun in Southeast Iowa for the first time ever with my buddy Trevor (twgohawks)last weekend. I can’t believe I’ve never fished there before after seeing what a great fishery it is. Lots of keepers and a few really nice eyes made it to my boat this weekend. Trolling cranks, pitching jigs and plastic, rigging live bait, and even jigging spoons had their time and place this weekend. Here’s a nice 23” fish from Friday morning caught on a blue glass #5 shad rap. Other hot cranks were Hot n’ Tots and Berkley Frenzies. Rattle Traps also did well for a couple other guys we were with.
In the morning the fish were concentrated on the top of the reefs near the hazard buoys. Trolling and casting cranks in 3-12 fow worked very well. When we picked up a few trolling, we just stopped and cast in the area for a while and moved on. When the crank bite slowed down we managed a few nice fish Friday midday casting 1/8oz BFT precision jigs and ringworms or 3” power grubs where the reefs dropped into deep water. Chartreuse was key. We used plastics with chartreuse tails and that seemed to do the trick.
The best bite we had was mid morning until about 1pm Saturday fishing a very subtle break line just off the edge of a reef. We were trolling slowly with the bow mount following an 8-10ft break with plain rigs and a half a crawler or a leach. Several 4lb+ fish and this kicker 27” 7lb eye came to the boat along with countless keeper size walleyes (Sorry about the scowl, but it was BRIGHT). Keeping the bait moving along with the 1/4oz weight just ticking bottom was the key with this presentation. Many other boats caught on but most were stationary and didn’t see quite the success we had keeping the bait moving.
I want to thank Kolby Kester of Iowa Walleye magazine and staffer Joe K for all their very helpful tips. They gave us a good idea of what was going on prior to arriving at the lake which helped a ton. Thanks a lot guys!! For those of you that don’t know, Iowa Walleye magazine is a publication that covers walleye fishing in Iowa only and is full of great information on walleye fishing Iowa’s lakes and rivers.
Rathbun is known for great walleye fishing in June and July so there’s plenty of time to get out there and catch some really nice fish.
Awesome!! Looks like you made a good decision staying in Iowa and fishing this weekend!
Looks like fun andy…a few guys from here are going down next week, I hope to make the weekend anyway. I think Im heading up to Cornelia tonight to see if anything is going there.
Nick, I’ve heard there’s a pretty decent trolling (cranks) bite at corny in the summer. Let me know how you do.
Andy,
Thanks for the report. Which ramp did you use?
Thanks for the report Andy!
I read that last Iowa Walleye issue Ryan sent me. It’s a good read.
I love that place.Nice report Andy
Way to go Andy! Glad you got to sample what Rathbun is all about! Wish I could spend all my free days on that lake, but other lakes need coverage and stories. Off to begin dismantling Red Rock in the morning….
Kolby Kester
http://www.iawalleye.com
Kolby,what am I going to do with you?? All your free days on Rathbun
. There are a few lakes in Nw Ia I thought you liked better. 
Andy,great job on the fish.What Frenzy’s,minnow or divers?Ryan Hale
Dan, we actually used the Buck Creek ramp near the dam. That’s where we stayed so it was a long haul to the south fork area, but not too bad to the island view area.
Ryan, we tried casting ghost colored frenzies (rattle trap style ones) and didn’t have much luck. Other guys were doing really well on red original rattle traps. Trevor trolled with a deep diver frenzy, blue/white, that he caught a few on.
Do you guys expect the bite to be pretty good through july? I’m thinking about getting back down there the last weekend of june if possible.
Thanks again guys it was a blast!
those are some nice eye’s,living in des moines i fish red rock alot, last time fished rathbun I fished at bridgeview for winter time crappies and you know what those are like, i have a good friend that lives on rahtbun that i may go and see sometime he fishes the arm of honey creek for crappies and gets alot of walleye’s but we just got back from mille lac in minn. and we did get some eye’s but I think we could have got those below red rock. but the setting of all those tree’s in northern minn. is so much nicer to look at, than feilds of corn and beans. but I think I may visit my budddy carl soon. Good fishing hope it stays that way
crappie 47
LOL Ryan, I’ll look ya up in a couple weeks when the wife and I come up. Later,
hey just got my fishing report from my bud’s,they slaughtered the 14-15 inch crappies this last two day at white breast at red rock so if there’s any body that fishes there i’ll give a secret, the island off the boat ramp is hot. god luck
crappie 47
Hey Crappie, down to Red Rock today in search of walleyes. There’s no need to go to Rathbun
From what I saw today, just getting to know a little sliver of the place, there’s a pretty good population in there. Can’t wait to get back down there and look around a bit more.
Kolby Kester