Red Willow Creek Fishing Guides
A small southwestern Nebraska prairie creek feeding Hugh Butler Lake, where fish moving up out of the reservoir make the lower reach fish better than its size suggests.
Guides on the Red Willow Creek
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About the Red Willow Creek
Red Willow Creek is a modest piece of water by any measure, draining a little over eight hundred square miles of southwestern Nebraska plains before entering Hugh Butler Lake above McCook. What makes it worth a page is not its size but its relationship with the reservoir below it. A creek entering a lake is always more interesting than a creek that does not, because the lake fish come up into it, and in spring the lower mile or two of Red Willow Creek can hold walleye, crappie and bass that spend the rest of the year out in open water.
Above that influence it is an honest prairie creek, running between cut banks through grassland and cropland, narrow enough to step across in places and deep enough to hold fish in others. Channel catfish are the resident backbone and are present the length of it. Green sunfish are everywhere, as they are in every creek on these plains, and largemouth and smallmouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, carp, drum and white sucker all occupy the deeper holes and the slower bends. It is wading water and bank water rather than anything to float.
The gauge near Red Willow reports discharge and stage, and on a creek of this size that reading is the difference between a trip and a wasted drive. Flows here are low, often under five cubic feet per second, so a modest storm changes the creek completely and a dry spell reduces it to disconnected pools. Access is from county roads and from the public land around Hugh Butler Lake, which offers the most reliable legal entry. Anyone making the drive should plan on fishing both the creek and the reservoir, since the two are a single fishery in practice and the lake gives a reliable fallback when the creek is too thin to bother with.
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Access
Red Willow - the gauge locality and the usual reference point for the middle creek.
Hugh Butler Lake - the reservoir below, where the creek enters and the lake fish move up in spring.
McCook - the nearest town, with services and access to the lower creek and the reservoir.
Indianola - a village downstream of the reservoir on the Republican River.
Red Willow State Recreation Area - public land around the lake providing the most dependable legal access.
Curtis - an upstream town giving road access to the smaller headwater reaches.
Frontier County roads - the practical means of reaching the upper creek, where crossings are the only entry.
Seasons
Spring: by far the best window, with lake fish running up into the lower creek and the highest, most reliable flows of the year.
Summer: low and warm, reduced to a series of holes connected by thin water, with channel catfish and green sunfish the realistic targets.
Fall: flows recover a little and the water clears, making the deeper bends worth working for bass and catfish.
Winter: very low and frequently frozen, with only the deepest holes holding fish and little open water to work.
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Questions
What is the current flow on the Red Willow Creek?
As of Nov 2, 7:30 am, the USGS gauge Red Willow Creek near Red Willow, Nebr. reads 3 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.
What species can you catch on the Red Willow Creek?
Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Sucker on the Red Willow Creek in Nebraska.
Where can you access the Red Willow Creek?
Red Willow - the gauge locality and the usual reference point for the middle creek. Hugh Butler Lake - the reservoir below, where the creek enters and the lake fish move up in spring. McCook - the nearest town, with services and access to the lower creek and the reservoir. Indianola - a village downstream of the reservoir on the Republican River. Red Willow State Recreation Area - public land around the lake providing the most dependable legal access. Curtis - an upstream town giving road access to the smaller headwater reaches. Frontier County roads - the practical means of reaching the upper...
When is the best time to fish the Red Willow Creek?
Spring: by far the best window, with lake fish running up into the lower creek and the highest, most reliable flows of the year. Summer: low and warm, reduced to a series of holes connected by thin water, with channel catfish and green sunfish the realistic targets. Fall: flows recover a little and the water clears, making the deeper bends worth working for bass and catfish. Winter: very low and frequently frozen, with only the deepest holes holding fish and little open water to work.
Where are the fishing regulations for the Red Willow Creek?
Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Nebraska agency site: https://outdoornebraska.gov/guides-maps/fishing-guides-reports/