Spoon River Fishing Guides
Better known from Edgar Lee Masters' poems than from fishing reports, the Spoon is a serious flathead and channel catfish river running through the old coal country of west-central Illinois.
Guides on the Spoon River
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About the Spoon River
Most people who know the name Spoon River know it from Edgar Lee Masters, whose Spoon River Anthology made this quiet west-central Illinois valley permanently literary. The river itself is less celebrated and considerably more interesting than its reputation suggests. It drains a large agricultural and former coal-mining watershed, runs brown and deliberate between high cut banks, and holds a catfish population substantial enough to justify the drive. Flathead catfish are the headline fish, with channel catfish throughout and the occasional heavy one taken from the log jams and outside bends.
The character is thoroughly Midwestern bottomland. The Spoon is a soft-bottomed, timber-choked prairie river, and its best structure is wood rather than rock – fallen sycamores, root wads, undercut clay banks and the deep scour holes below them. Flatheads live in that wood, and the standard approach is live bait set tight to a snag after dark. Channel catfish are more broadly distributed and far more cooperative. Smallmouth and largemouth bass, white bass, drum, carp and gar round out the mix, and shovelnose sturgeon turn up in the lower river toward the Illinois River confluence.
The gauge at London Mills reads a free-flowing river with no significant impoundment above it, so the Spoon responds directly to rainfall across a wide, largely tiled agricultural watershed. That makes it flashy. It can rise several feet in a day after a serious storm and turns the color of coffee with cream, which matters less for catfish than for anything else in the river. Late summer and early fall bring the clearest and lowest water of the year, when the deep bends are easy to read and a canoe or jet-drive skiff can work most of the lower reach.
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Access
London Mills - the gauge town and the usual upstream reference, with road and bridge access to the middle river.
Seville - a downstream community on the lower river, useful for reaching the deeper bends.
Bernadotte - a long-standing access point on the lower Spoon with a historic dam site and good bank fishing.
Babylon Bend - a Fulton County forest preserve area giving public frontage on the lower river.
Havana - the Illinois River town near the Spoon mouth, the practical base for boats and supplies.
Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area - public land along the lower valley with bottomland access.
Ellisville - a small village on the middle river with a bridge crossing and bank access.
Seasons
Spring: high, brown and pushing hard with snowmelt and spring rain, and the best time for a big flathead once the water starts dropping.
Summer: warm, low and the core catfish season, with night fishing to the log jams the most productive approach.
Fall: the clearest water of the year, good for floating and for working the deep outside bends by day.
Winter: cold and quiet, with catfish holding in the deepest holes and bank access the practical way to reach them.
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Questions
What is the current flow on the Spoon River?
As of Nov 2, 7:45 am, the USGS gauge SPOON RIVER AT LONDON MILLS, IL reads 761 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.
What species can you catch on the Spoon River?
Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Longnose Gar, Shovelnose Sturgeon, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass on the Spoon River in Illinois.
Where can you access the Spoon River?
London Mills - the gauge town and the usual upstream reference, with road and bridge access to the middle river. Seville - a downstream community on the lower river, useful for reaching the deeper bends. Bernadotte - a long-standing access point on the lower Spoon with a historic dam site and good bank fishing. Babylon Bend - a Fulton County forest preserve area giving public frontage on the lower river. Havana - the Illinois River town near the Spoon mouth, the practical base for boats and supplies. Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area - public land along the lower valley with bottomland ac...
When is the best time to fish the Spoon River?
Spring: high, brown and pushing hard with snowmelt and spring rain, and the best time for a big flathead once the water starts dropping. Summer: warm, low and the core catfish season, with night fishing to the log jams the most productive approach. Fall: the clearest water of the year, good for floating and for working the deep outside bends by day. Winter: cold and quiet, with catfish holding in the deepest holes and bank access the practical way to reach them.
Where are the fishing regulations for the Spoon River?
Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Illinois agency site: https://www.ifishillinois.org/site-documents/FishingDigest.pdf