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Home › Waters › Iowa › Rathbun Lake
Lake · Appanoose County, a large flood control reservoir on the Chariton River in the rolling hills of south central Iowa · Iowa

Rathbun Lake Fishing Guides

A large south central Iowa reservoir on the Chariton River with lake stage on the gauge, and one of the best walleye and wiper fisheries in the state.

Sunrise burning off mist over a timbered reservoir
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Rathbun Lake

Rathbun Lake impounds the Chariton River in the rolling hill country of south central Iowa, a few miles northwest of Centerville. At around eleven thousand acres at conservation pool it is one of the largest bodies of water in the state, and it was built for flood control, water supply and recreation, which means the pool is managed rather than static. The surrounding country is a mix of pasture, row crop and timbered draw, and the shoreline is long and irregular with a great deal of standing and submerged timber in the upper arms.

The gauge reports lake stage. On a managed reservoir that single number carries more information than it first appears to, because the operating agency draws the pool down and refills it on a seasonal schedule and also pulls it down ahead of forecast inflow. Fish location on Rathbun tracks that pool level closely: a rising pool floods the timber and bank vegetation in the upper arms and pulls bass and crappie shallow, while a falling pool strips that cover and concentrates fish on the main lake points, roadbeds and standing timber. Checking stage before a trip is the local habit and a sound one.

Rathbun is best known for walleye, supported by a substantial state hatchery programme, and for wiper, the hybrid striped bass that provide the hardest fighting fish in the lake and spectacular surface feeding in summer when they push schools of shad. Crappie are abundant and hold on the timber and brushpiles. Channel catfish are everywhere and flatheads reach serious size in the river arms. Largemouth bass, bluegill, white bass and yellow perch fill out the fishery. The Corps and state parks provide numerous ramps, campgrounds and shoreline access around the lake.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Rathbun Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Centerville - the county seat nearby, with full services, tackle, lodging and supplies.
Honey Creek Resort State Park - the resort park on the lake, with lodging, a marina and a ramp.
Rathbun Lake Dam - the outlet at the south end, with tailwater fishing and bank access.
Island View Recreation Area - a Corps area with camping, ramps and shoreline fishing.
Rathbun Fish Hatchery - the state hatchery below the dam, the source of much of the walleye stocking.
Chariton River - the inflow river above and the tailwater below, with catfish and seasonal walleye.
Des Moines - ninety minutes northwest, with the nearest major airport and full outfitting.

Seasons

Spring: the best of the year, with the walleye spawn, crappie moving shallow and wiper following bait.
Summer: warm with walleye deep and wiper feeding on the surface, and strong night catfishing.
Fall: very good as the water cools, with walleye and crappie concentrating on structure.
Winter: iced over for much of it, with established ice fishing for crappie, walleye and perch.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Rathbun Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass, White Crappie, Wiper, Yellow Perch on the Rathbun Lake in Iowa.

Where can you access the Rathbun Lake?

Centerville - the county seat nearby, with full services, tackle, lodging and supplies. Honey Creek Resort State Park - the resort park on the lake, with lodging, a marina and a ramp. Rathbun Lake Dam - the outlet at the south end, with tailwater fishing and bank access. Island View Recreation Area - a Corps area with camping, ramps and shoreline fishing. Rathbun Fish Hatchery - the state hatchery below the dam, the source of much of the walleye stocking. Chariton River - the inflow river above and the tailwater below, with catfish and seasonal walleye. Des Moines - ninety minutes northwest, w...

When is the best time to fish the Rathbun Lake?

Spring: the best of the year, with the walleye spawn, crappie moving shallow and wiper following bait. Summer: warm with walleye deep and wiper feeding on the surface, and strong night catfishing. Fall: very good as the water cools, with walleye and crappie concentrating on structure. Winter: iced over for much of it, with established ice fishing for crappie, walleye and perch.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Rathbun Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Iowa agency site: https://www.iowadnr.gov/things-do/fishing/regulations-laws