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Home › Waters › Iowa › Turkey River
River · Northeast Iowa · Iowa

Turkey River Fishing Guides

Northeast Iowa limestone country, a longer and larger Driftless river than the Upper Iowa, with strong smallmouth and a genuine walleye and flathead fishery in the lower reaches.

A dark forest stream running fast over stone
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Turkey River

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About the Turkey River

The Turkey drains a big piece of northeast Iowa, running from near Cresco down through Elkader, Elkport and Garber to the Mississippi below Guttenberg. Like the Upper Iowa it is Driftless water, cutting limestone bluffs and running over gravel and rock, but it carries more volume and its lower reaches are big enough to fish from a motorboat. The tributaries that feed it, Bloody Run, the Volga and a dozen spring creeks, are among the best wild trout water in the state.

Smallmouth bass are the headline for float anglers, holding on the rock ledges and boulder seams from Elkader down. Below the old Elkport area the river deepens and walleye become a serious target, with flathead and channel catfish in the holes and northern pike along the slower banks. Rock bass are constant company. The combination is unusual for the Midwest: a river you can float for smallmouth in the morning and fish for wild brown trout in a spring creek two miles away in the afternoon.

The Garber gauge is on the lower river and it moves a long way with weather. Moderate readings mean clear water and defined riffles; heavy rain in the upper basin turns it brown and pushy for a day or two, which is a good streamer window as it drops but dangerous while it is peaking. The gauge also carries water temperature, which is worth watching in a hot Iowa August when the smallmouth get sluggish in the middle of the day.

Elkader is the base town, with access at the town dam and outfitters nearby. Motor Mill Historic Site, Big Spring and the Backbone State Park area are all within a short drive.

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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 Turkey River.

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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Turkey River cfs

Now: 2,670 cfs, read 2:15 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 05412500, Turkey River at Garber, IA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Elkader: town access, the dam and the most-used launch on the river.
Motor Mill Historic Site: county access with camping and a long float below.
Osborne and Volga River State Recreation Area: tributary and upper basin access.
Elkport and Garber: lower river launches around the gauge.
Millville: the last access before the Mississippi backwaters.
Bloody Run Creek and the Volga River: nearby wild trout tributaries.
County bridges through Clayton and Fayette counties give wade access.

Seasons

April and May: high water, walleye in the lower river, cautious floating.
June: the best float month, smallmouth on top and comfortable flows.
July and August: low and clear, wade fishing, watch afternoon water temperatures.
September and October: big smallmouth and a second walleye push; the prettiest weeks.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Turkey River?

As of Oct 19, 2:15 am, the USGS gauge Turkey River at Garber, IA reads 2,670 cfs, the 84th percentile for this date, with water temperature 52.9 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Turkey River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Northern Pike, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye on the Turkey River in Iowa.

Where can you access the Turkey River?

Elkader: town access, the dam and the most-used launch on the river. Motor Mill Historic Site: county access with camping and a long float below. Osborne and Volga River State Recreation Area: tributary and upper basin access. Elkport and Garber: lower river launches around the gauge. Millville: the last access before the Mississippi backwaters. Bloody Run Creek and the Volga River: nearby wild trout tributaries. County bridges through Clayton and Fayette counties give wade access.

When is the best time to fish the Turkey River?

April and May: high water, walleye in the lower river, cautious floating. June: the best float month, smallmouth on top and comfortable flows. July and August: low and clear, wade fishing, watch afternoon water temperatures. September and October: big smallmouth and a second walleye push; the prettiest weeks.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Turkey River?

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