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Home › Waters › Iowa › Upper Iowa River
River · Driftless Area · Iowa

Upper Iowa River Fishing Guides

The Driftless smallmouth float, running under limestone palisades in far northeast Iowa past Kendallville and Bluffton to the Mississippi.

Sunrise over a winding river cutting through open farm country
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Upper Iowa River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Upper Iowa River

The Upper Iowa runs across the top of Iowa through country the last glaciers missed, which is why it looks nothing like the rest of the state. Instead of flat black farmland the river cuts through limestone, and the bluffs above Kendallville, Bluffton and Chimney Rock stand two hundred feet over the water. It is the best-known canoe river in Iowa and one of the better smallmouth floats in the upper Midwest.

Smallmouth bass are the main event on the river itself. They hold on rock, on the outside of every bend, and along the current seams below the riffles, and a good day in June or September puts a lot of fish in the boat with a real chance at an eighteen-inch fish. Channel catfish and rock bass fill in, walleye and northern pike show up in the lower reaches toward the Mississippi, and the cold spring-fed tributaries that feed the river through this corner of the state hold wild brown trout, which is what draws fly anglers to the region as much as the smallmouth do.

The Dorchester gauge covers the lower river above the Mississippi. Moderate readings are ideal float conditions, with defined riffles and enough water to keep a canoe off the gravel. Spring melt and heavy summer thunderstorms bring it up fast and brown, and the river becomes pushy and unsafe in the bluff sections; it drops and clears within a couple of days. Late-summer low water is clear and beautiful but means dragging a boat over the shallow riffles.

Decorah is the hub, with outfitters, lodging and an easy drive to the trout streams. Bluffton, Kendallville and Dorchester are the launch points on the lower half.

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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.

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Posting to Upper Iowa 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 Upper Iowa River cfs

Now: 745 cfs, read 2:00 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 05388250, Upper Iowa River near Dorchester, IA).

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

Access

Kendallville: the classic upper launch below the bluffs.
Bluffton: canoe access under Bluffton Palisades.
Chimney Rock: outfitter and access point on the middle river.
Decorah: town access, Dunnings Spring and the trout streams nearby.
Dorchester: lower river access at the gauge.
New Albin and the Mississippi confluence: the bottom end.
Numerous county road bridges provide wade access on the middle river.

Seasons

April and May: high, cold water, then the first good smallmouth on the rock.
June: peak float season, hopper and popper fishing, warm days.
July and August: low clear water, wade fishing and early mornings.
September and October: the best big-smallmouth window; trout streams fish well too.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Upper Iowa River?

As of Oct 19, 2:00 am, the USGS gauge Upper Iowa River near Dorchester, IA reads 745 cfs, the 79th percentile for this date. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Upper Iowa River?

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

Are there fishing guides on the Upper Iowa River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Upper Iowa River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Upper Iowa River?

Kendallville: the classic upper launch below the bluffs. Bluffton: canoe access under Bluffton Palisades. Chimney Rock: outfitter and access point on the middle river. Decorah: town access, Dunnings Spring and the trout streams nearby. Dorchester: lower river access at the gauge. New Albin and the Mississippi confluence: the bottom end. Numerous county road bridges provide wade access on the middle river.

When is the best time to fish the Upper Iowa River?

April and May: high, cold water, then the first good smallmouth on the rock. June: peak float season, hopper and popper fishing, warm days. July and August: low clear water, wade fishing and early mornings. September and October: the best big-smallmouth window; trout streams fish well too.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Upper Iowa 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