Below average rainfall last month has led to low flow conditions on Iowa’s rivers early in July.
As of Friday the East Nishnabotna River at Atlantic was flowing at 97 cubic feet per second, down from its average of 448 cfs. “We came out of June with 3.3″ of rain across Iowa which is about two inches short of normal. We’re seeing that dryness impact our stream flows across the state. Especially in the central and northwest part of Iowa, but we are seeing it in southwest Iowa. Stream flow conditions across approximately half of the state remain below normal”
Fisheries Biologist Bryan Hayes points out one thing these conditions are good for is catching catfish. “Look for deep holes. Those fish will be concentrated in those deep holes. We are talking about the catfish, mainly the channel catfish with maybe a few flathead catfish mixed in. It’s a good time of year to do some of that type of fishing. It’s really easy fishing. Look for that deeper water and you can almost be assured that there’s going to be fish in there.”
Hayes says the Missouri River Basin is forecasting runoff for 2021 could be the 10th lowest on record.
