Share your catch
US

Mississippi River Pool 9 Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Mississippi River Pool 9: the navigation pool between Lock and Dam 8 at Genoa and Lock and Dam 9 at Lynxville, on the Iowa-Wisconsin line.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
24,000 cfs
Air / High
74 / 74 F
Wind
S 12 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 05389500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Mississippi River Pool 9 rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The gauge reads 6.76 ft, holding steady. Today brings a mixed sky, wind S around 12 mph, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 74. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:40 AM-11:40 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

CrappieFair

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 70 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Iowa requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $22.00 for residents. What a Iowa licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with Iowa DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Iowa, read off the agency, are on the Iowa seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Mississippi at McGregor.

Gauge height, last 30 days

USGS gauge 05389500.

6.997.648.286.76 ft09/2310/0410/1410/23

Today’s flow against 76 years of October 23

At 24,000 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 05389500 (Mississippi at McGregor) is at the 52nd percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 76 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 22,900 cfs; the highest was 101,000 cfs and the lowest 8,980 cfs.

p10 12,340median 22,900p90 55,490

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 05389500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp74 F
High / Low74 / 50 F
WindS 12-17 mph
Pressure1021.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain26% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset07:28 / 18:08
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Mississippi River Pool 9 this week

The best day on Mississippi River Pool 9 this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:40 AM-11:40 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM
Minor period
4:03 AM-5:03 AM
Sun
07:28 to 18:08
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 12 mph
Rain chance
4%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Mississippi River Pool 9: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

When to come: the Mississippi River Pool 9 calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Crappie
Smallmouth bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Mississippi River Pool 9 today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 76 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 69 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Iowa requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Border-water licence rule as Iowa publishes it (updated March 19, 2026): with a valid Iowa license you may fish Wisconsin-Iowa waters of the Mississippi only between the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad tracks on the Iowa side and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy tracks on the Wisconsin side, and you must know which state you are in and follow its rules. Check current Iowa and Wisconsin border-water limits for walleye and sauger.

Access

Iowa DNR's interactive Fishing Atlas maps river accesses and Mississippi River lock and dam locations.

About this water

Mississippi River Pool 9, Lock and Dam 8 (Genoa, Wisconsin) to Lock and Dam 9 (Lynxville, Wisconsin), on the Iowa-Wisconsin border; navigation pool of the Corps' St. Paul District.

Fishing Mississippi River Pool 9: the full guide

What a pool is

The Corps' St. Paul District defines Pool 9 as the stretch of the Upper Mississippi from Lock and Dam 8, near Genoa, Wisconsin, to Lock and Dam 9, near Lynxville, Wisconsin. The locks and dams, authorized in 1930 for a 9-foot channel, are operated for navigation, not flood control, and hold slack-water pools at low and moderate flows.

How the dams changed the fishing

Iowa DNR explains that the nine-foot channel dams submerged most of the old wing dams and flooded many chutes and islands, turning the river into a chain of lake-like pools. Fast-water species such as smallmouth bass declined, while crappie, bluegill, walleye, carp and freshwater drum increased.

Below the dams

Iowa DNR says the best fishing for walleye, sauger and paddlefish on the Mississippi is directly in the tailrace below the navigation dams, especially in late spring and fall. The scoured holes below each dam hold well-oxygenated water and concentrate forage, and the dams block upstream fish movement for much of the year.

Common questions

Which license works on Pool 9?

Iowa's published agreement lets a valid Iowa licensee fish the Wisconsin-Iowa Mississippi only between the Milwaukee Road tracks on the Iowa side and the Burlington tracks on the Wisconsin side. Iowa adds that anglers are responsible for knowing which state they are fishing in and that state's rules.

Where are walleye and sauger best?

Iowa DNR says directly below the navigation dams, especially in late spring and fall.

Is fishing good at Mississippi River Pool 9 right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Upper Iowa River22 miTurkey River34 miKickapoo River36 miLake Onalaska49 miRoot River58 miCastle Rock Lake74 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 05389500 β€” Mississippi at McGregor
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 43.2200, -91.1500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 7, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 7, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.