Mississippi River - Pool 19

Site Regulations

All Fish: While trolling, sport fishermen must not use more than 2 poles and each pole must not have more than 2 hooks or lures.

Site-Specific Fishing Regulations:

• Bluegill or Pumpkinseed Sunfish: 25 fish daily harvest limit, singly or in aggregate
• Large or Smallmouth Bass: 14 inch minimum length limit; 5 fish daily harvest limit
• Northern Pike: 5 fish daily harvest limit
• Paddlefish: 33 inch (eye to fork) maximum length limit (all Paddlefish greater than or equal to 33 inches must be immediately released back to the Mississippi River); 2 Fish Daily Harvest Limit. Snagging for Paddlefish is permitted from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset daily, March 1 through April 15 within a 500 yard downstream limit below locks and dams on the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa. No sorting allowed. Once the daily harvest limit of Paddlefish has been reached, snagging must cease. Legal-size Paddlefish may be released at the angler’s discretion once they are included in the Daily Harvest Limit. Gaffs may not be used to land Paddlefish
• Striped, White, Yellow, or Hybrid Striped Bass: 25 fish daily harvest limit; Statewide regulation limiting daily harvest to 3 fish greater than or equal to 17 inches in not in effect on the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa
• Walleye: 15 inch minimum length limit; protected slot length with no possession of fish greater than or equal to 20 inches and less than 27 inches
• Walleye or Sauger: 6 fish daily harvest limit with no more than 1 fish greater than or equal to 27 inches
• White, Black, or Hybrid Crappie: 25 fish daily harvest limit
• Yellow Perch: 25 fish daily harvest limit

Additional Information

Fishing license Reciprocity:

Officers of Illinois and Iowa will recognize and accept valid sport fishing licenses of either state when legally possessed and used by hook-and-line sport fishermen on the Mississippi River proper forming a common boundary between Illinois and Iowa, including its backwater lakes and sloughs contiguous with the flow of waters in the main channel; provided that you do not fish from or attach any device or equipment to the main bank of the Mississippi under the jurisdiction of the state where you are not licensed to fish. You can not fish in any tributaries of the opposite state. You must conform to the regulations of the state in which you are fishing unless the regulations of your licensing state are more restrictive, then you must conform with the more restrictive regulations. The center of the navigation channel is the boundary between Illinois and Iowa. Tournaments fishing Iowa waters must have an Iowa fishing tournament permit, even if launching from the Illinois side of the river.