Have any of you had any experience on the Shell Rock River in northern Iowa? We are planning a canoe outing up there for our church group in late September.
my girlfriends dad lives on the river and have often thought about canoeing it.
all i know is it joins another river right after Rockford and the water speeds up from there. i have seen it north of Rockford and it seems slow, but i have heard its pretty the north you go.
I just paddled the Winnebego River from Mason City to just South of Nora Springs on Monday. The water was very low and warm. We did some fly fishing for smallies but the only fish we saw were carp.
The Winnebego runs into the Shell Rock at Rockford.
I haven't paddled it much, but when I was in college I used to float/hunt/fish the section below Shell Rock to the confluence to CF. It was a nice little float and the river always had enough water. Isn't there a lot of dams above Shell Rock?
I know that alot of Boy Scouts like canoing the Shell Rock starting in Rockford as the Shell Rock runs through the Boy Scout Camp. They continue into Cedar Falls for a longer trip.
A favorite section, as you'll see in paddling.net, is from Plymouth to Rock Falls. Expect to do some walking, at least in the riffle areas, at these low flows.
I live along the Shell Rock River, and have a paddlesports shop in the little town of Shell Rock. I have canoed this lovely river many times. It starts at Albert Lea Lake in MN, and flows some 100 miles to its confluence with the Cedar near Finchford, IA. The upper reaches are through flat farmland, and the river is quite small, but navigable in times of sufficient river flow (it is down a bit now, due to our dry August). From Plymouth, IA to Marble Rock, it passes through low limestone bluffs and hills, but is shallow, so you need good flows to avoid walking. The river is usually passable year-round from Greene, IA to the confluence. Though the topography is relatively flat, the river has a fast pace overall, with the exception of the impoundments behind the dams at Rockford, Marble Rock, Greene, Clarksville, and Shell Rock. There is quite a bit more water below the confluence with the Winnebago just south of Rockford, IA. Fall trips on the lower river are delightful with the numerous deciduous trees lining the banks all along the way (usually in good color by mid-October). Enjoy your trip.
John