Pool 10 fishing, from Lynxville down to Guttenberg
Pool 10 is where the Genoa-to-Lynxville story hands off to Guttenberg. Cross Lock and Dam 9 and you keep the six-fish walleye slot fromPool 9 fishing near Lansing, but you lose the Minnesota chapter entirely — this reach is Wisconsin-Iowa water with the Wisconsin River dumping colour into the delta.
Use this spoke with ourriver overview for this stretch pillar when you are staging out of Prairie du Chien or Guttenberg and need the NR 22 table, not another Genoa copy.
Current river conditions
Mississippi River at McGregor, Iowa, USGS site 05389500
- Gage height
- 6.80 ft
- Observed Jul 27, 2026, 5:45 AM
- Barometric pressure
- 1007.6 hPa
- Steady, +0.7 hPa over three hours.
This gauge sits inside Pool 10.
Snapshot taken when this page was built, Jul 27, 2026, 6:13 AM, and refreshed in your browser from theUSGS Water Services andOpen-Meteo APIs.
What is Pool 10, exactly?
The water held back by Lock and Dam 10 at river mile 615 in Guttenberg, Iowa. Iowa DNR measures the pool at 32.8 miles upstream to Lock and Dam 9. The dam is a 763-foot concrete structure with four roller gates and eight Tainter gates, plus a long earth embankment and a 1,200-foot concrete spillway; the lock is the standard 110 by 600 feet.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Length | 32.8 river miles |
| Surface area | Not published by Iowa DNR |
| Dam location | River mile 615, Guttenberg, Iowa |
| Counties | Clayton County, Iowa and Grant County, Wisconsin |
| Major tributary | Wisconsin River delta |
Counties on the published project framing are Clayton County, Iowa and Grant County, Wisconsin. The pool also touches refuge water, Effigy Mounds National Monument, Pikes Peak State Park on the Iowa side and Wyalusing State Park on the Wisconsin side — useful landmarks, not a substitute for the closed-area maps.
How does the Wisconsin River change this pool?
It is the major tributary. The confluence builds a large delta with refuge closed-area water on the Wisconsin bank. After a Wisconsin River rise you get colour, wood and a temperature shift on Pool 10 while the Guttenberg dam face can still look relatively clean. That is the opposite problem from Pool 7’s Black River / Lake Onalaska story, and it is why this page is not a Pool 9 template with the numbers swapped.
Smaller Iowa-side creeks — Yellow River, Paint Creek, Sny Magill — matter after local thunderstorms, but they do not rewrite the whole pool the way the Wisconsin River does.
Which limits apply on Pool 10?
Wisconsin anglers work from chapter NR 22, the Wisconsin-Iowa boundary-water table. Pool 10 falls in the Pools 9 to 12 walleye block. Catfish, pike and panfish follow the more generous NR 22 numbers — the same pattern as lower Pool 9 below the Iowa line.
| Species | Season | Daily bag | Size limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walleye and sauger | Continuous | 6 in aggregate | No size limit for sauger, 15 inches for walleye; walleye from 20 to 27 inches may not be kept and only one may be longer than 27 inches |
| Largemouth and smallmouth bass | Continuous | 5 in aggregate | 14 inches |
| Catfish | Continuous | No bag limit | None |
| Northern pike | Continuous | 5 | None |
| Bluegill and sunfish combined | Continuous | 25 in total | None |
| Crappies | Continuous | 25 | None |
| Yellow perch | Continuous | 25 | None |
| White and yellow bass combined | Continuous | 25 in total | None |
| Rock bass | Continuous | 25 | None |
| Lake sturgeon and paddlefish | No open season | — | — |
Where can you launch between Lynxville and Guttenberg?
Main-channel and backwater launches along the Iowa and Wisconsin banks between Lock and Dam 9 and Lock and Dam 10. Iowa DNR documents the pool bounds on Fish Iowa; it does not publish one flagship ramp sheet on that page, so we refuse to invent a favourite landing. Use theWisconsin boat access inventory for the Wisconsin bank and Iowa’s where-to-fish tools for Guttenberg / McGregor / Harpers Ferry launches.
Cross-check therefuge pool maps for closed areas around the Wisconsin River delta before you commit to a backwater run.
What should you target south of Lock and Dam 9?
Walleye and sauger keep the six-fish protected-slot structure. Channel catfish become a volume fishery under NR 22’s no-bag framing — legal is not the same as smart. Largemouth hold in delta and island backwaters when the main channel is ripping.
Species playbooks stay onwalleye playbook on the pools andcatfish patterns on the pools. Weight without a scale lives on the calculators those pages already link.
When is Pool 10 worth the drive from Prairie du Chien?
When the McGregor stage is stable enough to run the delta safely and the Wisconsin River is not dumping a fresh slug of wood. Dawn against current below Lock and Dam 9 is the classic walleye window; warm nights on deeper holes are the catfish hours. Midday behind a rising high is when we stay on shore and walk Effigy Mounds instead of burning fuel.
Pair the gauge panel with thebest fishing time calculator for light and pressure. Seasons for the headline species stay continuous under the Wisconsin Iowa-boundary table.
Questions anglers ask about Pool 10
How long is Pool 10?
Iowa Department of Natural Resources lists Pool 10 at 32.8 miles from Lock and Dam 10 at Guttenberg upstream to Lock and Dam 9 at Lynxville. The Corps places Lock and Dam 10 at river mile 615.0. Iowa DNR lists surface acres as not available, so this site does not invent an acreage figure.
Is Pool 10 Wisconsin-Iowa water the whole way?
Yes for the Wisconsin boundary-water framing. Pool 10 sits under chapter NR 22 (Wisconsin-Iowa) rather than the Minnesota chapter that owns Pool 8 and the upper half of Pool 9. That is why catfish and panfish tables look like lower Pool 9, not like Genoa.
Where is the live gauge for Pool 10?
United States Geological Survey site 05389500 at McGregor, Iowa, sits inside Pool 10 and publishes stage. This page shows that reading without discharge, because the Instantaneous Values service has not returned a current flow figure at the site in years.
What is the big tributary on Pool 10?
The Wisconsin River. Its confluence builds a large delta with refuge closed-area water on the Wisconsin side. Smaller Iowa-side creeks include the Yellow River, Paint Creek and Sny Magill Creek. After a Wisconsin River rise, colour and debris show up on Pool 10 before Guttenberg looks any different.
Do walleye limits match Pool 9?
On the Wisconsin table, Pool 10 falls in the Pools 9 to 12 walleye and sauger aggregate of six fish under NR 22, with the same 15-inch walleye minimum, 20-to-27-inch protected slot and one-fish-over-27 rule that Pool 9 uses. Confirm Iowa shore rules separately if you are fishing the Iowa bank.
Still fishing above Lock and Dam 9? OurPool 9 fishing guide covers the longer pool that still straddles Minnesota and Iowa, including the unmarked rule change near New Albin.
Sources
- Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Fish Iowa pool description for Pool 10
Iowa DNR describes Pool 10 as 32.8 miles from Lock and Dam 10 at Guttenberg upstream to Lock and Dam 9 at Lynxville. Surface acres are listed as not available on the same page, so this site does not invent an acreage figure.
- Region 5 Regional Response Team, Upper Mississippi River Pool 10 overview
Pool 10 also includes refuge closed areas, Effigy Mounds National Monument, Pikes Peak State Park (Iowa) and Wyalusing State Park (Wisconsin).
- United States Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District project page for Lock and Dam 10
Located at Mississippi River mile 615.0. Constructed and placed in operation in 1937. Concrete dam 763 feet long with four roller gates and eight Tainter gates, plus a long earth embankment and a 1,200-foot concrete spillway; lock chamber 110 by 600 feet.
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
The refuge stretches 261 river miles from Wabasha, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois and protects more than 240,000 acres of floodplain. Pool maps showing closed areas and sanctuaries for Pools 4 through 14 are published on the same site.
- United States Geological Survey, National Water Information System
McGregor sits inside Pool 10 below Lock and Dam 9. Stage is shown without discharge because the Instantaneous Values service has not returned a current flow reading at this site in years.
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Boat and Shore Fishing Access
The department warns that launch information may be incomplete and changes without notice, and asks anglers to contact the county, city, village or township listed for a site before relying on it.
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Fishing Wisconsin, Mississippi River
Reciprocity agreements let an angler fish the boundary waters on a valid license from either adjoining state, but residents must hold a resident license when fishing their own state’s boundary waters, and anglers must obey the rules of the state they are fishing in.
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Administrative Code chapter NR 22, Wisconsin-Iowa boundary waters
Read from NR 22.04, sport fishing seasons and limits, in the version inserted into the administrative code on 1 July 2026.
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 21.015 and NR 22.015, license waiver
Both chapters carry the same waiver in identical wording. It does not extend to commercial fishing licenses, and it waives the license only, not the rules.