THE
IROQUOIS RIVER
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The Iroquois River is the main tributary to the Kankakee and is a placid,
remote prairie stream that provides good fishing. Named after the Iroquois
Indians who, at one time, inhabited this area; the Iroquois starts in
Indiana southwest of San Pierre and flows southwesterly to Watseka where
it turns abruptly northward and eventually joins the Kankakee at Aroma
Park. The stream is rather sluggish in its 54-mile route through Illinois.
A few fee access and picnic areas are found along the way, but the primary
recreation intensity is greater in the lower river sections. Motorboats
can navigate a short distance up the Iroquois from the six-mile pool formed
on the Kankakee River behind the dam at Kankakee.
Like the Kankakee, the Iroquois River has not been channelized and retains
much of its natural beauty. This river provides an aquatic resource of
2,547 acres.
Channel catfish and smallmouth bass are found all along the Iroquois
in holes, near mouths of tributaries and similar habitat. The deep water
around Watseka is especially good for channel cat. Northern pike, rock
bass and crappies also are caught frequently.
Ramps are located at Sammon Ford near the mouth, at the Plato Bridge,
on West Main St. in Watseka and at the Texas Bridge about midway between
Iroquois and Watseka.
