THE IROQUOIS RIVER
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CANOEING OPPORTUNITIES
CANOEING MAP
PRINTABLE FISHING GUIDE
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.
