I was camped at Darling and no boat. We fished along the camp ground and caught lots of fish. They refurbished the lake since the last time I was there so they added lots of stuff to aid fishing and fish population. I would check with the Iowa DNR web site and call the lakes fisheries biologist. His number is on the site. Hey, don't forget Lake McBride. It has a lot of areas to fish from the bank but does not produce a lot of quality fish normally. Hope this helps and I will check back here once in a while.