Cedar River Smallmouths

Went to my wife’s parents’ place in Austin for Labor day and was able to sneak in a little fishing. People from down here in my neck of the woods aren’t going to believe this:

The Cedar River has a bottom… and you can see it.

I know, hard to believe, isn’t it. All this time I thought that the depth finder was just joshin’ me. Anyways, I fished around Otranto park. Pretty slow on Saturday, so I started fooling around and employing some unorthadox tactics. Never fished spinnerbaits in really heavy current before, but the two fish that I did manage to tie into were both caught on white single-bladed spinnerbaits. One about 12″, the other a real hog at around 24″. In a 20mph current, he put up quite a fight.

Sunday had better numbers, but much smaller size. Fish would hit on anything for about 5 minutes, then nothing. Switch baits, another 5 minute stretch with fish, then nothing; switch again… on and on.

Not to be sarcastic, but a 24 inch smallmouth? I know there is some fine Smallies to be had in the Cedar river!! I hope you have a picture of that brute! Must have pushed the 7 pound range eh? State Record is exactly 8 pounds!!

Yes, spinners this time of year are deadly for smallmouth!!

Jim W

hmmmmmm imagine that…. you can still see your hand if you stuck it UNDER the water in the Cedar? interesting… used to be too thick to drink to thin to plow……

hopefully its a result of better soil conservation practices…. and not just lack of rain…….

Let’s hope that clear water makes it’s way down here someday, but I’m not counting on it. I weaved back and forth across the river from Austin down to St. Ansgar, and at every bridge I’d get out and stop. The one constant was that shallow sand-bottom areas under the bridges were slugged with carp kicking up as much muck as possible. I think the dam at Otranto and the smaller rock-riffles by what appeared to be an old mill farther down were filtering quite a bit of the silt.

As for the bass itself, I hope the pictures turn out. I had two pics left on a roll that has some other pics I wanted developed, and may have wasted them on the smaller of the two fish. Nobody was there to help, so I just held the fish out away from me and snapped, then held the fish next to my head and the camera at arms length – snap! Should be getting them back on Thursday, if they turn out, I’ll post one here. I’ll also post a picture of a nice pike I caught a few weeks ago if those turn out.

I don’t know if he would have been that heavy or not. He wasn’t as ‘tall’ as most of the smallmouths I’ve caught down in the Maquoketa. In fact, all the smallmouths I caught last weekend seemed to have a sleeker shape than the swimming bricks that are in the Maq. All this in spite of the fact that you couldn’t walk two steps without spooking 30 crawdads out of the rocks!

Next time we go to see my in-laws, the rod is going with.

Gianni,

That is one damn nice smallmouth! I have never heard of one that big coming off the Cedar. I fish the Cedar pretty regularly from St. Ansgar to Cedar Falls. I believe the Cedar is one of the best small river smallmouth fisheries around. Saturday I fished around Mitchell and Osage and caught a lot fish nothing over 16″ though; might have to give a spinnerbait a try(lol). Hope that picture turns out, I sure would like to see that pig. Congrats.

Keith

Not just smallies in the Cedar! Lmb, northern pike, crappies, tons of cats, walleyes, (a very aggressive stocking effort is under way by the DNR which should pay off in years to come), truely a multi-specie river with lots of smallies as well. As with most small rivers you can learn alot by fishing one the size of the Cedar as you have to adapt your technique to the conditions. Sure, it isn’t trout water clarity but parts of it can be exceptionally clear at times as it flows thru alot of rock in various places. To Rivereyes point regarding conservation, there is a program currently in place for farmers (in Iowa and other states) that pays them not to plant within several yards of any waterway. That should pay off over time. This includes even the smallest of streams which, as you know, have an eventual affect on the larger streams in the system. Hopefully, the Cedar and other similiar rivers will become even better than the terrific rivers they already are!! Is this Heaven or is it Iowa??

Okay, one of us is not convinced. Pike? Walleyes? Helloooo? You must live on a much better stretch of the river than I do. We get the Nuke plant and Quaker Oats, so on a good day, we can probably catch some Captain Crunch. I’ve heard of people catching pike in the river before, but never anything serious. I know there are good pike waters here in NE Iowa somewhere, just can’t locate ’em.

When I was a kid, terracing was a big thing, especially in the hilly parts of NE Iowa. I think that a lot of the terracing and tiling is paying off with better water quality. I know that spraying within close proximity of waterways is prohibited as well. Hopefully all that combines with new efforts to keep improving the water quality.

Gianni, I live in Waterloo which isn’t that far from you. There is some terrific pike and walleye water between CR and Waterloo. I argee that to the northwest of W’loo is where the DNR is concentrating their stocking efforts regarding walleyes. At the same time, that is what people don’t understand about the Cedar and other smaller rivers. You have to adapt to what the river is willing to give you. It’s like fishing a smaller version of the Miss. You have dams, backwaters, and then river stretches followed by dams.

Hey Gianni,

I have never fished down your way, but not to far north there is great walleye fishing. One day this summer (in the extreme heat) I caught seven walleyes; the biggest 23″. Seems like every time I’m out smallie fishing I catch two or three eyes. In the spring its really good. Last spring, a friend of mine and I caught three over 24″ one evening, with the biggest being 301/2″. Beleive it or not they are in there just got to find them.

sure must have changed since I lived in CR…. back then the cedar occasionally gave up a nice Pike, walleye were very rare…. but cats were common…. they used to bring in quite a few flatheads…… but in general the river was an ecological disaster…. but with some effort Im sure it would have improved…… back then my river walleyes came from the wasipinicon between central city and paris….. and there was lots of SMB, Pike and cats in that stretch too….. it was very pretty with all the bluffs…… this was YEARS ago… and I have NO idea what its like now…… back then at its best it did not even come CLOSE to what we have up here in “gods country”…. if youve never tried the mighty Miss, well…. its hard to convey just how GOOD the fishing can be…… In Iowas my choices of where to go were very limited and I just went to places where I had a “decent” chance of hooking up….. up here…. the hard part is eliminating water to fish, because for th most part its ALL better than down there….. just the 2 cents worth of a transplanted Iowan….. if you like to fish… well… move north…. you wont be sorry…. but you WILL miss the pheasant hunting!… unless you return every fall with the rest of the out of staters….. and I also miss the turkey hunting… sure they have them here… but its NOTHING like it was down there……

They didn’t turn out too badly for self-taken photos. Still wish someone else had showed up to run the camera.

The pictures don’t really do it justice. I dindn’t have a tape so I measured it against the tackle box, which is 16″ wide. The last inch or so is probably up for grabs, but I’ll still stick with 24.

Beautiful beautiful bass!!!!! From the picture(mostly) and hundreds(probably thousands) of smallmouth under my belt, your going to have to persuade me a little more to go along with the 24 inch mark estimate. Not making light of your fish by any stretch of the imagination!!!! It’s a wonderful bass that probably bent your rod hard(that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?)

Nothing like catching a pig smally!!! NOthing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good job!!

Jim W

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I caught a couple of 18″ Flambeau River smallies that would have eaten that bass for lunch!! Nice fish, but not 24″. The 18″ fish we caught up there were running 4.5 to 5 lbs. That fish doesn’t look like it runs over 3.

Maybe you two can find the flaw in my system:

Not having a tape with me, I put the fish across the top of the tackle box, with the mouth lined up with the end of the box. The other end of the Plano was just before the vent, so I put my left hand underneath with the tip of my thumb touching the box. With my hand stretched, the tail ended at the second knuckle on my pinky finger. Not an exact measuring system, but close enough.

When I got home, I measured the box: 16 1/2″

I’m sitting here now with a tape, measuring my hand. Thumb to second knuckle: 7″

I’m disappointed with the picture, and probably wouldn’t believe it had I not measured it myself. Measure with a micrometer, mark it with a pencil, cut it with an axe.

Edited by Gianni on 09/07/01 09:56 PM.

The DNR stocks the Wapsipinicon annually with Walleye and Northern Pike in the thousands. There is tremendous fishing opportunities from the Littleton damn on down to Independence down to Troy Mills. Walleye, Northern Pike, and Bass are very numerous in this stretch of the Wapsi.

I’ve got to buy an Iowa license again. That is a beautiful smallie! I am primarily a walleye guy and fish pool 14 where the Wapsi dumps into the Mississippi. I used to run up the Wapsi to bass fish in the spring and fall, but have not done it for years. We always got Pike from time to time also, some real Monster slimmers! Just recalled some excellant Smallies I caught there years ago, before they had returned to the Miss in this area. We have just seen a resurgance of Smallies the last few years down here as the river cleans up. Got my blood cookin’ for a big pig smallie battle now!

Pic looks pretty good to me Gianni!

Maybe you should have hit the bass with that fish bat they use to kill dogfish, then you could have drug it around town and people would believe the length. (comment sure to earn 2 or 3 hundred responses) I say it’s damn close to the length that Gianni Says it is. Print out the picture, measure the width of your hand held the way his is, then measure the length of the fish on the picture. I come up with about 21 inches doing this measurement. (unless Gianni has a very tiny hand.) Now… Take into consideration the distortion from the lense. The tail of that fish is farther away not closer. (Take a picture of a 3 lbr at arms length hanging down See how small it really looks. The gill plate dwarfs his hand.) That gives it at LEAST a couple of more inches. 23, 24 whats the difference. The man did the right thing CPR. I hope it was 24…Maybee I get to catch him when he breaks the state record. Nice Fish Gianni, Thanks for letting him go.

I rather agree with Jedsall in that pics can really mess with the appearance of a fish. 1, gianni doesn’t have to prove anything to any of us. 2, look at the smallie I’m holding and compare body build, the gill plate, etc………….he landed a brute! Mine was only 20 1/2 (comparing to 24) but there’s no doubt in my mind that his fish is AT LEAST as big as mine. He just didn’t have a boat nearby to take a snapshot like I was lucky enough to get!

Gianni, Nice fish!