fish at home

just a note, pool 4 is great.even though we live 170 miles south we fish pepin whenever possible.I fished it 3 weekends in august-you folks who fished the lake in aug. know how the walleyes behaved.How was it your leader James put it? ate lots of chicken. Today we fished the cedar river near waterloo-

we thought pepin would be crowded with the tourn. 3 of us caught 13 walleyes 4, 20-21inch 6,17-19range and 3, 15 inchers 4 legal smallies & 1 27″ northern all caught casting

shad raps&risto raps at rock bars. sometimes the best is at home i guess. great web site see you in october for that great lake city fall bite.

You’re not kidding at all about the slow lake bite for the most of this past summer. It was brutal and I basically didn’t put my boat on the lake after early July. Glad to hear you got into them good close to home. There’s a million little gems like the Cedar that guys drive by on their way to somewhere “up north.” Thanks for sharing your trip with us and let us all know how you do when you get back from Pepin in October!

James Holst

Moving Waters Guide Service

http://www.movingwaters.net

Out of curiosity, how far up on the Cedar have you fsihed and do you know how far up the Cedar them walldogs travel?

I have fished the cedar only as far north as waterloo. As for how far north the walleye range I could”nt say. I can say the walleye fishing south of w,loo has been on a gradual upswing for the last few years. What started as an occasional bonus fish during the fall smallmouth bite that we have always enjoyed has has become the main target of those trips. IF everyone applies “river rules” and returns fish under 15″ the fishing should continue to improve. Iwould think the same fall patterns would produce farther north. Take a small boat, a durable prop and stout heart, there is alot of sand between rock bars. Big B

I grew up as a teenager in Austin, MN and fished the Cedar relentlessly as far south as the IA border and I can vouch for the lack of walleye in that stretch… at least at that time. With the general degredation of the northern stretches due to siltation and loss of average depth, much of the river is less than a couple feet deep and quite wide, I would highly doubt a walleye population could prosper.

I do know the In-Fisherman mag has regularly run a spring time mentioning of the Cedar River further into Iowa as a real sleeper walleye spot. Blue ribbon quality smallie fishing in the fall as well.

If you live close I wouldn’t hesitate to give it a look.

James Holst

Moving Waters Guide Service

http://www.movingwaters.net

I’ve fished the Cedar as far North from CR as the Hoeffle Dulin area and from the MN border down to St Ansgar. I caught two walleyes at the dam by Otranto park just south of the border, but they resembled ballpoint pens more than walleyes. Still, this leads me to believe that they are in there and I just don’t know where the big ones are.

Farther South, I have never caught a walleye on the Cedar, or a Pike for that matter. Most of my fishing has been strictly catfishing, though, so I can’t attest to the presence or lack of walleyes and pike in the Cedar this far south.

walleye and bass fishing on our part of the cedar is great in the fall & then not the whole length of the river. If we could catch the walrus in this size&quanity all year I would never have had the pleasure of going to pool 4 to catch walleye,crappie,whites and prime rib @Port Of Call. pool 4 is a one of a kind fishery, something going all year. Next year maybe I will move off the lake&up the river for more than just the spring bite at the damn. Fish the cedar hard in the fall and you will have days that are unbelivable;practice conservation and you will get a few of these days every fall , do the same on pool 4 & fish all year!

Thanks;Big B

I have had some success on the Cedar below Cedar Rapids, areas like Palisades Park, the mouth of Indian Creek, and the roller dam have all produced some ‘eyes for me. I live in Iowa City so my ‘local’ fishery is the Iowa River. There is some great fishing to be had on this river for walleyes and saugeyes and this time of year produces some big fish! But I would have to agree with Big B and say that even though there is good fishing near home, a trip to the Mississippi is well worth the travel time. The fish always seem to cooperate, the scenery is beautiful, and you just never know what will be at the end of your line.

I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, and moved to Ames… so I have perspective on two areas there….. I think the walleye fishing must have improved on the Cedar from the 60’s and 70’s cuz I dont remember many eyes being caught….. I did catch a fair number of nice fish out of the Iowa below the coralville dam….. and when I moved to Ames I fished the DesMoines from below the Salorville Dam down to Red Rock reservoir and that stretch did have a lot of walleyes and I had some really great days…. there were also wipers mixed in with the white bass and that was really a suprise sometimes…. plus there were some really nice Northerns in some areas too……

still the Mississippi at its best is just impossible to top…… at least thats what Ive found……

but I did have some VERY good days on the DesMoines

Having fished the Cedar for the past 20 years I can attest to the good walleye fishing to be had. Granted, a good day might be 3 or 4 walleyes but you can do better (and certainly worse). As mentioned in previous posts, the Iowa DNR began an aggressive stocking program a couple of years ago that included the Cedar, Shell Rock and the Cedar’s West Fork. All of these rivers converge just to the northwest of Waterloo (called the Turkey Foot-imagine 3 rivers coming together from different angles) which bode well for the future of walleye fishing in the area as well as further south. The rivers are clean with lots of sand, gravel and rock. Hard to get around but that is OK by me as it discourages others from trying. As far as how far north walleyes are caught on the Cedar, I have caught them as far north as Charles City on the Cedar and Marble Rock on the Shell Rock. I agree with Big B…catch and release please as we have a good thing starting to get going. I enjoyed the mile long tread on the Cedar a couple of weeks ago as it showed some respect for the system. At the same time, you guys that have the Miss a few minutes away are very fortunate to say the least!!! Almost 3 hours to Pepin one way for me.