6-26 Cedar Rapids fishing

Well, I’ve got to admit; as much as I’ve cursed the Cedar in the past, it sure was good to me today. I woke up at O-Dark:30 to go meet Fishing Machine at the Guttenburg dam for a day of fishing on the big river. Right around Coggon, the phone rang and she said the storm we had last night was still raging up her way. Not being one to trifle with lightning and monsoon-like conditions, I whipped a U-turn and started figuring on what my new plan was going to be.

Sky looked pretty dark off to the West still, so I figured Palo was probably out. It was early enough, and just overcast enough, that I thought I’d do something I hadn’t done in a long time: Topwater bassin.

I put in at Mowhawk park and motored around the corner into the borrow pits. Working the shoreline with a big yellow buzzbait, I made my way around both basins with a total count of about a dozen bass and two northerns.

The sun started to break through, so the topwater bite pretty much shut down. I figured maybe I’d do some trolling in the main channel and look for some of those walleyes everyone talks about. It didn’t take me long to realize that with the freedom fest activities, the 5-seasons ski team, and no shortage of other skiers, trolling the main channel just wasn’t a good idea.

I went on a mission – looking for another bass spot.

Here’s what I found – looks just about perfect. Water was 2-4 feet deep in the center, and in some areas dropped down to 9-10. There was a shelf on one side or the other all the way back to the end of it – a solid 1/4 mile or so.

Started casting the crankbait up shallow and WHAM! Fish on. After a little battle, I reached down with the pliers and popped the hooks out of a pretty sizeable northern. Three casts later, POW! Another smaller northern. One more hammer handle, but where are the bass?

Two casts without a fish and boom, another one on. Another good one, too. This one looks…. like….. Huh?

After spending 4 or 5 minutes untangling him from the net, he was half dead, so I threw him in the livewell where we could discuss where all the bass went, what he was doing waaay back here, which direction the main channel is, and what’s for dinner.

All in all, a great day – and with an eater walleye to top it all off.

Way to go Gianni! I too have heard of walleye in the Cedar River, but have been hesitant to put my boat in there for fear of bottoming out. I have taken one walleye out of the Cedar at Urbana a long time ago, but nothing else. I appreciate the posts.

It’s definitely the shallowest “big river” in NE Iowa once you get North of Seminole Valley park. From the 5-in-one bridge in downtown CR up to the park, though, there’s usually plenty of water if you stick to the main channel. My boat takes at least 2′ of water to float it, so there’s no way I would even try up around Vinton or Urabana. Another good reason to have a buddy with a jon boat.

Realized that I forgot to mention some of the usual report stuff:

Water was not as high as I was expecting… No idea where all the monsoon-like rains went, but water level was what I remember as being “normal” and no excessive current or flow either. Clarity was, I thought, really good for the Cedar – probably a foot or more in the Mowhawk ponds, 8-10″ in the main river. Surface temps were hovering right around 80-81°. I could not find any cooler water, but I didn’t spend much time looking. This time of year I’ve found that if you keep an eye on your temp guage, the big pike can be pretty easy to find.

Well here she comes… river rose over 3′ already!! Which is good………..walleyes in the willows. Fish from 5:30-7:30. Caught 5 eyes with alot of short hits probably due to water clarity. So if you know any slack water areas with “cover” during high water its time to fish it!

Hey John
I sure appreciate the offer to share your boat. But when the storm hadn’t let up by the time I was to leave home I thought it best to call it off till another time.
And you probably done better right there where you fished. Our rivers here are all up and flow is bad. Better days ahead
Thanks much
Mary