Cedar River Reports

No one has posted anything on the Cedar River lately. Have not been out to check on things myself so what’s going on with the fishing guys????? Water levels are back to normal and things should be cranking up. Let’s have some reports.

This board has been quiet all summer long. A little surprising, since it seems usually there’s a couple good threads on the Wapsi & Cedar.

I was going to hit it here in town last Sat, but the thunderstorm turned me around at the ramp and I just bagged it altogether. Maybe this Saturday I’ll get out early and try some catfishing. Gotta be home early, so somewhere closeby is the ticket.

Anyone else from CR area want to go with?

Hey Gianni, let me know if you go Saturday. HHS is having a small tourney Sunday and I could use any fresh clues.
Thanks

Is the tourney on the Cedar?

If I go, I’ll probably head out from about 5ish to maybe 9AM.

Gianni, it’s late July and I am embarassed to say that I have not fished the Cedar for two months. This is normally prime time. The high water we had all of June, and alot of basketball by my daughter, kept me away. Hopefully I can turn that around in the next couple of weeks and report some 11″ crappies and 18′ smallies soon. Good luck on your catfishing.

P.S. Just received my In-Fisherman August/September magazine today and there is a nice article on cattin rivers in it. Check it out if you get a chance.

I have been derelict in my duty to report on the good ole Cedar. I will try to rectify this real soon.

Gianni, Thanks yes it is on the Cedar off of the Mohawk park ramp. I will check back Saturday evening to hopefully see you caught some good fish. I never had a lot of faith in Cedar Rapids area fishing in the Cedar but the people in our club usually catch a lot of fish in these one day events on the river.

Well, wish I could say that I had a stellar day on the river, but unfortunately, I would have to list it in the category of “typical” which for me is not very good.

I fished for about 3 1/2 hours, and tried to split the time pretty evenly. I spent an hour anchoring above snags and drowning crawlers in the early morning, picking up one small eater-sized cat. Around 7:30 I moved into the borrow pit there at Mowhawk and continued to fish crawlers just off the bottom and throwing traps. Again, one eater sized cat.

From 8:30 I trolled cranks along the rip-rap on the west shoreline in front of Ellis pool, up past the park and around the harbor. Once again, I picked up an eater-sized cat.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with the morning. If you guys are going to be out there all day tomorrow, maybe I’ll see if the wife will let me out of the house for a while. It’d be interesting to see how people do and where/what they’re doing.

Thanks Gianni: We are out at 7:00 and Weigh-in at 4:00PM. May not happen tomorrow but some of the crew usually always brings in fish off the Cedar. Now anticipating at least ten boats, maybe more. Our little group has crappie chasers, catfish chasers, white bass folks, and even some largemouth / smallmouth people. I hope there is a nice mix at the weigh-in. Last year we had all of the above and a 22 pound snapper.

Hay Chitwood46, I would also be interested in the take for the day. I have wore out a few poles, reels, and a couple of my shad raps are still hung there in that stretch of river from Quaker Oats on up to where you cant go no more cause it gets two shallow. Up above Seminole valley. I have spent countless hours tryin for sauger/walleye. Still none. If you come back and tell me someone is catchin Walleye/Sauger in that streatch I just may not be able to handle it. Remember the song ACHEY BREAKEY HEART by Billy Ray Syrus (sp) Well news like that might just up and kill this man. I’ll be waiting for catch info with baited breath…
Trigger

Ttrigger, I stopped down at the weigh in to determine once and for all if there were any fish in that river. I’m guessing they had about a dozen boats or so, with better than half bringing somthing in to weigh. From what I remember, it broke down roughly as follows:

Bass: Maybe a dozen to 15, biggest about 3lbs, two smallies in the mix.
Northerns: Lots of gators, I was really surprised to see this, as I didn’t think they were that common on the river. Maybe 10 total weighed, biggest just under 6lbs with most probably going 3+.
Crappies: Not many of these, maybe 5 total? All pretty small.
Cats: Couple of forktails, nothing more than probably 2lbs. One flathead that would have been lucky to break a pound.

I was really surprised that nobody brought in any really thick cats. That’s the one fish I usually do pretty well on in the Cedar. Don’t know where people were picking up the Northerns, but they’re a lot of fun to catch, so maybe I’ll have to explore a little and see if I can find a cold-water sanctuary somewhere.

Daughter was really excited to see all the fish coming in and demanded that we go out fishing immediately. We went home, got the boat, and headed back to mohawk, to fish for a couple hours. We spent our time throwing cranks and spinnerbaits. Cranks picked up two largemouths, one cat, and snagged a carp. Interesting, but all the fish followed out to the boat before swiping at the bait, kind of like a musky does sometimes. I even had to figure-8 to get the catfish on (now be honest, ever hear of a guy figure-eighting a catfish before)?

Chitwood, was that you in the blue ranger/avalanche? Thought about stopping over and chit-chatting, but by the time the weigh-in was over, you were outta there. I’ll have to catch you next time. Good luck out there.

Thanks for the report John. Your right, even in the days when I wanted to catch a Cat I never had to figure 8 em. Man you must be desperate. Its nice to know who wears the pants in the family. Now all you have to do is get the wife to be so demanding

TTRIGGER: No walleye were brought in Sunday. But one member who didn’t fish says he caught 2 in the borrow pit, the week before? The results can be found at web page on the results page. Keep after them, there must be some in here somewhere?

Gianni, ya that was me, I wished you would have came over. I would have enjoyed the visit. One boat did get a 4.46 catfish and one Northern was 5.04, we won the bass with only 4 fish and 6.64 pounds, and crappie was a disappointment.

I should’ve just run over and said “Hi” at least. Now I feel bad

Were most people fishing in the borrow pit there? That’s where I hit later in the evening, but it seems like the water temp in there (82° surface) would be a little on the high side for the pike. I’ve caught the oddball in there early in the spring, though, and there aren’t that many slackwater areas with deep water refuge nearby, so maybe that’s the ticket. Sorry, I’m rambling.

I’ll check out the website and try to keep up with what y’all are doing.