Walleye Natural reproduction in Cedar??

A buddy and I were talking about natural reproduction on the Cedar and whether it happens or not. The other night i caught a larger walleye, most likely a female, and i let it go thinking it would produce a lot of eggs come next spring. When i told this to my friend, he was under the impression natural reproduction doesn’t occur in the Cedar, hence the stocking program by the DNR. I think i’m going to contact the DNR to find out for sure, but if anyone knows anything else, lets hear it!

I heard it doesn’t happen on the cedar because of the low count of plankton in the river. Not to sure if it is true or not but who knows.

Natural walleye reproduction does happen on the Cedar river and its tributaries, i’ve seined many fry that were about 2″ long over the years. It was happening when the indians were the only ones living here. Walleyes have been part of the eco system for hundreds of years just as much as catfish.

They spawn. If not, why were there walleyes in the Cedar before the DNR stocking programs began? I think the spawning habitat is limited but there are some excellent areas as well. Survival of the fry may be an issue due to several things like high water, water quality, etc. The stocking program sure helps enhance things. The population sure seems to have increased since doing so.

Its increased in the smaller rivers too that were almost void 20 years ago. The dnr’s done a good job in the smaller rivers, i don’t know much about the populations in the bigger rivers besides what its been like in the past which is pretty fair.

The fish act like they spawn and reproduce, but I don’t think there’s much natural reproduction. DNR pours lots of 2″ fry into all the rivers every spring. Look for brands on any fish caught in the W’loo CF area, Brinker lake especially. Those fish are compliments of the Cedar Valley Walleye Club. Brands are vertical bars behind the dorsal on the right side of the fish. Brands on fish in Big Woods lake are round dots in same place. No Brands on the Dike Lake fish since they’re all CVWC fish. On bigger fish the brands will just be discolored scales vs real prominent marks on smaller fish. If people only knew how many eyes we have right here on the local rivers, I think the Canada lodge business would feel the pain.

Im gonna have to agree that the fry your seeing are the stocked fish and not alot of natural reproduction takes place. Its my understanding that the stocked walleye are from the IGLs and Clear Lake and that the lake strains dont reproduce in rivers. Then again I could be wrong. Anyway, Ive caught more big walleyes right here in Waterloo than in any of the lakes in Iowa and Minnesota.

About a month ago, i would disagree w/ that the Cedar is good for eyes, but since i’ve been able to log more time on the river, i’ve realized it’s a great river for eyes, and i don’t have to drive hours for the best walleye fishing!

Speaking from years of experience on the Cedar, my opinion is that natural reproduction does occur (There were marble eyes in the Cedar ten years ago) but on a very limited scale. My numbers have increased exponentially since the IDNR’s stocking program began. Either way, spawning or not, please release everything over 20″ we’ll never see regular 28’s and 29’s if we don’t.