Smallmouth at Cedar

[crappiepappy]

I agree with Eades the lake has a lot of shad in it. You will see them start show up in large numbers in the creeks soon. There was guide that took clients out and he would fish with shad like you would with shiners under corks. He would get them in Herrington and take them to Cedar, but this was before they were against the law to use there.

That would've had to have been before Cedar Creek was dammed up & turned into a "lake" !!! There was a NO SHAD rule from day one, best I can remember.

I started seeing Shad in Cedar Creek Lake by the third year after opening .... and several years following, I've seen them spawning along the banks, especially along the dam riprap. 6-8" Shad would be my guesstimate on size. And I've seen bigger ones dead & washed up on the bank.

Story I got was from the guy that used to own/operate the baitshop at the top of the hill going into the parking lot at the dam ramp, and he said the farmers in the area didn't want the creek to be poisoned with rotenone because they were afraid it would make the cattle sick. So, if that was the case ... the Shad may have been in there from the get go. It's also why there are several species of sunfish, that weren't supposed to be there, are there.

... pappy

[Wormin]

You may be right about that pappy,that was 12 years ago when the lake first open. And I cannot remember what I had for supper last night. He would tie up by the railroad bridge and throw a couple hands full of shad out to start them feeding. He boated a lot of big fish doing that.

[stoner]

I saw the shad in there last time I was on Cedar. I don't think it's possible to keep shad out of any impoundment, they're just too adaptable.
Id like get a couple smallmouth next time I'm there.