| Interior rivers continue to drop providing increased angling opportunities. Channel catfish would be a good target species right now. Anglers in and around Black Hawk County are focused on the lakes now with the Cedar River being up and muddy. Contact your local area bait shops for additional information. |
| Anglers have been doing fair on both crappie and largemouth bass on Big Woods Lake. |
| Black Crappie - Fair: Look for structure using electronics and use only jigs with or without a minnow. Some sorting may be necessary. |
| Largemouth Bass - Fair: Focus on mornings and evenings casting and retrieving artificial crankbaits, spinner baits or top water lures. |
Big Woods Lake provides a good option for fishing in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo metro area. The lake has good shoreline and boat access and the fishery currently provides opportunities for bluegill, black/white crappie, channel catfish, largemouth bass and yellow bass.(2025)
In nearly all cases, Iowa fish are safe to eat. Cleaning and/or preparing the meal causes most of the problems regarding taste or color of fish. Like all living creatures, fish are susceptible to diseases, parasites, and other naturally occurring conditions in the water. If you suspect your fish is affected by any of these conditions, do not eat it. Consider eating smaller and younger fish which usually have lower levels of contaminants than larger ones. Most contaminants accumulate in larger, older fish. For additional information, check out our resources for eating and cooking Iowa caught fish.
To learn more about fish tissue monitoring, visit our Fish Tissue Monitoring page .