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Blue Heron offers crappie, largemouth bass, channel catfish and hybrid striped bass fishing. White and black crappies are present, with the majority being white crappies. Black crappie sizes are generally less than anglers prefer with most being around 7-inches. The white crappies are larger. Expect to catch white crappies mostly 8.5- to 10-inches with some reaching 11-inches. The largemouth bass fishery is good with fish surveyed at all sizes from 9- to 20-inches. Channel catfish are very abundant with the most common sizes being 12- to 16.5-inches, but good numbers of fish from 17- to 22-inches were also observed. Channel catfish over 25-inches are likely present. Hybrid striped bass continue to be stocked. They are not typically caught in many numbers during standard surveys, but fish around 20-inches were observed.(2023)
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 .