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Posts: 18
| Headed to Cedar Lake in mid August for the first time. Does anyone have any suggestions on areas to start with. We are relatively new to musky fishing but do have a bit of experience. Our plans are to focus on Muskies but walleye fish during the middle of the day for supper.
Edited by mringler 2/4/2015 7:41 PM
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Posts: 3147
| Which cedar lake????? I know of three in Minnesota with muskies and at least one in wisc
Edited by happy hooker 2/11/2015 10:43 AM
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| happy hooker - 2/11/2015 10:42 AM
Which cedar lake????? I know of three in Minnesota with muskies and at least one in wisc
I thought the same thing or perhaps Ontatio.... |
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Posts: 18
| Sorry for not specifying. We will be headed to Cedar Lake Ontario, near Perrault Falls. Thanks for any info!
Edited by mringler 2/11/2015 1:01 PM
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| Where are you staying? Which side of the lake? |
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| Cedar Lake Camp on the West side |
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| pm sent |
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Posts: 136
| Just go on YouTube and watch the multiple pro's that have fished there and specefied spots all over the lake and increased pressure on the lake 10-fold in the past several years. Good luck, fished it last year and there were about 2 boats on every "high profile" spot we are familiar with after fishing Cedar for MANY years. I love the lake but there are a couple "Pro" guys that have filmed there in recent years and for whatever reason they are very specefic in their advertisement of Cedar even right down to locations whereas other shows I have watched with the same genetlemen keep locations to a minimum when fishing other lakes. I get the fact that they are advertising for their lodge of choice, but it is definetely over-the-top IMO. Sorry for the long-winded response, but it is my favorite lake and it has become almost intolerable the past couple of years. You just dont expect to see that type of pressure in Ontario...generally speaking. Cedar did not have that type of pressure until recent years. With all that said, its a great body of water. Good luck! I know you've picked your lodge, but if something changes check out Northern Lights....the owners are great!
Edited by Simple Man 2/12/2015 9:07 AM
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Posts: 39
Location: Cave In Rock Illinois | Simple Man - 2/12/2015 9:04 AM
Just go on YouTube and watch the multiple pro's that have fished there and specefied spots all over the lake and increased pressure on the lake 10-fold in the past several years. Good luck, fished it last year and there were about 2 boats on every "high profile" spot we are familiar with after fishing Cedar for MANY years. I love the lake but there are a couple "Pro" guys that have filmed there in recent years and for whatever reason they are very specefic in their advertisement of Cedar even right down to locations whereas other shows I have watched with the same genetlemen keep locations to a minimum when fishing other lakes. I get the fact that they are advertising for their lodge of choice, but it is definetely over-the-top IMO. Sorry for the long-winded response, but it is my favorite lake and it has become almost intolerable the past couple of years. You just dont expect to see that type of pressure in Ontario...generally speaking. Cedar did not have that type of pressure until recent years. With all that said, its a great body of water. Good luck! I know you've picked your lodge, but if something changes check out Northern Lights....the owners are great!
Totally agree with simple man! Fish are much more bait & boat shy the last few years! Ever since this lake was featured on Musky Hunter the pressure has increased ten-fold. |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | You can blame MH if you want...there's also like what, 4-5 resorts on the lake? That's about 3-4 too many considering the size of the lake. Way too long of a drive to deal with that |
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Posts: 136
| Musky Brian - 2/15/2015 6:40 PM
You can blame MH if you want...there's also like what, 4-5 resorts on the lake? That's about 3-4 too many considering the size of the lake. Way too long of a drive to deal with that
I hear what you're saying but there were the same amount of lodges several years ago and the lake had little musky pressure. Fished there for years and in my experience those lodges were mainly filled with walleye guys. Maybe you are a guy that fishes this lake every year for many years like us and you see a different trend than us.....I can only speak for our group and we saw the pressure increase after the multiple shows filmed there. Just my opinion... |
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Location: The desert | Fished Cedar a few years ago, wasn't a big fan of it. Much better locations to go to. |
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| Obviously, there probably more fishing pressure than several years ago. However, the fish haven't left. Not sure how the fishing will be in mid August, but walleye has been good the last couple of years. You may want to try perch fishing. Although they aren't much in size, they make it up in taste.
West side is clearer. East side is more stain.
I like top water baits that time of the year.
Lots of places to fish. Your resort should be able to point you to some of the more popular spots.
Best of luck. |
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Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | When we were there in late July 2012, the vast majority of boats were walleye and perch fisherman. We stayed at Cedar Lake Camp (1st class camp & service). It has new owners, I'm sure the same level of service is still there. Did I personally catch a muskie on Cedar? No, I blew my 150 Johnson on Esox Maniac on Monday and fished old school for the rest of the trip from a camp boat, no electronics or trolling motor, although they were offered, I still had a great trip!
Re, Chasing the hot bite based on Magazine articles or TV shows is not something I do personally. You have no idea of the number of hours of effort that went into the endeavor, and the guys who do these are articles and shows are pretty darn good muskie fisherman.
Read: Time on the Water by Bill Gardner and Muskies on the Shield by Dick Pearson, etc. Your chances for a good trip are usually directly proportional to the amount of pre-trip preparation. The real trick is being adaptable to fit the conditions while you are there. Call Darren before you leave and check on the seasonal water conditions & whats working for guests. Keep in mind Cedar is a fertile relatively shallow with average basin depth of ~25' stained water, which can easily have algae blooms if water temps are high, those can easily dictate where you fish and how you fish. It all depends on Mother Nature.
http://www.muskyhunter.com/technique-pattern/287/
We did not fish the traditional structure (marked rock reefs) etc. Those spots in or near Times Square usually had a boat on them....the rest of the lake was our oyster (no other muskie boats). Its just me, I don't like company.....
If the water temps for muskies are to high as well they can be in late July - mid August, drop over into Cliff Lake (trout water), you can launch at Lost Bay Resort - small fee. They are also good folks... there are also other muskie lakes with public launches you can drop into...
Have fun!
Al
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Posts: 306
| I've been there a few times, and have a love-hate relationship with it. Small lake, has a lot of muskies (some tankers, too) but you can run out of conventional fishing spots real quick if the wind is bad and there are a lot of boats out.
Hatfield Bay was always the hot spot if you wanted cabbage, but would have a boat in there 90% of the time. You can sight-fish for them on a calm, sunny day in there. It may take a jig with beef jerky to get them, but its fun! A SW wind can turn that into milk real quick, though. The inside turns usually had deep weeds in them, which were productive. Besides that, just pick any rocky point or reef and cast away. That reef west of Times Square deserves attention every day. Blaze orange blades, and natural colored jerk/glide baits were the most productive for us.
It's an easy lake to navigate, too. Little/no hazards, assuming you don't cut the points too close, and it's so small and one-directional, so you really can't get lost.
Oh.. and this is the ONLY lake I've ever been checked by the game warden on the water. |
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| We where at Cedar lake 2 years ago, stayed at Cedar lake Lodge, accommodations where good, they treated us well, as for the lake, maybe it was a bad year but I don't drive to Canada to boat 3 fish in a week, and we pounded the water. We did see a couple tankers, but no takers. I would not go back. As I said maybe it was a bad year anything is possible.
Choose Wisely My Friend.
Good Luck |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Guest1 - 2/20/2015 2:45 PM
We where at Cedar lake 2 years ago, stayed at Cedar lake Lodge, accommodations where good, they treated us well, as for the lake, maybe it was a bad year but I don't drive to Canada to boat 3 fish in a week, and we pounded the water. We did see a couple tankers, but no takers. I would not go back. As I said maybe it was a bad year anything is possible.
Choose Wisely My Friend.
Good Luck
I was pretty unimpressed with it too...only been out there a few times, and we caught fish each time, but I thought it was a pretty boring lake to fish compared to some others up there....had a small lake feel yet there were multiple resorts and plenty of boats slipping by. A lake like that should have 1, 2 resorts TOPS on it....I mean that;s like 3.5-4 hours past the border, should be pretty #*^@ remote at that point. I would choose Cliff lake over Cedar if I had to go up that way.... |
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| Musky Brian - 2/20/2015 4:09 PM
Guest1 - 2/20/2015 2:45 PM
We where at Cedar lake 2 years ago, stayed at Cedar lake Lodge, accommodations where good, they treated us well, as for the lake, maybe it was a bad year but I don't drive to Canada to boat 3 fish in a week, and we pounded the water. We did see a couple tankers, but no takers. I would not go back. As I said maybe it was a bad year anything is possible.
Choose Wisely My Friend.
Good Luck
I was pretty unimpressed with it too...only been out there a few times, and we caught fish each time, but I thought it was a pretty boring lake to fish compared to some others up there....had a small lake feel yet there were multiple resorts and plenty of boats slipping by. A lake like that should have 1, 2 resorts TOPS on it....I mean that;s like 3.5-4 hours past the border, should be pretty #*^@ remote at that point. I would choose Cliff lake over Cedar if I had to go up that way....
I completely agree. Everyone should go to AML or LOTW. Cedar has too many resorts, hardly any big fish, and tons of fisherman with not many good spots to fish since its a small lake. |
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| You guys sure have me scared about how the fishing will be up there! I appreciate all the info! |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | mringler - 2/23/2015 9:41 AM
You guys sure have me scared about how the fishing will be up there! I appreciate all the info!
I've never been there, but don't let these guys get you down! You could do great! |
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| I hit Cedar up last year and did well. I went in early Septmeber and there was very little pressure on most spots. I found it to a nice lake. i am going back again. That being said I would encourage you to bring your "A" game. All but 3 of the fish came on boat side moves; eight came on figure 8's and one dead sticking a Phantom. If you are not committed to full/mutiple 8's on every cast and doing the little things you will have a harder time catching good numbers. The fish are dumber than high pressured metro lakes fish but they are not killing everythning on the cast dumb.
Edited by Mojo1269 2/24/2015 11:49 AM
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| mringler - 2/23/2015 9:41 AM
You guys sure have me scared about how the fishing will be up there! I appreciate all the info!
Nothing to be scared of. The fishing is fine, it's just the number of boats and the size of the lake that can be frustrating at times. |
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Posts: 78
| The number of boats can be annoying but I have never encountered another musky boat sitting in a spot I wanted to fish in 5 years.. The majority of boats are walleye fishing or if they are musky fisherman a lot of them are clueless.. Got a nice 51.5 and lost another 50 in a great early season spot. Had a lot of big fish swipe and miss boatside on rubber and Bucktails too. Lotta bigfish missed unfortunately. If you know the lake well you shouldn't have an issue finding spots that hold fish and have no pressure everyday
Last year coming out of a cold front it warmed the water to 70 degrees and I had 15 follows in about as many casts.. In the same sequence I even had 2 fish hit a hellhound at the exact same time. Never in my life did I think I would see that
Edited by swanezy 2/26/2015 3:20 AM
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Cedar Lake