Cedar Lake (New Prague)

[walleyeslayer18]

I was wondering if anyone knew what the ice conditions are like on Cedar in New Prague? I was lookin to put my house out, but i haven't got out to check the ice yet.

[FishLocker]

Drove past yesterday. The public access on the east end is not plowed for service, I am guessing because of ice conditions. There are a few snomobile tracks on the ice and I did not see anyone fishing at all. The areator hole is about 40 yards wide yet.

[walleyeslayer18]

That sucks because i was lookin forward to gettin the house out with the four wheeler. Any other lakes around the new prague area that have good ice conditions and have a good chance of catchin some eyes or some northerns?

[rivercat]

I would check it our yourself. It appears alot of the cities have not plowed the public access's. Here in Minneapolis we have 8 inches of ice on lakes that get 70+ feet deep. Go look for evidence of others who might have been there before you.

-rc

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I drive by Cedar everyday and usually there are quite a few people out in the evening. I've seen a couple 4 wheelers, but no big houses yet. I haven't personally checked the ice.

[Slab_Supper]

Should be firming up out there witht this colder weather.

[walleyeslayer18]

im gunna head out there today and probably drill some holes and check the ice! Looking to put my house out soon! Supposedly there is a deep hole out there (only like 15') but i haven't been able to find it. as far as im concerned the lake doesn't really get any deeper then like 11-12 ft.

[Love2Cabin]

Anyone been fishing Cedar lately? Prior and Spring are the same as last year just wondering if Cedar still has those nice 6 inch crappies?

[Slab_Supper]

Yep those same cookie cutter 6 inch slabs are out there!

[novy898]

This year you can call them 6.5" crappies, but they cook up well when you scale them. The sunfish are bigger out there, but they are hard to catch because a small crappie will grab your bait first.

[Alagnak]

My god. No wonder there isn't a panfish worth fishing for around the metro. If you're that hungry stay home, save the gas money and buy steaks with it. I can't imagine there being enough meat on a 6.5 inch crappie. I sure hope you're eating them bones, guts, and all. If so, good for you.

This year you can call them 6.5" crappies, but they cook up well when you scale them. The sunfish are bigger out there, but they are hard to catch because a small crappie will grab your bait first.

[ogrejce]

I caught probly fifty 6" crappies in an hour and two about 8". Thing is there are so many of the small ones they just grab the bait first. My buddies dad caught his limit about ten yards away from us but he was using a bigger jig/minnow. All of his were nice and the little ones didn't bother his bait. No walleyes though.

[novy898]

Cedar is extremely overpopulated by these small crappies. Their growth has been stunted because of the large amounts of them in the lake. The sooner you get them out the sooner the lake can get back to normal.

[Alagnak]

To the fish biologist with the doctorate in crappie lake management: people have been doing this for years on cedar- how's it going down there? LOL

ake. The sooner you get them out the sooner the lake can get back to normal.

[nate larson]

Hate to break it to you Alagnak, but he is right. Harvesting small fish isn't a bad thing, in fact it is much better for the size structure than harvesting the 12 inch plus fish. If he wants to eat 6.5 inch fish I say more power to him.

[Alagnak]

"I can't imagine there being enough meat on a 6.5 inch crappie. I sure hope you're eating them bones, guts, and all. If so, good for you."

Totally agree. It's working great, keep up the good work. The problem is there are a ton of people who do this around here with all lakes and therefor, they mostly suck for panfish size.

Why isn't it legal to keep 12-13 inch bass in hundreds of lakes there are too many small ones? At least there's a tasty little fillet on that worth cleaning- you know, when you have a fish basket full of them. It's apparently good for the fishery.

I'm not going to debate fish management, and yes I'm well aware of the abundance of small craps in Cedar. My points is- you can see through a 6.5 inch crappie when you hold it up to the light. [PoorWordUsage] is the point? So you can tell your buddies you got a limit?

Hate to break it to you Alagnak, but he is right. Harvesting small fish isn't a bad thing, in fact it is much better for the size structure than harvesting the 12 inch plus fish. If he wants to eat 6.5 inch fish I say more power to him.

[ogrejce]

Several lakes in the area have stunted panfish. I am no managemnet expert but I do believe if you know what the bigger ones want you can find them and catch them. You could take 1000's of them out and I dont think i could tell the difference.

I was fishing on Oachard this summer in the boat with my wife, she tossed bread out for the ducks and all you could see around were tons of 4" sunnies. We still got close to our limit of nice ones.

It might be slower fishing, and more work but it can be done.

[fisherman-andy]

Cedar is a stunted Crappie machine. Its gotten fish kill year after year with the small Crappies and they are still small...??? In the last 5yrs or so I say I seen a 1 or 2 inch increase. Like from 4" to 6". LOL...

[novy898]

Ya its crazy I remember catching some really nice crappies out there probably about 10 years ago, and even some nice eyes. I'm sure the muskies must really like those small crappies tho!

[ogrejce]

Normally get those guys on Bucktails. Funny, Ive never used or heard of anyone catching one on a crappie type lure there. Might go out saturday night, at least I know Ill catch something. Great fun for kids.

[CarpinMNRiver]

Cedar is a good lake to bring the kids out to make sure they catch some fish and have fun. It would take a solid 40 fish to get a good fish fry out of the crappies out there, unless you eat them whole.