Cedar

Cedar Lake is a 32 acre lake located three miles southwest of Aurora. The lake has a maximum depth of 51 feet, but over 80 percent of the lake is less than 15 feet deep. The access is a small earthen ramp off Co Rd 341. Cedar had been a designated trout lake, but that designation was removed in 2019 and the lake is now being managed as a bass-panfish lake. Trout management was ceased due to numerous illegal introductions of warmwater gamefish over the years. The lake had last been reclaimed in 1989. On August 25, 2020 Cedar Lake was thermally stratified with a surface temperature of 75 F and a bottom temperature of 41 F. Oxygen levels were adequate for gamefish to a depth of 14 feet. Cedar Lake has no inlets and the outlet, which flows through several marshes to the St. Louis River, has steep gradients that prevent upstream fish movement. Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline are mostly muck with areas of sand and silt. Much of the shoreline is rimmed by marsh and aquatic plants grow to a depth of 10 feet. Electrofishing was used on Cedar Lake for largemouth bass sampling. Twenty-eight largemouth were captured in the 50 minutes of fishing for a catch rate of 33.6 fish/hour. This was lower than the 2016 survey catch rate of 61.0 fish/hour but above average compared to other largemouth lakes in the area. Lengths ranged from 4 to 17.5 inches with an average of 10 inches. Growth rates were quite slow with the average fish taking 7 years to reach 12 inches. Bluegill were absent after the 1989 reclamation until they were first sampled in 2007. The 2007, 2012, and 2020 surveys had trapnet catch rates of 129.8, 151.6, and 40.9 fish/net respectively. The 2020 catch rate was still very good compared to other similar lakes. Sizes ranged from 1 to 8.5 inches with an average of just over 6 inches. Over 27 percent of the catch was 7 inches or larger. Fish were sampled up to 9 years old with strong representation from the 2016 year class. Growth was slow compared to other bluegill populations in the area. The northern pike gillnet catch in 2020 was 7.5 fish/net and the trapnet catch was 0.9 fish/net. Lengths from all pike caught ranged from 11 to 31 inches with an average of 22 inches. These sizes were on par with previous surveys.

Cedar Lake is a 32 acre lake with a maximum depth of 51 feet, but also has a fair amount of shallow water. It was a designated trout lake in 2016 but this designation was in the process of being dropped. In the spring of 2014 largemouth bass were stocked in Cedar Lake. Several of those fish were mature and able to spawn that spring. This survey was done to target largemouth bass only by electrofishing. In one hour of electrofishing, 63 largemouth were collected which is a fairly high catch rate. Of the 63 fish sampled, 52 were 2 years old meaning they were born in 2014 and were the spawn of the fish originally stocked that spring. The other 11 fish ranged in age from 4 to 7. Sizes of the young fish ranged from 5 to 11 inches while the older fish were 14 to 15 inches. With an abundant bluegill forage base, growth rates in Cedar appear very good.

Cedar Lake is located approximately 3 miles southwest of Aurora. It has a surface area of 29 acres and a maximum depth of 51 feet. There is a small gravel boat ramp with limited parking space on the south side. There are no campsites present. Cedar Lake has no inlets, and the outlet to the St. Louis River flows through marshes and has steep gradients that prevent upstream fish movement. There is a grate to prevent downstream fish movement where the outlet leaves the lake and crosses under Co. Rd. 341. Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline are muck (53 percent), sand (22 percent), and silt (25 percent). There is marsh and bog along the entire shoreline. Aquatic plants grow to a depth of 10 ft; the most common plants are yellow waterlily, water milfoil, and filamentous algae. In 2013, Cedar was still designated as a stream trout lake although no longer being managed for trout. Repeated lake treatments to kill non-trout species over the years were ineffective as northern pike and bluegill were illegally introduced following the poisonings. After a statewide review of stream trout stocking, the Cedar Lake stocking was discontinued in 2007. Cedar Lake may be removed from the list of designated trout lakes once the public review process is completed. Only two species of fish were sampled during the 2012 population assessment. Bluegill are very abundant and 3 northern pike were sampled in the gill nets. Bluegill numbers in 2012 (151.6/trap net) were higher than the long term average for all assessments on this lake. The average bluegill sampled was just over 4 inches long and about 5 years old. The largest bluegill sampled was 9.1 inches long. Many of the bluegill sampled were heavily infested with the parasite neascus, commonly referred to as black spot. Neascus can be killed by properly cooking the fish.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Pumpkinseed, Largemouth Bass, and Bluegill in Cedar. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

Minnesota DNR records list public access for Cedar. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for the launch type and directions before you go.

Cedar has a maximum depth of 51 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Cedar is from 2020.

No invasive species are on record for Cedar in Minnesota DNR data. Always clean, drain, and dry your equipment to help keep it that way.