Cedar

Cedar Lake is a small, mostly shallow basin located three miles southwest of Monticello in northern Wright County. The only access on this lake is user-developed and located off of Aetna Avenue NE. Most development has occurred on the east side of the lake. Due to its shallowness and good water clarity, the aquatic plant community is very diverse. No stocking has been done and management has been limited to periodic netting. The last survey was in 2007. The basin on the west side of Aetna Avenue, referred to as Little Cedar, was also included as part of this survey. Emergent and floating-leaf vegetation is widespread and consisted primarily of cattail and waterlilies. Submerged vegetation was not surveyed in 2020 but was abundant consisting mostly of coontail and flatstem pondweed. Water clarity is good with summer Secchi readings averaging 16.0 feet and dissolved oxygen levels adequate to support fish down to 20 feet. Few changes in the fisheries are apparent between the 2007 and 2020 surveys. Northern Pike are still abundant while Bluegill appear less abundant but still small. Northern Pike are on the high end of the normal range but the average size Northern Pike was two and a half pounds. Forage species such as Golden Shiners and Yellow Perch were not abundant. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, spring electrofishing targeting Largemouth Bass was not conducted in 2020. Previous night electrofishing for bass in 2007 yielded average catch rates in Cedar Lake when compared to other lakes in the Sauk Rapids management area. Cedar Lake has a moderately abundant Bluegill population, however few quality size fish can be found in the Lake. Only four Bluegill larger than seven inches were captured with trap nets and the average size was about five inches. Cedar Lake also has a low population of Black Crappie and most sampled in the survey were small; lengths ranged from three to eleven inches with an average length of 7.5 inches. Other species in the fish community include Black, Brown, and Yellow Bullhead, Bowfin, Green Sunfish, Golden Shiner, Hybrid and Pumpkinseed Sunfish.

Cedar Lake is a small, mostly shallow basin located three miles southwest of Monticello in northern Wright County. The only access on this recreational development lake is user-developed and located off of Aetna Avenue NE. Most development has occurred on the north end of the lake. Because of shallowness and good water clarity, native aquatic plants grow in great diversity. No stocking has been done and management has been limited to periodic netting. The last survey was in 1991. For the first time the basin on the west side of Aetna Avenue, referred to as Little Cedar, was included as part of the survey. Curled pondweed was assessed at the time of peak abundance on June 1, 2007. It grew near or to the surface over 2.5 acres or less than 1% of the entire basin. Coontail, flatstem pondweed and white waterlily were the most common aquatic plants in the lake. Submersed plants grew out to a depth of 14 feet. At the time the survey was conducted in the latter part of June oxygen was available to 22 feet. Few changes in the fisheries are apparent between the 1991 and 2007 surveys. Northern pike may be somewhat more abundant and bluegill somewhat less abundant than in the past. Northern pike are on the high end of normal range but the average size northern pike was two and a half pounds. Forage species such as golden shiners and yellow perch were not abundant. A primary management species for Cedar Lake is largemouth bass. Cedar Lake has an excellent bass population with a wide range of sizes available to anglers including fish up to 20 inches. Largemouth bass grow slowly in Cedar Lake, taking six years to reach 12 inches. The 2007 survey was the first opportunity to sample with night-time electrofishing. Cedar Lake has a moderately abundant population of bluegills. However, few quality size bluegills can be found in the Lake. Only one fish larger than seven inches was captured with trap nets and the average size of the bluegills was about five inches. The bluegill in Cedar Lake grew slower than the statewide average. The oldest bluegill sampled was 11 years old and 6.4 inches in length. Cedar Lake has a low population of black crappie with only three fish above nine inches captured with trap nets. Growth of black crappie was slightly less than the statewide average. Black crappie reached eight inches in six years. Other species in the fish community include hybrid and pumpkinseed sunfish, bowfin and black, brown and yellow bullheads. Maintaining the water quality in Cedar Lake should be a high priority of the county and landowners around the lake. Some effort may be needed to identify any sources of phosphorus and plans developed to reduce these sources. Buffer strips on inlets and lakeshore property are encouraged to reduce nutrients entering the lake. Maintaining adequate septics and keeping grass clippings and raked leaves out the lake will help reduce nutrients entering the lake, thus slowing algae and excess vegetation growth.

The most important species taken in gill nets were Northern Pike and Walleye. Northern Pike (10/gill net) were abundant, although the catch was within the 1st-3rd quartile range. Most Northern Pike were small and ranged in size from 16-24 inches. Growth was slow. Five year old Northern Pike were less than 20 inches long. Only one Walleye was captured, not surprising since the lake is not stocked with Walleye. Important species taken by trap net nets were Yellow Bullhead and Brown Bullhead, and several species of sunfish. Yellow (17.6/trap net) and Brown (10.3/trap net) Bullhead were both abundant (higher than the third quartile value) and the average size was 0.23 and 0.38 pounds, respectively. Bluegill were abundant (301/trap net) and the catch was five times that of the third quartile value. Growth was slow and the modal length was 4.0-4.5 inches. Green Sunfish and Pumpkinseed were present in average numbers and Black Crappie were low in abundance (1.5/trap net). Largemouth Bass are thought to be abundant, but were not sampled with a directed effort. Growth of Largemouth Bass caught in trap nets was average.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Green Sunfish, Black Crappie, and Walleye 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 47 feet and a mean depth of 7.8 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.