Canadian Reports/Discussion
Cedar Lake, Ontario
I think your absolutly right on the limit.No need to take that many and a lot of fisherman throughout the weeks take them home even if there small.Id be embarrased to bring them in the fish cleaning house.lol.There are still good holes with good sized ones.I never see any boats fishing them.I dont stay long catch a bunch fast and leave.My guests understand my strategy and do the same thing and has been working.Do the same with walleye.Its not that great in Spadina i havnt gone there in years.Very busy over there on Perrault.
We stay at Cedar Point Resort. Ray really has his finger on the pulse of the system. We talked with him about perch and how the population used to have a lot larger fish, but how many people keep just about any perch they catch. As a group we stopped keeping them, like you said maybe they will have some significant size growth with lack of pressure. We've never gone up to Spadina but people we've met say that isn't worth the drive most times with the small size of the fish. Don't get me wrong I'm all for catching and eating fish it's just when it goes to the extreme it can really hurt the population. Why the limit is 50 in the first place is beyond me. Many years ago we went to a 15 limit on perch on Lake Michigan and we're seeing some very good results. A lot more fish and a lot more jumbos. 15 perch is more than enough, 50 is ridiculous in my opinion but to each his own.
i understand about the perch.they do get pounded and ive seen tge results of the small perch in the cleaning buckets.Pretty sad.Those small perch are coming from the shallow water weed beds i would think as i see boats fishing those areas.Mid august will see deeper bass.Maybe after this covid season all fish had a chance to grow a bit and there should be a few more in the lake. I hope that you get a chance to come up this year.Which camp do you stay at.
I have the same process, we are only up there a couple weeks a year so we have to use our time wisely but scout at least 3-5 new spots each year. It's really amazing how many spots you can accumulate as the years go on. I see the known spots full of boats each year and have experienced groups of boats pulling up on us when they see us landing fish. I don't mind and get a kick out of it because usually you can tell they're using a less successful technique. Haha
Very good advice! Haha We have been staying away from our full of small smallmouth spots unless we just feel like some crazy action on light equipment. We've caught a few nice ones just not consistently. We are up in early to mid August. My plan this year is to target the bigger smallies on some deeper humps we found last trip. I agree one of the best things about fishing is the hunt so I enjoy studying the maps and scouting my own spots. The only thing I'd ever look for advice wise is general advice like look for deep humps in August for the bigger smallies on Cedar. I know where the bigger smallies are found during the seasons where I live, obviously very different systems and weather compared to up there, just haven't figured it out yet or found "the spots" at Cedar. Hopefully next year that changes!
I know there are bigger perch but I was mostly commenting on what we see at our resort and pictures on-line for the other resorts. It seems like there are a ton of small perch kept. This can't be good for long-term health of the perch population but Cedar is a very fertile system so maybe it can handle it. Our resort owner says the perch have definitely declined over the years.
Cedar to me is a top notch lake for everything.I spend a lot of time there. Some very productive and some not.Spend tge not productive days searching for fish in different spots.I have found many good places.Cedar got busy over the last few years and that's good for camps but not for keeping spots of the map so iam carefull how and where i fish during the day.Cedar holds many 18-20" bass.Not going to tell you where but if your catching smaller ones consistly you have to stop fishing there.lol.Same with perch.lol.Camp maps are mostly spots i guided people to 30 years ago.lol.I see people on every spot i used to fish.Still hold fish but they get pounded everyday of the season.Every week.same map.same spots. Dont be scared to get off beaten path and check things out.not sure when you come up.Bass have like 4 diff places they live throughout the season.So in order to consistently catch them you have to know where they are throughout the seasonal changes.Thats the fun part of fishing for me.
Thank you so much for your view from the other side of the border. I agree, it took us a couple years to really figure things out but once you do, Cedar is incredible. As you accumulate more spots for each species over the years it's more difficult to not catch fish. Haha The only thing we haven't figured out and we're not sure if possible is consistent big smallies. I'm not sure if it's too far North or something but you can catch a ton of smallies but not many over 16". The crappie last year were amazing. Everyone around fished live bait and didn't catch many and we did extremely well on artificials fished aggressively. Anything with a little flash to it. The walleyes, musky and pike fishing is simply amazing once you figure them out. I think the perch need a little break, we see people keeping 7-8" perch.
If the Canadian government says we can enter with proof of vaccine sign me up! We'll get the vaccine, wear masks, gloves and stick to ourselves. Whatever they want just please let us go fishing to the greatest place on Earth to fish (In my opinion). HAHA
Doing great.Crazy times.not to bad here. Although its around us.Still hunting for deer.Having a great time.Sure miss all my guests this year. Both hunting and fishing.There are guys ice fishing here already.Bite is on.Ill be fishing soon.Have doe but still looking for a big buck so wikk most likely take another doe.also have moose in freezer.Hope that border opens.
