Cedar Lake, Missouri: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Set in Boone County, Missouri, this is Cedar Lake. The water sits 689 feet up. About 22 acres of surface, which puts the far bank inside easy sight. Supplies mean a trip to Columbia, 4 miles off. Further out sit Ashland (9.8 miles) and Hallsville (17 miles). Not far off: Perry Phillips Lake at 3.2 miles, Hulen Lake (3.5 miles), Fairview Lake at 3.8 miles, Stephens Lake (4.5 miles) and Moores Lake at 5.2 miles. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Cedar Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Standing timber shows when the level drops, and fish sit against it. Levels move with the draw rather than the rain on water like this. Survey and observation records for Boone County include orangethroat darter, bluegill, shortnose gar, green sunfish and longear sunfish. The county list is broader than any single water. Cedar Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 28°F in January to roughly 78°F in July. Temperature moves within a narrow band, and so does the fishing. Cover comes and goes, so treat it with suspicion rather than trust. Spring and autumn carry the year; summer squeezes it into the ends of the day. Cedar Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Launching is possible: a slipway lies half a mile off. There is somewhere to leave the car, half a mile off. There is a jetty half a mile off, worth knowing on a busy day. Facilities include toilets around half a mile from here. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Perry Phillips Lake at 3.2 miles is the sensible second choice. Nothing on Cedar Lake should be assumed from this page alone.