Big Cedar Lake

About 50 percent of the north basin has skim ice this morning. Bit the launch and west side is open.

Christmas 2023 morning. Big Cedar  Lake has a water temperature of 36.0 at the Goneing drive ramp. 

Nice week for a boatride coming up.

Interesting and important press release. Walleyes for Tomorrow and Pete Maina coming out for wakeboat regulation, due to fish habitat destruction.

Press Release on Wake Surfing

And if you haven't seen the video from Last Wilderness Alliance featuring Big Cedar Lake ->
Wake Surfing Video from Last Wilderness Alliance

Got out today for a few hours, last ​time until the hard stuff. ​Looking for gills, moved 5-6 times and nothing bigger than 7".  5"ers were everywhere.

https://www.lakesatstake.org/
Gil Fisher, Chemist, Gilman, and all others interested in learning about the effects of enhanced wake devices, the link above takes you to the Lakes at Stake website. Lakes at Stake is a recently founded organization by fellow BCL and neighboring lakes' fishermen to expose the danger that enhanced wake sports pose to our cherished lakes. We are fighting to keep small and medium-sized lakes safe from the dangers that wake enhancement devices present; property damage, shoreline degradation, lake bottom scouring, and the spread of invasives through ballasts. The goal is to prohibit enhanced wake sports on lakes smaller than 1,500 acres. The Lakes at Stake website provides the evidence and reasoning to justify why this is important for the health of our lakes. Any donation will help fund the necessary components to counter the boating industry's powerful lobbyists in Madison. These massive corporations do not care about the effects that their product has on our lakes, just their bottom line.

Has the lake turned over yet??

Just like the prior days, moved around trying to find bigger fish, end up with ​2 sunfish, 8.25".  Lots and lots of 7" and under.

I've for years wondered how those ballast tanks were allowed on inland lakes. Ballast tanks are the source of much of the invasive species invasion the past 150 years. Often dumping invasives directly into the great lakes. 

Now people think they're a good idea for inland lakes? It's not like we don't know what's going to hapoen......

I'm wondering if the nanufacturers and dealers realize the damage these products do to the environment.

MFS1221 Posted
For the public access and wake boat conversation, they are a serious threat to the ecological system of BCL and small inland lakes. There have been conversations about this in the Access Big Cedar Facebook group. Some in the group deny wake surfing has any impact and believe it’s just an attempt to reduce public access. They must be wake boat owners and/or are lying to themselves. Banning wake surfing is the opposite of reducing access, it’s going to allow small boats and kayaks to experience the lake without putting their life in jeopardy from 3 footers out of nowhere.

The typical wakeboat costs between $150,000 to $250,000. They'll burn five to ten gallons of gas an hour, pushing 8,000 to 11,000 pounds through the water. Understand the wake boat guys trying to latch onto the 'public access' mantra, but this isn't exactly the sport of the common man.

Equal concern are the large ballast tanks on each boat. They'll hold hundreds of gallons of water, and most can't be properly accessed to drain and clean. They then become five-star hotels for aquatic invasive species. Here is a good study on it from Minnesota -> WakeBoat Ballast Tanks and AIS

All that said, if/when Quagga Mussels and Spiny Water Fleas show up in Big Cedar, it will get blamed on us, the fisherman. 

I’ll be hosting a year end tournament for our group, Sat 9/30. Just a heads up so people are not surprised. 10-19 boats.