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Cedar Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Cedar Lake: Carbondale's 1,750-acre water-supply reservoir with a 10-hp limit, a bass slot and one of Illinois' few striped bass fisheries.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
75 / 76 F
Wind
ESE 4 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Cedar Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 4 mph, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 76. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:33 AM-11:33 AM and 10:01 PM-12:01 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Hybrid striped bassFair

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

Tomorrow: Similar at 77 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Illinois requires a fishing licence, from $15.00 for residents. What a Illinois licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with IDNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Illinois, read off the agency, are on the Illinois seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp75 F
High / Low76 / 46 F
WindESE 4-6 mph
Pressure1022.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:13 / 18:09
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Cedar Lake this week

The best day on Cedar Lake this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:33 AM-11:33 AM and 10:01 PM-12:01 AM
Minor period
3:55 AM-4:55 AM
Sun
07:13 to 18:09
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Cedar Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

When to come: the Cedar Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Hybrid striped bass
Striped bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Cedar Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 77 F, wind to 4 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 4 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 5 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Illinois requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Illinois license. Cedar Lake site rules (IDNR): 2 poles, each with no more than 2 hooks or lures; bow fishing allowed. Largemouth and smallmouth bass: no possession from 14 to under 18 inches; 6 a day, no more than 1 of 18 inches or longer and 5 under 14 inches. Striped, white or hybrid striped bass: 17-inch minimum, 3 a day. Crappie: 25 a day. 10-hp motor limit. Tournaments need a City of Carbondale permit (20-boat maximum).

Access

City of Carbondale ramp at the end of Cedar Creek Road off Old Route 51 South (kayak rental by vending machine, accessible kayak launch); a second ramp south of Murphysboro off Route 127 via Boat Dock Road. No marina. Poplar Camp Beach is swim-at-your-own-risk.

About this water

1,750 acres and 60 feet deep, built in 1974 on Cedar Creek as Carbondale's water supply, Jackson County, Illinois.

Fishing Cedar Lake: the full guide

A city reservoir beside the Shawnee

The City of Carbondale created Cedar Lake in 1974 by damming Cedar Creek, a Big Muddy River tributary, to supply tap water to the city. IDNR gives it 1,750 acres and a maximum depth of 60 feet, 5 miles southwest of Carbondale; the city owns the northern half of the shoreline and the Shawnee National Forest surrounds the southern half. With a 10-hp motor limit and swimming only at the designated beach, IDNR says recreational boat traffic stays light.

Crappie, redear and too many small bass

IDNR rates crappie, redear sunfish and largemouth bass excellent. In the 2025 spring survey, 60 percent of crappie were over 10 inches and 38 percent of bass fell inside the 14-to-18-inch protected slot; the agency describes the bass population as trending toward stunted and asks anglers to keep their 5 bass under 14 inches.

Striped bass

IDNR calls Cedar Lake one of the few places in Illinois to catch striped bass, stocks them when available (2,036 six-inch fish in 2025) and has tagged them since 2023. Anglers who catch a tagged striper are asked to leave the tag in, note the tag number, date, length and whether the fish was kept, and call the district fisheries biologist listed on the iFish Illinois page.

Fish attractors

IDNR has placed PVC porcupine-ball attractors and two Shelbyville-cube attractors at each of 30 locations around the lake; a map with GPS coordinates is linked from the lake's iFish Illinois profile.

Common questions

Is Cedar Lake electric-only?

IDNR lists a 10-horsepower motor limit rather than an electric-only rule.

Does Cedar Lake have muskies?

IDNR's fishing outlook and recent stocking record for Cedar Lake list no muskellunge; its featured species are crappie, redear, largemouth and striped bass.

Why does IDNR want small bass kept?

Thinning bass under 14 inches should raise growth rates, let more fish reach the protected slot and lead to more trophy-size bass, the agency says.

Is fishing good at Cedar Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Kinkaid Lake14 miRend Lake37 miCarlyle Lake73 miReelfoot Lake87 miLake Barkley91 miMeramec River93 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 37.6330, -89.2830 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.