Lake Cenaiko Thread

[Zenit]

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The colder weather is getting me anxious for that ice to start forming! I hope its decent enough to get out there on opener this year!! Someone take care of that "denison" now this fall so others wont need to lose a nice trout to it through the ice as they try and reel it up!

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No "denison" sightings lately. The fishing has picked up in the last month, as expected, but mostly all 12 inch range rainbows, with a few brookies mixed in here & there. They're all shallow now....I have a little fun last week when the bite was on pretty heavy, cathing those rainbows on a little Cherrywood ultralight combo with waxies, and my fly rod, but these last couple of days the lake is open I'm going to cast out into deeper water with a shallow running jointed Rap (couldn't believe it, Gander Mountain had a small brook trout pattern jointed Original Rap, maybe I'm blind, but I've never seen that before, they had three in stock & I bought them all) in search of the bigger fish that I know are still in this lake.

For those that don't know, lake closes 31 October FYI, so there are a few days left to get out there before the long wait until hard-water fishing starts.

[Moses2531]

Thats awesome that you've gotten into some late fall trout action!! I'd love to be home getting in on that. Take that pike out now in these couple days you have left and lets get after those trout again this winter!

[Zenit]

Yep, I stripped the line from my ultralite & packed the fly rod away for the winter this afternoon....last couple of days the lake is open I'm gonna try to throw some heavier stuff, got a couple of bigger Spooks & some medium sized bucktails raring to go, in the hopes of removing that toothy bugger from the lake.

[Moses2531]

With those cold temperatures last week, I've been hearing of nice ice reports in the metro, just wondering if anyone's checked out Cenaiko to see if it too locked up so we can get out there for opener this year thru the ice!

[bapperpimp]

Does anybody know when the opener will be this year?

[Zenit]

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Does anybody know when the opener will be this year?

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13th of January, I believe.

[tweedlap]

We are going to need some cold weather soon or the Metro trout ponds may be closed due to ice conditions.

I will check Courthouse Lake this afternoon and post later today.

tweed

[tweedlap]

Sunday, December 31....

Courthouse Lake update: 10' to 15' of open water along the shore in the bay. Not quite that much on the rest of the lake.

Ice looks pretty dark.

Someone chisled a hole out about 8'. The chunk looked to be about 2"-3".

We need some 0 to 10 degree weather, soon.

tweed

[Moses2531]

How's Cenaiko looking for opener? I drove by it last week and it looked like the ice withstood the warmer weather pretty well and stayed frozen over... Sure would hate to postpone back to back years out there...

[Zenit]

On New Year's Day, it didn't look good, all the rain on NY Eve before it turned to snow did a number on the ice, 2 open patches of water on the lake now.

Odds are not good the lake will open back up on the 13th, unfortunately.

[Moses2531]

Jeeze! That is so frustrating! Well, if anyone hear's any news as to whether or not the date is officially postponed for fishing Cenaiko that'd be greatly appreciated. As for now, we'll just sit down here and hope for cold weather to our north

[Moses2531]

Is it going to be cold enough within this week to give us a chance to fish out on Cenaiko? Has the DNR said anything yet about it??

[tweedlap]

The park management determines if they are going to allow fishing due to ice conditions.

Give them a call on Monday. I think it is Three Rivers Park. If that's not it call Coon Rapids city hall.

tweed

[Moses2531]

Alright thanks alot, I'll give them a call!

[skunkt]

i just got off the phone with the coon rapids dam people, and they said the lake will be open on sat staring at 5am.

its on.

maybe someone will get luckly and nab that muskie before it can do any more damage to the rainbow numbers.

[so haaad]

Do you think anyone will get a MONSTER crappie like they did a few years ago?

[skunkt]

i didnt hear about that.

how big of a monster?

[Zenit]

Yes, I confirmed this today...the lake will open as scheduled on Saturday. Sunrise is 7:49 AM for Saturday, so by regs the earliest anyone can wet a line 7:19 AM.

I spoke to a few rangers there today, they've been out testing the ice, they told me today they've actually drilled holes where they've gotten almost 8 inches of ice...kinda surprising.

Game on!

[Moses2531]

Perfect! Exciting!! I guess I'm heading north this weekend

[Zenit]

Should be fun!! We're geared up and jacked up for the weekend....

For waxies... try the hardware store just off of 610 and CR Blvd., about 1 mile east of the park entrance, right next to Culver's. He sells good waxies & angleworms, at a fair price, and his bait is always fresh

Let's get it on, ladies & gentlemen

[Dragon Fish ll]

DOES ANYONE KNOW THE LAST DATE THEY STOCKED CENAIKO. iUSUALY FISH IT ON SPRING OPENER. BUT HAS BEEN A LITTLE SLOWER THAN USAUL THE LAST COUPLE YEARS. dont be surprised if your bringing in a trout an end up with a huge MUSKIE on your line. We had him out but noone wanted to walk him to the Missi and it was not Muskie season yet so he went back in, Opener last spring.

[skunkt]

that’s too bad, a muskie can do a lot of damage to a young trout population. That thing needs to come out for the good of the lake.

[Zenit]

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DOES ANYONE KNOW THE LAST DATE THEY STOCKED CENAIKO. iUSUALY FISH IT ON SPRING OPENER. BUT HAS BEEN A LITTLE SLOWER THAN USAUL THE LAST COUPLE YEARS. dont be surprised if your bringing in a trout an end up with a huge MUSKIE on your line. We had him out but noone wanted to walk him to the Missi and it was not Muskie season yet so he went back in, Opener last spring.

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Yep, I was there....actually a few of us volunteered to walk it over to the river, or to call the DNR and get permission to just keep it. I talked to 2 COs later, they both said that ANY fish that is not a trout should not be going back into the lake, at any time. what I usually do during open water season is keep a basket for the panfish/bass/crappies that one invariably catches on Cenaiko, and at the end of the day, put them in the river...not many carp in Cenaiko, but plenty of suckers, of course they end up as raccoon food.

To answer your question, the last time that I know that the lake was stocked was on 12 October...I have some pics, I'll try to post them. Rainbows, all yearlings. According to the DNR guys, the DNR did NOT plan on stocking the lake again before the hard water season, but I'm not sure how accurate that information is.

[Zenit]

Here's some pics of the last stocking that I know of. I remember that it was an absolutely miserable day out there, I was the only one on the lake and was getting ready to pack it up and head for home, when I saw the DNR truck pull up.

Pic 1 12 October

Pic 2 12 October

Pic 3 12 October

Pic 4 12 October

[Zenit]

2 days to go....I'm jacked