Five Lake Fishing in Bottineau County, North Dakota

• Overview

  Bottineau County in North Dakota is where Five Lake sits. Pine and birch runs right down to the water. Compared with other North Dakota water on our list, it sits high. Supplies mean a trip to Bottineau, 13 miles off. Deloraine is 13 miles away, with Boissevain at 21 miles. Others within reach: Bone Lake at 0.7 miles, 1.3 miles away is Dromore Lake, Horseshoe Lake at 1.4 miles, 1.5 miles away is Little Fish Lake and Hathaway Lake at 1.6 miles. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Five Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Bottineau County records list bluegill, brown bullhead, northern pike, smallmouth bass and yellow perch among the fish reported. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. At Five Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 2°F in January to roughly 65°F in July. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough late April. The open-water window runs from around late April to about mid November in an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. That shapes the year on Five Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. Mapping flags this water as intermittent: it can be dry for part of the year, so check before travelling. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Check whether a boat is allowed before you tow one. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. Should this one be busy, Bone Lake is 0.7 miles off. Ask locally about Five Lake if anything is unclear.