Fishing Loon Lake in Bottineau County, North Dakota

• Overview

  Loon Lake lies in Bottineau County, North Dakota. It sits in pine and birch country. Small at around 16 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. Our Bottineau County list holds plenty of bigger water. Deloraine lies 11 miles from the water. Bottineau is 14 miles away, with Boissevain at 24 miles. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Loon Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Records held for Bottineau County cover bluegill, brown bullhead, northern pike, smallmouth bass and yellow perch. The list covers the county rather than this water alone, so treat it as a guide. The near bank of Loon Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 2°F and July at about 65°F, the water has a wide range to work through. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. From about late April to around mid November, expect open water on the long-run figures. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. The season on Loon Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Sandy Lake, 0.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Loon Lake in what we hold.