Aerie Lake in Saint Louis County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Aerie Lake in Saint Louis County, Minnesota. The water sits 1,302 feet up. With some 143 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. Roughly 2.7 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Start from Cloquet, 21 miles down the road. The big place round here is Minneapolis, 143 miles distant. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Aerie Lake

  Published depth figures reach 42 feet at the lowest point. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Reported across Saint Louis County: yellow perch, northern pike, white sucker, rainbow trout and walleye. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Anyone new to Aerie Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 66°F and January near 6°F. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around mid April. The season between ice runs from about mid April to late November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. It holds true on Aerie Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. For a change of water, Crooked Lake is 0.8 miles distant. None of that is settled for Aerie Lake in what we hold.