Allen Lake in Polk County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Polk County, Minnesota, this is Allen Lake. The setting is lake country bush on every side. Surface area is around 144 acres, which gives you real water without needing a boat. Bank access stretches around 2.0 miles in total. Size puts it in the front rank of our Polk County list. Nearest place of any size is Fosston, 7.7 miles away. Further out sit Mahnomen (14 miles) and Bagley (18 miles). There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Allen Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Across Polk County, recorded fish include yellow perch, brown bullhead and white sucker. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Anyone new to Allen Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 68°F in July and bottoms out near 4°F in January. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. The lid usually goes in mid April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. In an average year the thaw lands around mid April and the freeze near mid November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Allen Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is no recorded infrastructure here; expect to find your own way in. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Look for a notice board at the entrance. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. For a change of water, Frethem Lake is 0.6 miles distant. Rules at Allen Lake are worth checking on the day.