Fishing Cherokee Lake in Cook County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Cherokee Lake is set in Cook County, Minnesota. Height above sea level is 1,785 feet. The water covers around 852 acres, which puts most of it out of reach from the bank. With about 16 miles of shoreline, local advice saves a lot of walking. Size puts it in the front rank of our Cook County list. The nearest place of any size is Grand Marais, 26 miles away. Thunder Bay is the closest city, 77 miles away. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Cherokee Lake

  Depth is unmeasured here, so let the shoreline guide you. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Survey and observation records for Cook County include white sucker, yellow perch, northern pike, rainbow trout and walleye. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Read Cherokee Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 5°F to 63°F. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Once it clears, about late April, the fishing comes on quickly. The water is typically free of ice between late April and mid November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. It sets the rhythm of the year at Cherokee Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Mapping shows a campsite some 160 yards from the water. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Snub Lake at 0.7 miles is the sensible second choice. Treat access at Cherokee Lake as something to verify.