Clear Lake Fishing near Ely, Minnesota

• Overview

  You will find Clear Lake in Saint Louis County, Minnesota. The surface lies 1,486 feet up. Surface area is around 110 acres, which gives you real water without needing a boat. Shoreline comes to about 2.3 miles, small enough to learn in a day. 9.9 miles away sits Ely, the nearest town. Babbitt is 12 miles away, with Hoyt Lakes at 24 miles. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Clear Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Fish documented in Saint Louis County include yellow perch, northern pike, white sucker and rainbow trout. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. Clear Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put July near 65°F and January near 2°F. Fishing here follows the temperature more than the calendar. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late April. The season between ice runs from about late April to late November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Clear Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Should this one be busy, Armstrong Lake is 0.8 miles off. What applies at Clear Lake may have changed since it was mapped.