Cliff Lake, Minnesota: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Cliff Lake is one of the Cook County listings for Minnesota. The surface lies 1,926 feet up. The water covers some 70 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The edge runs 2.4 miles or so, easy to work in an afternoon. It is high ground by Minnesota standards. For a base, Grand Marais sits 22 miles out. Further out sit Silver Bay (55 miles) and Ely (56 miles). The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Cliff Lake

  Our records hold no depth for this water. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Records held for Cook County cover white sucker, yellow perch and northern pike. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Cliff Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 63°F, the coldest about 5°F. The season turns properly here, and fish follow it closely. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. Averages place the thaw at early May and the freeze at mid November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Cliff Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There are toilets mapped about 0.9 miles away. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. For a change of water, Wanihigan Lake is 0.7 miles distant. Where Cliff Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.