Cummings Lake Fishing in Saint Louis County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Saint Louis County in Minnesota is where Cummings Lake sits. The surface lies 1,444 feet up. At some 2.6 sq miles it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. On our Saint Louis County list it sits near the top for size. You are 12 miles from Ely. The big place round here is Thunder Bay, 134 miles distant. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Cummings Lake

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Across Saint Louis County, recorded fish include yellow perch, northern pike, white sucker and rainbow trout. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. Treat Cummings Lake as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 65°F; the cold one sits at 2°F. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about late April. Expect the water usable from around late April until roughly mid November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. Cummings Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. There are toilets half a mile off. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Tidbit Lake at 1.3 miles is the sensible second choice. Where Cummings Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.