First Trestle Lake in Cass County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  First Trestle Lake belongs to Cass County, Minnesota. The water sits 1,453 feet up. Roughly 32 acres: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. Some 22 miles away sits Pequot Lakes, the nearest settlement. For a city, Fargo is 105 miles off. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water. It suits a short session as much as a full day.

• Where to Fish on First Trestle Lake

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Fish documented in Cass County include largemouth bass, yellow perch and bluegill. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. On First Trestle Lake that means starting tight and working out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 68°F in July and bottom out at 6°F in January. Hard water is a season in its own right here. After mid April the shallows warm and the fish move up. Open water usually runs from mid April until about late November. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Anyone fishing First Trestle Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. There is no recorded infrastructure here; expect to find your own way in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. First Perch Lake, 0.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Treat access at First Trestle Lake as something to verify.