Fishing at Fogarty Lake, Big Stone County, Minnesota

• Overview

  The Big Stone County entry here is Fogarty Lake, in Minnesota. It sits at 1,099 feet above sea level. At about 54 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Shoreline comes to about 1.0 miles, small enough to learn in a day. Our Big Stone County list holds plenty of bigger water. Ortonville is the closest town at 17 miles. For a city, Fargo is 93 miles off. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Fogarty Lake

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. 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. Public occurrence data for Big Stone County names common carp, yellow perch and walleye. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. On Fogarty Lake the quiet end is the one worth the extra effort.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 72°F and January reads 10°F. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Look for the thaw near early April; the fishing lifts straight after. The open-water window runs from around early April to about late November in an average year. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Time your trip to Fogarty Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. This sits inside WPA, so read the reserve notices first. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Check whether bait restrictions apply before you buy any. Clear Lake, 1.8 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. The position on Fogarty Lake is worth confirming on the day.