Garfield Lake in Hubbard County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Look for Garfield Lake in Hubbard County, Minnesota. Height above sea level is 1,299 feet. Surface area runs to roughly 954 acres, so plan for one area rather than the whole. At about 6.4 miles of edge, most people work one arm at a time. Size puts it in the front rank of our Hubbard County list. You are 18 miles from Bemidji. Then Park Rapids, 26 miles, and Bagley, 37 miles. Local rules may differ a few miles either side of here.

• Where to Fish on Garfield Lake

  The charted maximum sits at about 40 feet. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Species logged across Hubbard County include walleye, northern pike, black crappie and bluegill. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. At Garfield Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 67°F; by January the average is down near 4°F. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from mid April. Break-up sits around mid April on average, with the water closing again about mid November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Expect Garfield Lake to follow that timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. You can launch: the ramp is half a mile away. There is a mapped landing stage half a mile away. Public toilets are recorded roughly 0.9 miles off. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Should this one be busy, Willow Lake is 2.6 miles off. Nothing on Garfield Lake should be assumed from this page alone.