Fishing Gilchrist Lake in Pope County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Gilchrist Lake is a Pope County water, in Minnesota. Beyond the shoreline you have pine and birch. At 321 acres this is proper open water rather than a pond. Few waters listed in Pope County are bigger. The town to know is Glenwood, 12 miles out. Minneapolis is the closest city, 108 miles away. Local rules may differ a few miles either side of here.

• Where to Fish on Gilchrist Lake

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Fish documented in Pope County include largemouth bass, common carp and northern pike. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Gilchrist Lake gives up its fish to patience rather than distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 71°F and January at 10°F. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near early April. On the long-run averages the water opens up around early April and starts locking again about late November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Gilchrist Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. Should this one be busy, Lake Linka is 1 mile off. Treat access at Gilchrist Lake as something to verify.