Kiskadinna Lake in Cook County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Out in Cook County, Minnesota, sits Kiskadinna Lake. Height above sea level is 1,919 feet. At about 117 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. The shoreline runs about 4.8 miles, so it pays to pick a stretch and stay with it. It ranks high for size among our Cook County listings. For supplies, Grand Marais is 24 miles out. Thunder Bay sits 71 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Kiskadinna Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. County-wide records name white sucker, yellow perch and northern pike. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. On Kiskadinna Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 63°F at the top of summer and 4°F at the bottom of winter. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at mid November. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. On Kiskadinna Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There are toilets mapped about 100 yards away. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. The nearest alternative is Trump Lake, 1.4 miles out. What applies at Kiskadinna Lake may have changed since it was mapped.