Fishing at Little Ada Lake, Cass County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Set in Cass County, Little Ada Lake is a Minnesota water. The water sits 1,319 feet up. Roughly 46 acres: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. The nearest place of any size is Pequot Lakes, 16 miles away. Then Crosslake, 16 miles, and Breezy Point, 18 miles. Other water within reach: Lake Ada (0.7 miles), West Twin Lake lies 0.7 miles on, Bass Lake (0.9 miles), East Twin Lake lies 1 mile on and Deadman Lake (1.5 miles). It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Little Ada Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Across Cass County, recorded fish include largemouth bass, yellow perch, bluegill and walleye. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Little Ada Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 68°F and January near 6°F on the long-run figures. The season turns properly here, and fish follow it closely. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around mid April. Averages place the thaw at mid April and the freeze at late November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. It sets the rhythm of the year at Little Ada Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Should this one be busy, Lake Ada is 0.7 miles off. Treat access at Little Ada Lake as something to verify.