Little Rice Pond in Beltrami County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Little Rice Pond sits within Beltrami County in Minnesota. Height above sea level is 1,302 feet. It covers about 24 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. It is a small entry by Beltrami County standards. Nearest town is Bemidji, 19 miles off. Fargo sits 117 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Little Rice Pond

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Beltrami County records list walleye, yellow perch, northern pike and largemouth bass among the fish reported. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Little Rice Pond repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 67°F and January near 3°F. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Ice-out usually falls in mid April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. On average, mid April opens the water and mid November closes it again. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. That is the shape of the year on Little Rice Pond.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. No made access is recorded, so a short walk in is the likely arrangement. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Check whether bait restrictions apply before you buy any. Should this one be busy, Murk Lake is 0.7 miles off. Treat access at Little Rice Pond as something to verify.