Mud Lake Fishing near Ortonville, Minnesota

• Overview

  Mud Lake lies within the bounds of Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota. The setting is rolling bush on every side. With some 70 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. About 2.2 miles of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Lac qui Parle County. Some 11 miles away sits Ortonville, the nearest settlement. Sioux Falls sits 114 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Mud Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Reported across Lac qui Parle County: common carp, orangespotted sunfish, northern pike and white sucker. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. At Mud Lake the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 72°F at the top of summer and 11°F at the bottom of winter. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early April. The lid tends to go about early April and return around late November. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. Anyone fishing Mud Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. A wire trace and a big bright lure handle the pike; deep water asks for a heavier spoon. State or provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. If the gate is shut, Pegg Lake at 8.3 miles is the nearest alternative. For Mud Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.