Fishing at Muma Lake, Cook County, Minnesota

• Overview

  The Cook County entry here is Muma Lake, in Minnesota. The country here is pine and birch. It covers about 18 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Minnesota listings. Grand Marais sits 12 miles from here and is the nearest stop. Further out sit Neebing (45 miles) and Westfort (57 miles). This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Muma Lake

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Across Cook County, recorded fish include white sucker, yellow perch, northern pike, rainbow trout and walleye. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. At Muma Lake the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 63°F; by January the average is down near 5°F. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around late April. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. The first weeks of open water and the last are the ones to plan for. The season on Muma Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. 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. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Muckwa Lake sits 0.4 miles off and takes the overflow. Where Muma Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.