Park Lake Fishing Guide, Murray County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Park Lake belongs to Murray County, Minnesota. This is pine and birch ground. The water covers some 40 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. On size it sits at the modest end of our Murray County list. The nearest place of any size is Slayton, 8.9 miles away. The big place round here is Sioux Falls, 65 miles distant. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Park Lake

  Our records hold no depth for this water. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Public occurrence data for Murray County names common carp, walleye and black bullhead. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. On Park Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between 12°F in January and 72°F in July. The year runs cold to warm and back, with clear transitions. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near early April. Break-up near early April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. That is the shape of the year on Park Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. Parking is close: a car park sits half a mile from the bank. There are toilets half a mile off. Walleye come to jigs worked slow near bottom, and to trolled crankbaits along the drops at dusk. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Webster Slough, 0.4 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position on Park Lake before loading the car.