Peary Lake Fishing in Saint Louis County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Peary Lake is a Saint Louis County water, Minnesota side. What surrounds it is rolling bush. It runs to roughly 111 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. About 1.7 miles of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. The closest town, Fort Frances, is 29 miles distant. After that come International Falls at 30 miles and Emo at 49 miles. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Peary Lake

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Open biodiversity records for Saint Louis County list yellow perch, northern pike, white sucker and rainbow trout. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. On Peary Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 4°F to 66°F. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late April. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Peary Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. You can camp about half a mile away, going by the mapping. There are picnic tables recorded roughly half a mile off. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Should this one be busy, Fishmouth Lake is 0.6 miles off. Where Peary Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.