Pelkey Lake, Minnesota: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Pelkey Lake falls in Morrison County, part of Minnesota. It sits at 1,102 feet above sea level. It runs to roughly 103 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Roughly 1.8 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. For supplies, Pierz is 6 miles out. Little Falls is 6.5 miles away, with Royalton at 12 miles. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Pelkey Lake

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Across Morrison County, recorded fish include largemouth bass, bluegill, northern pike, black crappie and yellow perch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. At Pelkey Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 9°F and July at about 70°F, the water has a wide range to work through. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around mid April. On the long-run averages the water opens up around mid April and starts locking again about late November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. It holds true on Pelkey Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Frieze Lake, 1.2 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Confirm before you fish Pelkey Lake.