Pete Lake Fishing in Otter Tail County, Minnesota

• Overview

  The Otter Tail County end of Minnesota holds Pete Lake. It lies 1,322 feet above sea level. It runs to roughly 38 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Shoreline comes to about 1.1 miles, small enough to learn in a day. Our Otter Tail County list holds plenty of bigger water. Fergus Falls lies 17 miles from the water. For a city, Fargo is 68 miles off. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Pete Lake

  Depth is unmeasured here, so let the shoreline guide you. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Survey and observation records for Otter Tail County include largemouth bass, black crappie and walleye. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Pete Lake fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Seasonal averages run from 7°F in January up to 70°F in July. A solid cap is the normal state through winter. Winter locks it down, and mid April brings it back. The open-water window runs from around mid April to about late November in an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. That is the shape of the year on Pete Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Hollo Lake sits 0.9 miles off and takes the overflow. Nothing here settles the position at Pete Lake for certain.