Plug Lake Fishing in Cook County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Out in Cook County, Minnesota, sits Plug Lake. It stands 1,864 feet above sea level. The water measures roughly 15 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. It is high ground by Minnesota standards. Grand Marais at 29 miles is the nearest place to stop. Ely follows at 50 miles, then Silver Bay at 54 miles. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Plug Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Survey and observation records for Cook County include white sucker, yellow perch and northern pike. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. Plug Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 64°F at the top of summer and 4°F at the bottom of winter. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about late April. The water is typically free of ice between late April and mid November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. On Plug Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. 3 covers ground next to the water; its rules will apply on that side. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. The nearest alternative is Moth Lake, 0.4 miles out. What applies at Plug Lake may have changed since it was mapped.