Fishing Portage Lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota

• Overview

  You will find Portage Lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. It stands 1,253 feet above sea level. Roughly 278 acres of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. Bank access stretches around 2.5 miles in total. Few waters listed in Crow Wing County are bigger. Crosby is the closest place, 9.2 miles off. Minneapolis sits 100 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Portage Lake

  Published depth figures reach 42 feet at the lowest point. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Records held for Crow Wing County cover largemouth bass, bluegill, yellow perch, northern pike and pumpkinseed. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Read Portage Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 69°F for July and 7°F for January. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Once it clears, about mid April, the fishing comes on quickly. Averages place the thaw at mid April and the freeze at late November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. On Portage Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. 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. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. Hanks Lake, 0.9 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Nothing here settles the position at Portage Lake for certain.