Fishing at Record Lake, Lake County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Record Lake belongs to Lake County, Minnesota. It sits at 1,545 feet above sea level. The water covers some 38 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. With about 0.9 miles of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Start from Ely, 34 miles down the road. The nearest city of size is Thunder Bay, 92 miles away. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Record Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Survey and observation records for Lake County include white sucker, yellow perch and northern pike. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Anyone new to Record Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 64°F, with January the cold end at about 4°F. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about late April until roughly mid November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Record Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. You can camp about half a mile away, going by the mapping. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. The nearest alternative is River Lake, 1.2 miles out. Check the position at Record Lake before loading the car.