Rice Lake Fishing near Crosby, Minnesota

• Overview

  Rice Lake is a Crow Wing County water, in Minnesota. Everything around it is rolling bush. Roughly 68 acres: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. Crosby lies 2.1 miles from the water. After that come Aitkin at 13 miles and Brainerd at 13 miles. Also worth knowing: Rose Lake (1 mile), Olander Lake within 1.1 miles, Lookout Lake (1.1 miles), Rice Lake within 1.7 miles and Crato Lake (1.9 miles). The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Rice 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. Open biodiversity records for Crow Wing County list largemouth bass, bluegill and yellow perch. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Rice Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 69°F in July and bottom out at 8°F in January. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Winter locks it down, and mid April brings it back. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about mid April until roughly late November. Fish feed hardest at the start and the close of the open season. It holds true on Rice Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Rose Lake, 1 mile away, makes the obvious fallback. Confirm before you fish Rice Lake.