Fishing at Rice Lake, Cass County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Rice Lake is set in Cass County, Minnesota. Country round the bank runs to mixed forest. At about 221 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. You are looking at roughly 3.6 miles of shoreline, with plenty of water between access points. Size puts it in the front rank of our Cass County list. Crosslake sits 21 miles from here and is the nearest stop. For a city, Fargo is 124 miles off. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Rice Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Open biodiversity records for Cass County list largemouth bass, yellow perch, bluegill and walleye. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. The near bank of Rice Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 6°F and July at about 67°F, the water has a wide range to work through. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around mid April. Averages place the thaw at mid April and the freeze at late November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Rice Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No made access is recorded, so a short walk in is the likely arrangement. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Look for a notice board at the entrance. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Should this one be busy, Echo Lake is 1.1 miles off. What applies at Rice Lake may have changed since it was mapped.