Ritual Lake near Ely: Fishing Spots, Seasons and Access

• Overview

  You will find Ritual Lake in Saint Louis County, Minnesota. It sits at 1,266 feet above sea level. It measures about 52 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. The bank runs about 1.4 miles all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Start from Ely, 18 miles down the road. For a city, Thunder Bay is 119 miles off. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Ritual Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Fish documented in Saint Louis County include yellow perch, northern pike, white sucker, rainbow trout and walleye. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. On Ritual Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 65°F at the top of summer and 3°F at the bottom of winter. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late April. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late April and starts locking again about late November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. At Ritual Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Mapping shows a campsite some half a mile from the water. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Check whether a boat is allowed before you tow one. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Papoose Lake, 0.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position on Ritual Lake before loading the car.