Sixmile Lake Fishing near Babbitt, Minnesota

• Overview

  Sixmile Lake lies in Saint Louis County, in Minnesota. It sits at 1,503 feet above sea level. The water covers some 38 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. About 1.6 miles of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. The nearest place of any size is Babbitt, 13 miles away. Further out sit Ely (13 miles) and Aurora (22 miles). This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Sixmile Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Survey and observation records for Saint Louis County include yellow perch, northern pike and white sucker. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. Anyone new to Sixmile Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 65°F and January near 2°F. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Ice-out usually falls in late April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Expect Sixmile Lake to follow that timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Local rules can differ across the county line, so check where you stand. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Needle Boy Lake, 0.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position at Sixmile Lake before loading the car.