Spigot Lake, Minnesota: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Look for Spigot Lake in Lake County, Minnesota. The bank gives way to mixed forest. It covers about 14 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. On size it sits at the modest end of our Lake County list. Nearest town is Ely, 23 miles off. Thunder Bay sits 102 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Spigot Lake

  Open data we checked carries no depth for this water. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Survey and observation records for Lake County include white sucker, yellow perch and northern pike. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Spigot Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 65°F, with January the cold end at about 4°F. A hard winter is normal, and the thaw brings a strong few weeks. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late April. Climate averages put the opening at about late April and the closing near late November. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. Spigot Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. You can camp about half a mile away, going by the mapping. Mapping records toilets within half a mile. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. State or provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. If the gate is shut, Perdu Lake at 0.6 miles is the nearest alternative. Nothing here settles the position at Spigot Lake for certain.