Wampus Lake Fishing near Babbitt, Minnesota

• Overview

  The Lake County entry here is Wampus Lake, in Minnesota. The ground around here is pine and birch. With some 137 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. With about 2.3 miles of edge, you can try several depths in one session. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Minnesota listings. Babbitt lies 16 miles from the water. The big place round here is Thunder Bay, 121 miles distant. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Wampus Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Species logged across Lake County include white sucker, yellow perch, northern pike, rainbow trout and walleye. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. Take Wampus Lake a stretch at a time.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 64°F for July and 4°F for January. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around late April. Average temperatures cross freezing around late April in spring and again near mid November in autumn. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. That is the shape of the year on Wampus Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. A toilet block sits half a mile away. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Should this one be busy, Little Wampus Lake is 0.6 miles off. Treat Wampus Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.