Wills Lake Fishing in Cook County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Wills Lake is one of the Cook County listings for Minnesota. Height above sea level is 1,736 feet. The water covers some 67 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Bank access stretches around 1.3 miles in total. Compared with other Minnesota water on our list, it sits high. Start from Grand Marais, 17 miles down the road. After that come Silver Bay at 44 miles and Ely at 54 miles. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Wills Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Survey and observation records for Cook County include white sucker, yellow perch and northern pike. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. The shape of Wills Lake rewards a slow walk along one bank.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 63°F, the coldest about 6°F. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. The water is typically free of ice between late April and late November. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. It holds true on Wills Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. For a change of water, Williams Lake is 0.7 miles distant. None of that is settled for Wills Lake in what we hold.