Best Fishing Spots in Minnesota

Minnesota is glacial lake country and almost nothing else. The state DNR counts 11,842 lakes of ten acres or larger, which is where the licence plates get their number. Almost every water here is a natural lake rather than a reservoir, the reverse of the national picture where a third of fishing water is dammed. The count piles up in the northeast: Lake County holds more than any other, with Saint Louis County next, the Arrowhead and Boundary Waters country where lakes chain together across granite and access is often by portage rather than by ramp. Itasca and Cass Counties add the north-central resort belt. Southern farm counties map far fewer, so anglers there drive north. Elevation barely moves, 187 to 642 metres, so what separates one water from another is size, depth and latitude. Minnesota accounts for 8,402 waters here, across 86 counties. By type it is mostly natural lakes, with reservoirs next. Top of the list for area is Lake of the Woods, around 1,341 sq miles. Among waters with recorded depth, Loon Lake runs deepest at some 245 feet. Climate averages across these waters run 6°F in the cold month and 68°F in the warm one. Expect the ice to go around mid April in a normal year. The fish recorded most often across these counties are yellow perch, northern pike, bluegill and walleye....