Lake Benson Fishing Guide, Barnes County, North Dakota

• Overview

  Set in Barnes County, North Dakota, this is Lake Benson. Height above sea level is 1,411 feet. With some 148 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. Shoreline length is close to 3.3 miles, and each section fishes a little differently. Valley City is the closest place, 23 miles off. Beyond it, Jamestown at 31 miles and Carrington at 45 miles. Being near a boundary, it pays to know which side you are fishing.

• Where to Fish on Lake Benson

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Survey and observation records for Barnes County include yellow perch, blackside darter and smallmouth bass. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. Read Lake Benson before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 69°F for July and 6°F for January. Fishing here follows the temperature more than the calendar. Ice-out usually falls in mid April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about mid April until roughly late November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. On Lake Benson the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Should this one be busy, Hanson Lake is 4 miles off. None of that is settled for Lake Benson in what we hold.