South Slough Fishing near Canby, Minnesota

• Overview

  South Slough sits within Yellow Medicine County in Minnesota. The water sits 1,654 feet up. At 250 acres this is proper open water rather than a pond. At about 3.4 miles of edge, most people work one arm at a time. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Minnesota listings. The nearest place of any size is Canby, 9.4 miles away. Clear Lake is 11 miles away, with Madison at 25 miles. The line between counties passes nearby, which can change who manages the water.

• Where to Fish on South Slough

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Open biodiversity records for Yellow Medicine County list yellow perch, walleye, black bullhead, black crappie and northern pike. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. South Slough gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 71°F and January near 11°F on the long-run figures. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. The lid arrives early and lasts until roughly early April. Ice usually gives way near early April, and forms again about late November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. The season on South Slough follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Failing this one, try Lake Cochrane, 1 mile away. For South Slough, the notice at the access point is the final word.