Trout Fishing - Cuyuna Mine Lakes

The mine lakes provide a unique fishing experience where shore fishing and boat fishing are employed to catch trout and other species. Only three of the mine lakes have improved boat ramp accesses at this time, they are Pennington (Ironton), Section Six (Trommald), and Sagamore, near Riverton. Pennington opens into other mine lakes including Mahnomen Mines 1 and 2, Arco and Alstead. Huntington-Feigh access is scheduled to be open sometime in 2006.

Fish are stocked every year at varying rates in selected mine lakes depending on access and size of the body of water. Up to date information can be found from area bait shops, especially those around Crosby, Deerwood, and Ironton. Call the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area Headquarters at: (218) 546-5926 or check out the DNR website for additional information.

When to fish

• Drifting with jigs and live bait rigs are deadly. Use electronics to find fish and their average depth. Cast out about twice the depth of the fish, using an additional 1/4 oz weight to get deep quickly. For example, if you see fish around 25 feet, cast out about 25-30 feet and let the wind or trolling motor take you slowly over the fish. Let more line out if the wind is heavier. Experiment with bait types, i.e., worms, dead minnows, powerbaits, corn, etc.
• Trolling with bait behind spinners and even cowbells are used. Plugs and other crankbaits are also casted and trolled. Stickbaits can be smaller, around three inches. This size is effective on stocked trout which are typically 12-14 inches. Larger plugs will take the larger "hold-over" rainbows that can be two to five pounds. Most fish are perfect pan size.
• Down-rigger trolling in the summer months is done when warmer surface temperatures send the fish deeper. Generally the fish will be found in the 25-45 foot range and can be seen with electronics. Two to six pound downrigger balls are sufficient for this relatively shallow fishing.
• Still fishing by boat is done if it is calm enough to hover over fish (detected with electronics) and held in postion with oars or electric trolling motors. Here traditional vertical jigging is done with bait on a #6-8 long shanked hook or a crawler harness. 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigs with colored plastic bodies and tipped with a wax worm or worm piece if effective. To get deeper, pinch on an 1/8 or 1/4 oz lead weight. Remember if you use minnows, they must be dead. No live minnows can be used in the mine lakes.

Canoes and Float TubesLakes without launch ramps usually provide the most undisturbed fish. Here one needs to carry or slide in a canoe or the like. Outboard motors are allowed on all lakes. Float tubes and small portable fishing pontoons can be used as well and are perfect for some of the smaller "pits".

Fly Fishing for mine lake trout In the spring and fall fly fishing can be effective as the fish will move to the surface in search of bugs. One word of caution: These fish are tough! Use at least a four pound test tippet and usually six (4X-3X) especially for subsurface. Surface flies can be caddis imitations such as Adams or Henryvilles in a size 12 or 14. These are stocked fish so they are not terribly selective.

On a calm day simply drift around throwing at rise forms. If surface flies don't work, strip hard and sink them. Then employ an various speeds of retrieve until the fish tell you what they like. Keep the rod low, pointed directly at the fly. If you feel the line stop, strip with authority! A "strip set" is better since if the fish misses you can continue stripping. If you sweep set which is the natural reaction, you will pull the fly away and probably out of the water. You will then need to re-cast and the fish may well be gone.

Subsurface flies designed to swim are effective. Start with Hare's Ear nymphs and Soft Hackle Caddis in a #14 and #16. If these don't work, pull out some streamers such as Wholly Buggers or Deceivers in sizes 10 to 6.

Fly fishing on mine lakes can be very good at times with solititude as an added bonus. It is largely undiscovered here and awaits the adventurous, willing to experiment and explore. It is seasonal and dependant upon water temperature and wind conditions. A thermometer is extremely useful. As long as the surface water does not exceed 65 degrees, trout can be found in the top ten feet of the water column. For some of the very best fly action anywhere check out river smallmouth bass, check here .

Fly Fishing GearA "5 weight" fly rod with weight forward floating line (#5-6) will work well. Remember these lakes are generally protected on all sides by mounds of mining debris (now reforested) making them relatively calm in almost any ambient weather situation. The "pits" are great places to go when it's too windy to fish elsewhere. This also means shore fly fishing is difficult since the high slopes prohibit backcasting in many areas.

In early and late summer a fast sinking tip can employed to get at fish residing in depths of fifteen to thirty-five feet using a countdown method.

Information provided by Brad Miller and FlyBass.com

Special section : Fishing Suspended Summer Trout on Stocked Lakes
by Randy Lage (Retired teacher from Mound, MN | Now concentrates on fishing and hunting)

I know some guys like to drag "cowbells" (a series of spinner blades in tandem in front of a bait). I have never done this even though it is sometimes quite productive or so I've been told. The bells really reduce the fight of the fish and produce a lot of drag.

Rather, I usually like to troll with an electric or small outboard at a rather slow pace while dragging a small floating Rap. Usually silver or blue and under 2 inches. You need to have it a long, long way behind the boat. Other than the Rap, I like the Panther Martins in 0 or 1 size in silver. A Mepps can also be used. A small swivel is needed and you need to guard against line twist.

Both of these techniques ride near the surface in the top 3 feet of water and the hits are usually quite hard with not too many misses. Other than that, one of my all time favorite ways is to use some electronics to see the depth that most of the fish are holding at as you troll. After learning a pattern of depth and location, I usually throw out an anchor and set a slip bobber rig on 4# test line. I use a couple of split shots and a fairly large bobber to cast it easily and get it down sometimes to 30. For a bait I use a winter sunfish jig with a nightcrawler either whole or half. I the jig ain't chartreuse it ain't no use!! If the Vex shows fish cruising at 20 to 24 feet for the most part, I will set the bobber stop at 18 feet and usually do quite well. This technique works best for me when it is real hot in late summer with little or no wind. 90 degrees, mid-day, and no wind will sometime force the fish to layer over sometimes deep water. I fish Little Long with 100 feet of anchor rope and fish some of the deepest areas if fish are present. My biggest rainbow out of there with this technique was a 6 pounder. You don't get much of a chance to release these fish because of the depth and the deep hooking. I bring a cooler with ice and "bonk 'em right away and bag them on ice immediately. For winter, we use small ice flies (jigs) with waxies in some shallow water. Usually less than 12' and quite often about 6'. I like a one inch Swedish pimple with 2 or 3 waxies a foot or two below the ice. We have a small winter jig with a glowing rubber body and a rat-tail from Gander that has been great. Trout are either on or off the feed-bag in the winter. The one inch winter jigging Raps will also work at times.