Anyone on here have any experience on this lake? My son and I are hauling the boat up from Colorado the second week of August to spend a week on Dead. It's a big lake. A lot of shallow water in the western part, deeper water in the eastern arms. We usually fish the Alexandria or Park Rapids area in June or early July. This will be my first time fishing in Ottertail Co. Just wondering what to expect during the dog days.
When tournaments are held there it seams like they are always won in the "north" section of the lake, I have not fished that section as I have only been on the lake one time, I did fish East to west and only got fish in one section about 300 yards long but in that section we got close to 100 in a couple hours. Very weird, cover water in disbelief is my suggestion or go north
Mercury 250 proxs 2B115089
I've only been there twice. Both times mid to late summer.
I could be way off, but I just don't believe the lake has many bass. I've caught some...and some big ones, and the lake is beautiful and it feels like there should be a bass on every other cast! There's a dozen other lakes within 15 miles i'd rather fish.
There are a number of tournaments (bass) on the lake each year. I've only fished it a couple of times, as I have to drive by so many great bass lakes to get to it. It does have quality fish in it. But there are so many lakes in that area that have outstanding bass fishing and see little to to pressure during the week. This link will take you to the Mn. Lake Finder page, and you can search via lake name of just use the map and see the survey data for each lake.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html
We are coming up the last week of June to that area. Going to fish Monday to Friday. We have several lakes picked out but any advice would be great.
Fished both Dead & Start a long time ago, don't remember a lot, caught most fish around shallow cover. If you don't find what you like, there are a ton of other lakes within a short drive to sample as well
I've fished OTC for 35 years. Dead can be good, but if I had to put my top 50 lakes in OTC on a hit list, not sure Dead would even make my list. Only time I ever fish it is if we have a tournament there and have to. If you are fishing there, the west end of collins bay can be good, the rice fields and pads in the narrows before you enter that north end of the lake and any of the hard bottom reed areas with rocks can have good fish. Have never done good on docks there but you know how that goes. Some dead rice mats can have fish under them. Biggest thing is if they aren't biting keep trying different stuff and areas.Originally Posted by Watley1
Thanks for the replies. When we fish MN we rarely fish just the lake we're staying on. I love trying a lake or 2 each day. I see Pickerel is an option for smallmouth. Anderson, Anna, Pleasant, Heilberger look like options for largemouth near where we're staying. Any lakes near Dead that you guys can recommend? We enjoy fishing deep weedlines, shallow cover, points, humps. Just need to get our fill of bass before heading back to CO where bass fishing is tough to say the least.
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