Good camping/fishing lake

[shiltsy]

Any recommendations on a good bass lake (preferably a couple hours north) that has lakeside campsites and boat access? I'm planning to get away for a long weekend in early June and not sure where to go.

As a few of you know from other posts, we just moved back to MN (this past week) after three years in Kansas City. Looking forward to some great fishing in MN and happy to be back!

[LazyIke]

Pelican Lake in Orr has great Largemouth fishing and Pine Acres Campground has a dock for each lakeside campsite.

www.pineacres.com/

4498 Pine Acres Road

Orr, Minnesota 55771

800/777-7231

218/757-3144

Don and Elaine Rappel

[OLY]

Every year I camp at barsness campground in glenwood on lake minnewasksa. The lake has giant largemouth, and smallmouth, plus good walleye and panfishing. The camp is nice and affordable. My bass club has been staying there annually for the past 8 years for our out of town tournament.

[Cicada]

Little farther north, but Maplewood State Park is awesome. Beers Lake is near the main campground and has largemouth, muskies, northerns, bluegills, and crappies, and maybe a leftover walleye or two. There is a more rustic campground on South Lida near the park's access. From South Lida you have access to Venstrom, North Lida, and Mudd Lake. You will find all the favorite fish to chase except muskie. North Lida has some of the best smallmouth and walleye fishing in the area.

[lookincalifornia]

my friend and i used to camp at head lake near ottertail. it is only fishable for those who camp there. nice bass, tons of big panfish and a bit of a hammer handle problem. it has always been quiet and we would go on memorial day and stay the whole next week. plus there is a good place to get breakfast nearby(huge pancakes)

[shiltsy]

Thanks everyone... have some great options and I'll post pics after the trip!

[SledNeck]

Real camping?

like this?

or staying in a RV type thing?

[shiltsy]

Rustic camping would be perfect...

[norma]

Try Washburn Lake in Cass County. They have a rustic campground, and some excellent bass fishing, little pressure.

[Musky_Madness]

Lake Carlos State Park is awesome and is connected to Lake Le Homme Dieu where the BASS association occasionally holds tourneys. Carlos is hooked up to a series of lakes in the Alexandria area. Weekends are definitely booked by now, but during the week should be quiet still. The campground sites are located right next to the lake so you can pull up to a sandy beach, leave your boat there and carry on for the day/night. There is also a boat access on the campground that is dual lane and paved.

[mrfish1991]

SledNeck...where are you camping in that pic?

[carpmanjake]

glendelough is a great place, alot of wild life, you cant use motors or electronics on the lake, but as long as you fish in the creek and structure, big bass and bluegills will be yours. in one day there i caught 4 bass over 5lbs one over six (my pb) and 7 over 4lbs. and countless others under 4lbs.

but the average bluegill there is about 1lb. and catching bluegills over 2lbs, very good chance. along with those, the pike fishing is also good

[shiltsy]

Thanks to Musky for the Lake Carlos State Park recommendation. The campground is very modern, clean and quiet. The sites are not private, but the ability to pull boats right up on the shore 20 yards from the campsites can't be beat.

One tip for campers here... something like 25% of their sites cannot be reserved, so even though their booked infinitely you just need to get there earlier on Friday and there should be sites. I arrived Thursday night and it was very open.

Carlos and Le Homme Dieue definitely hold large numbers of bass. We had a great time with a lot of action, even after a nasty front moved in. I threw a ton of lures on the first day and it became clear that a natural colored plastic worm on a TX rig couldn't be beat. There was a ton of small largemouth, but personally I'd rather stay busy catching something than only catching three big ones all weekend.

Thanks again for all the recommendations.