Elephant Lake fishing: Northern Pike, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass

Target species: Northern Pike, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Yellow Perch
Boat: 1 ramp or launch on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Elephant Lake (SE) Public Water Access Site, 1 lane.

The lake

Elephant Lake covers 717 acres in Minnesota, across St. Louis County. It is a lake: 92.2% of it is 26 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 30 feet (9.1 m). Our records hold 8 species for this water.

7 target fish, led by Northern Pike

  • Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • White Sucker — Feeding water: 50–70°F.
  • Black Crappie — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Bluegill — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
  • Yellow Perch — Feeding water: 45–75°F.

Also recorded here: Pumpkinseed.

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 30 ft (9.1 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 92.2% of the water is 26 feet or shallower. We hold 57 depth contour lines for this water.

  • 0–2 ft: 6.5% of the water
  • 2–4 ft: 6.9% of the water
  • 4–6 ft: 5.7% of the water
  • 6–8 ft: 5.9% of the water
  • 8–10 ft: 6% of the water
  • 10–12 ft: 6.3% of the water
  • 12–14 ft: 7.3% of the water
  • 14–16 ft: 9.3% of the water
  • 16–18 ft: 7% of the water
  • 18–20 ft: 7.7% of the water
  • 20–22 ft: 8.7% of the water
  • 22–24 ft: 5.9% of the water
  • 24–26 ft: 9% of the water
  • 26–28 ft: 3.5% of the water
  • 28–30 ft: 4.5% of the water

1 ramp or launch on this water

On this water we hold 1 trailer ramp and 1 shore access point.

  • Elephant Lake (SE) Public Water Access Site — 1 lane. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.

Shore access for bank fishing

  • Elephant Lake (S) Public Water Access Site — DNR Division of Parks and Trails.

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 2 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.

Water and conditions

Water clarity runs 6–13 feet on our readings, averaging 10.4 feet, from 33 readings. Our water temperature readings average 65°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. pH averages 8.1. These readings span 2016–2019. The latest reading is from 2019, more than three years ago: read these numbers as history, not as the water today.

What is hard here

Only 1 public ramp is on file, so the launch decides where you fish.

Where this data comes from

  • Minnesota DNR — Minnesota DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • Minnesota DNR — Minnesota DNR: reported depths: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
  • Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.