Fishing Little Pine Lake: What the DNR Survey Shows

Every lake on the Whitefish Chain has a personality. Little Pine's is quiet and green. It sits at the far east end of the chain, past Cross Lake and Daggett, where Daggett Brook comes in from the north and the shoreline softens into marsh, wild rice and lily pads.

If you are thinking about fishing it, or about owning a dock on it, the best place to start is the Minnesota DNR's own survey work. Here is what those surveys say, in plain terms.

Thinking about a place on Little Pine and want to know how the fishing fits your plans? Start with the buyer page and tell David what you are looking for.

The lake in numbers

The DNR lists Little Pine at about 330 acres with a maximum depth of 36 feet and a mean depth of about 10 feet. It has 6.2 miles of shoreline, and roughly 61 percent of the lake is 15 feet deep or less. Average water clarity runs about 8.8 feet. That combination, shallow and fertile, shapes everything about the fishing.

What the 2024 DNR survey found

The DNR has netted Little Pine many times: an initial survey in 1960, then 1987, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2018 and, most recently, a standard survey that began July 1, 2024. Here are the headlines from 2024.

• Northern pike: high numbers, about 7.0 per gill net, averaging 22.2 inches. About 14 percent were over 26 inches, and the largest measured 33.8 inches.
• Bluegill: high numbers, about 32.3 per gill net, averaging 6.5 inches, with 27 percent at 7 inches or longer.
• Black crappie: also high in gill nets, about 5.7 per net and averaging 7.4 inches. Trap-net crappies were fewer but averaged 8.4 inches.
• Walleye: low, about 1.1 per gill net, but they were good fish, averaging 20.6 inches, with some sampled near 24 inches.
• Others in the nets: yellow perch, tullibee, pumpkinseed, rock bass, hybrid sunfish, yellow bullhead, white sucker and bowfin.

Walleye are not stocked directly into Little Pine. The DNR notes that the Whitefish Chain is stocked with walleye fry every year and fingerlings every other year, and fish move through the connected lakes.

For largemouth bass, the DNR electrofished stations across the whole Whitefish Chain rather than Little Pine alone. Chain-wide, crews caught about 44.9 bass per hour, averaging 13.1 inches. Little Pine's weedy bays are the kind of water bass anglers look for, but the survey does not break out a Little Pine figure.

In August 2018 the DNR also ran a nearshore survey for its fish-based index of biotic integrity. Crews found 20 species along the shallows, including 8 that are intolerant of habitat disturbance.

Seasonal patterns

Little Pine warms early in spring because so much of it is shallow. The DNR's 2010 plant work found most vegetation within 11 feet of the surface, with coontail the most common submerged plant and large emergent and floating-leaf beds, especially in the southwest arm. Those beds are the story of the lake.

In late spring and early summer, panfish and pike work the edges of new weed growth. Through summer, the outside edge of the weeds and the deeper basin toward 36 feet hold fish when the shallows get warm. In fall, as plants die back, pike often become easier to find along the remaining green weeds. On early ice, the same weed edges are a sensible starting point for panfish.

Those are general patterns for a lake of this type, not survey findings. The survey tells you what lives here; time on the water tells you where they are on a given day.

Regulations to know

Little Pine falls under Minnesota's north-central pike zone, which the DNR survey summary describes as a 10-fish possession limit with no more than 2 over 26 inches and all pike from 22 to 26 inches released. The DNR's special management waters rule also sets a daily sunfish limit of five on the Whitefish Chain, and it names Little Pine specifically. The survey summary notes that panfish limits on the chain were reduced in 2021. Always check the current DNR regulations before you go, because rules change.

The DNR survey also encourages selective harvest so the lake keeps its quality fish.

Access and launch

This matters: the DNR's 2024 survey states that Little Pine has no public access of its own. Anglers reach it by boat through the chain, coming in by channel from Daggett Lake. Public launches elsewhere on the chain, including the boat ramp at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cross Lake Recreation Area in Crosslake, are the usual starting points. Check that site's current season and rules before you trailer up.

Zebra mussels were confirmed in Little Pine in 2014, and it is listed as infested water. Clean, drain and dry your boat, and pull the drain plug before you leave any access.

For a look at the connecting water, see the Daggett Lake guide and the Cross Lake guide, or the full Little Pine Lake guide.

Questions

Keep reading

Curious what daily life is like here? Read Living on Little Pine Lake and A Year on Little Pine Lake, or browse all the lake guides.

Want a dock on a pike-and-panfish lake with the whole chain at your back? Call or text David at 218.513.2677 or email david@whitefishpropertyfinder.com. You can also start your search here.

Sources: MN DNR LakeFinder, Little Pine Lake fish survey; MN DNR aquatic vegetation survey, Little Pine and Daggett; MN DNR Sensitive Lakeshore Survey, Whitefish Chain; MN DNR special management waters rule; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Cross Lake Recreation Area.

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