Short on walleyes, but long on muskies: Beers Lake

Beers Lake - Otter Tail County

Otter Tail County’s Beers Lake is an excellent walleye fishery – nope. Beers is loaded with good-sized panfish and northern pike? Sorry, no again. Beers Lake is a solid muskie lake and has plenty of largemouth bass in it? Bingo!

That really is the entire story with this 317-acre lake located roughly 10 miles from Pelican Rapids. Walleyes don’t exist (there might be a few rogue marble-’eyes swimming around), it has plenty of bluegills and crappies, but they’re small, and Beers has a very low density pike population.

Muskies definitely are worth pursuing; they’re the only fish species the DNR has a management plan in place for on the lake. While fish over 50 inches tend to be the exception from Beers, muskies between 40 and 45 inches are quite plentiful, and that’s the main draw. It is a numbers game.

“Beers has a fairly abundant muskie population; their numbers have remained pretty stable over the past 30 years,” said Steve Kubeny, DNR assistant fisheries supervisor in Fergus Falls. “These aren’t 50-inch fish, the biggest muskie we’ve ever sampled out there was 49 inches long, but it is a great action late.”

So while boating a trophy-caliber-sized fish probably isn’t going to happen, the lake’s sheer numbers of muskies almost guarantees some follows on any given outing. Anglers know that, which is one reason it receives a fair amount of fishing pressure from muskie enthusiasts.

The smaller size of this water body also allows anglers to get out of the wind and still fish for muskies if they can’t get on some of the area’s larger, more noted muskie fisheries. The lake is surrounded by mature trees as well, which helps make it very wind-protected.

You also can’t look past the fact that Beers Lake is located entirely within Maplewood State Park, which means no development along its shoreline. You’ll need a valid state park permit to use its access, but that’s a small price to pay for the opportunity to raise and catch numerous muskies in a pretty pristine backdrop.

“At the very least, you’re going to get some follows and you really can get out of the wind there,” Kubeny said. “That’s why a lot of people go there. Guys know they’re going to see fish and they can get their (muskie) fix even if it’s windy.”

The DNR conducted a special trap netting survey on Beers in 2023 and a total of 43 muskies were sampled. They ranged from 33 inches in length up to 48 inches long, with an average length of just over 40 inches. Those totals mostly mirror past survey results as well.

So why no muskies over 50 inches long? Kubeny said it’s a matter of forage; the lack of fatty food sources such as tullibees and suckers means Beers Lake muskies grow slow and simply don’t reach that coveted 50-inch mark. He also pointed out that the lake is stocked with muskie fingerlings during even-numbered years and those fish are what maintains the population.

“There’s people out there right now and they’re probably all fishing for muskies,” said Deb Macheledt, of Ben’s Bait Shop in nearby Battle Lake earlier this week. “I wouldn’t say those fish are overly pressured by any means, but they do draw anglers, especially this time of year.”

Beers provides plenty of largemouth bass action as well, but it’s also more of a numbers game rather than trophy opportunities. There’s a pile of 13- to 15-inch bass present and catching one over 17 inches long is rare. While they reproduce well, bass also grow slow in this system.

Its panfish are abundant, but this high density crappie and bluegill population doesn’t feature much for size. Crappies over 9 inches and bluegills longer than 7 inches in length are an exception. Northern pike numbers are limited and also tend to be average-sized at best.

“Muskies and bass are really all people fish for out there and I have to say there’s usually way more people fishing for muskies,” Macheledt added.

Locator maps showing the location of Beers Lake in Minnesota

“Muskies are about it. People like to camp at the park and fish for muskies when they do.”

LAKE PROFILE

Beers Lake

Nearest town....Pelican Rapids

Surface area................317 acres

Maximum depth ........... 61 feet

Shore length ..................7 miles

Water clarity .................. 14 feet

AIS present ............ None listed

Fish species present:

Muskie, largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, northern pike, pumpkinseed, hybrid sunfish, yellow bullhead, brown bullhead, yellow perch, white sucker, walleye.

For information:

DNR area fisheries office (218) 671-7940, the DNR website http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind or Ben’s Bait Shop (218) 864-5596.