Myrtle Lake

Myrtle Lake covers about 876 acres in St. Louis County, roughly seven miles east of Orr. It carries a La Croix Ranger District tag, but that's an administrative line, not proof of wilderness: the lake sits well outside the Boundary Waters, with the nearest entry points more than 18 miles away and no portage trail connecting to any of them. This is a lake you drive to and launch a boat on.

The basin runs shallow from end to end. Its deepest point is only 20 feet, and about 98 percent of the lake stays under 15 feet, so nearly the entire 862 acres of littoral water (the shallow zone that grows weeds and holds fish close to the surface) is usable habitat rather than a narrow shoreline band. About 8 miles of shoreline fold the lake into enough bays to give it more variety than its acreage alone suggests. Water clarity runs middling, generally somewhere between 5 and 9 feet depending on the year.

Northern pike are the headline fish, running heavy at three pounds and up. Largemouth bass have surged in recent years, turning up in numbers among the highest recorded anywhere in the International Falls fisheries area, and smallmouth bass work the firmer stretches of shoreline too. Walleye get a boost from fingerling stocking, and black crappie and yellow perch fill out a panfish scene that's held up well over time.

A public boat launch sits on the lake's east end, a concrete ramp with a gravel lot, and that's the extent of the developed access. No campsites are mapped on Myrtle Lake, and no wilderness permit or quota system applies, since that framework doesn't reach this far from the boundary.

Myrtle Lake suits a day of shallow-water fishing near Orr rather than a wilderness trip. It's a warmwater lake built around pike, bass, and panfish, not a lake anyone paddles into from the interior.