Game fish · sunfish family
Smallmouth bass
Micropterus dolomieu · also called smallie
- Found in
- Over 500 lakes, plus rivers such as the St. Croix and the Mississippi
- Size
- Males around 2 lb; females commonly 3 to 6 lb
- Eats
- Minnows, crustaceans and insects; crayfish are a favorite
- Water
- Cooler water than largemouth bass prefer
- Minnesota record
- Smallmouth Bass (before 1980, weight not certified): 8 lb — West Battle Lake, Otter Tail County, 1948
Where smallmouth bass have been recorded
308 of the 1,788 Minnesota lakes on this site with fish records list smallmouth bass, across 38 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.
Recorded here Other lakes with fish records
How we know
- 308lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them
A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.
Inland lakes on this list run from 17 to 128,184 acres (median 628) and from 5 to 500 ft deep (median 50 ft).
How many turn up in DNR surveys
Minnesota DNR lake surveys use standard gear: gill nets set offshore for 24 hours (the main gear for walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, cisco, whitefish and trout), trap nets set near shore (the main gear for bluegill, crappie and bullheads), and on some lakes electrofishing, most often for bass. The DNR reports each gear separately, as fish per net set. These rates come from the newest standard survey of each lake on this site, 1994–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.
- Found in
- 100 of 583 lakes surveyed this way
- Typical rate
- 8.9 per hour where found
- Highest
- 189 per hour
- Method
- fish per hour of electrofishing
“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Each gear catches different fish, so the rates are not added together. In gill nets it turned up in 215 lakes at a typical 0.67 per gill net set. In trap nets it turned up in 126 lakes at a typical 0.21 per trap net set. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.
Highest survey rates on this site
- Ash Lake, St. Louis 2023 189
- Three Island Lake, Itasca 2012 122
- East Twin Lake, Lyon 2016 108
- Clearwater Lake, Crow Wing 2025 106
- Deer Lake, Itasca 2023 90
- East Vermilion Lake, St. Louis 2025 90
- Elephant Lake, St. Louis 2024 87
- Zumbro Lake, Olmsted 2015 81
- East Crooked Lake, Hubbard 2022 70
- Lake Pepin, Goodhue 2024 68
Fish per hour of electrofishing, with survey year. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.
Often found with
Share of these lakes that also list each fish.
How to recognize it
Brown to bronze with dark vertical bars and red eyes. The two-part dorsal fin has a deep notch, and the upper jaw reaches only to about the middle of the eye.
Don’t confuse it with
Life in a Minnesota lake
Smallmouth bass live along fairly shallow rocky shoals, reefs and drop-offs, and in deeper water where they hunt prey fish and crayfish. In rivers they hold in rocky riffles, eddies and pools.
For its size the smallmouth may be the hardest-fighting fish in Minnesota waters. It is one of the intolerant species in the DNR's lake-health index, sensitive to falling water quality.
Source: the sources below.
Rules and eating
Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Minnesota DNR fishing regulations page is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Minnesota Department of Health’s fish consumption guidance.
All 308 lakes with smallmouth bass
Show every lake, by county
Aitkin County 7
Big Pine Lake, Cedar Lake (Main Basin), Cedar Lake (N.E. Arm), Cedar Lake (West Bay), Farm Island Lake, Gun Lake, Round Lake
Becker County 7
Bad Medicine Lake, Big Cormorant Lake, Island Lake, Juggler Lake, Middle Cormorant Lake, Strawberry Lake, White Earth Lake
Beltrami County 6
Beltrami Lake, Big Lake, Lake Windigo, Movil Lake, North Twin Lake, Turtle Lake
Carlton County 5
Fond du Lac Reservoir, Knife Falls Reservoir, Moosehead Lake, Scanlon Reservoir, Thomson Reservoir
Cass County 31
Baby Lake, Barnum Lake, Bass Lake, Big Deep Lake, Black Water Lake, Boy Lake, Broadwater Bay, Girl Lake, Gull Lake, Hunter Lake, Inguadona Lake (N. Bay), Inguadona Lake (S. Bay), Leech Lake (Kabekona Bay), Leech Lake (Main Basin), Little Boy Lake, Man Lake, Mule Lake, Pleasant Lake, Ponto Lake, Portage Lake, Portage Lake, Roosevelt Lake, Stony Lake, Tenmile Lake, Thunder Lake, Upper Trelipe Lake, Wabedo Lake (North East Bay), Wabedo Lake (South West Bay), Washburn Lake, Webb Lake, Woman Lake (main lake)
Clearwater County 1
Cook County 21
Alder Lake, Alton Lake, Aspen Lake, Bearskin Lake, Birch Lake, Brule Lake, Caribou Lake, Crescent Lake, Devil Track Lake, Devilfish Lake, East Bearskin Lake, Flour Lake, Gaskin Lake, Greenwood Lake, Hungry Jack Lake, Loon Lake, Magnetic Lake, McFarland Lake, Pike Lake, Poplar Lake, Two Island Lake
Cottonwood County 1
Crow Wing County 24
Big Trout Lake, Borden Lake, Clearwater Lake, Crooked Lake (Main Bay), Crooked Lake (Sugar Bay), Cross Lake Reservoir, Daggett Lake, Eagle Lake, East Fox Lake, Kimball Lake, Lake Hubert, Lower Cullen Lake, Lower Whitefish Lake, Mahnomen, Alstead & Arco Lake, Middle Cullen Lake, Mitchell Lake, Ossawinnamakee Lake, Pelican Lake, Rabbit Lake (West Portion), Rice Lake, Round Lake, Serpent Lake, Upper Cullen Lake, West Twin Lake
Dakota County 1
Douglas County 7
Burgen Lake, Grants Lake, Lake Carlos, Lake Ida, Lake Latoka, Lake Miltona, Maple Lake
Goodhue County 2
Grant County 1
Hennepin County 1
Hubbard County 16
Big Sand Lake, Blue Lake, Boulder Lake, East Crooked Lake, Eleventh Crow Wing Lake (East), Eleventh Crow Wing Lake (Main), Emma Lake, Gilmore Lake, Hinds Lake, Kabekona Lake, Lake Belle Taine, Little Sand Lake, Long Lake, Potato Lake, Shallow Lake, Upper Bottle Lake
Itasca County 42
Anderson Lake, Bass Lake, Bass Lake, Big Island Lake, Big Ole Lake, Black Island Lake, Blandin Lake, Bluewater Lake, Busties Lake, Caribou Lake, Clubhouse Lake, Deer Lake, Deer Lake, Hatch Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Island Lake, Jay Gould Lake, Johnson Lake, Little Jay Gould Lake, Little Jessie Lake, Little Turtle Lake, Lower Prairie Lake, Mirror Lake, Moose Lake, Moose Lake, North Star Lake, Owen Lake, Pokegama Lake (Main Bay), Pokegama Lake (Wendigo), Prairie Lake, Ruby Lake, Sand Lake, Spider Lake, Swan Lake (Main Basin), Swan Lake (West Bay), Three Island Lake, Trout Lake, Trout Lake, Turtle Lake, Wabana Lake, Wasson Lake
Jackson County 1
Kanabec County 1
Kandiyohi County 4
Lake County 13
Ahsub Lake, Cedar Lake, Crooked Lake (East Bay), Crooked Lake (West Bay), Dumbbell Lake, Dunnigan Lake, Farm Lake, Garden Lake, Newton Lake, North McDougal Lake, Ottertrack Lake, Snowbank Lake, Wind Lake
Lyon County 1
Mahnomen County 2
Meeker County 3
Mille Lacs County 1
Morrison County 5
Lake Alexander, Lake Placid, Pierz Lake, Shamineau Lake, Sylvan Lake
Olmsted County 1
Otter Tail County 14
Clear Lake, Clitherall Lake, Crystal Lake, Dead Lake, Lake Franklin, Lake Lizzie (north portion), North Lida Lake, Otter Tail Lake, Pelican Lake, Pickerel Lake, Portage Lake (main bay), Prairie Lake, South Lida Lake, Tenmile Lake
Pine County 3
Pope County 2
Ramsey County 3
Sherburne County 4
St. Louis County 44
Armstrong Lake, Ash Lake, Ban Lake, Bear Island Lake, Big Lake, Black Duck Lake, Burntside Lake, Cameron Lake, Coxey Pond, Crane Lake, Eagles Nest #1 Lake, Eagles Nest #3 Lake, Eagles Nest Lake Number 2, East Vermilion Lake, Echo Lake, Elbow Lake, Elephant Lake, Ely Lake, Grand Lake, Island Lake Reservoir (E.Basin), Island Lake Reservoir (W.Basin), Johnson Lake, Kabetogama Lake, Kjostad Lake, Little Grand Lake, Little Johnson Lake, Little Trout Lake, Little Vermilion Lake, Loon Lake, Mukooda Lake, Myrtle Lake, Namakan Lake, Nichols Lake, Pelican Lake, Perch Lake, Rainy Lake, Sand Point Lake, Schubert Lake, Shagawa Lake, Spring Lake, Trout Lake, Upper Comstock Lake, West Vermilion Lake, White Iron Lake
Stearns County 16
Big Lake, Cedar Island Lake (East Lake), Cedar Island Lake (Koetter Lake), Cedar Island Lake (Main Bay), Cedar Island Lake (Mud Lake), Horseshoe Lake, Krays Lake, Lake Koronis (main lake), Long Lake, Rice Lake, Rossier Lake, Sylvia Lake, Two Rivers Lake, Warner Lake, Watab Lake, Zumwalde Lake
Swift County 2
Todd County 7
Big Birch Lake, Lake Osakis, Little Birch Lake, Little Swan Lake, Mound Lake, Sauk Lake (North Bay), Sauk Lake (Southwest Bay)
Traverse County 1
Washington County 1
Wright County 6
Bass Lake, Buffalo Lake, Cokato Lake, First Lake, Locke Lake, Mud Lake
Sources
- Minnesota DNR: How to catch a smallmouth bass
- Minnesota DNR: Smallmouth bass
- Minnesota DNR MinnAqua: Fishes of Minnesota and fish family facts (PDF)
- Minnesota DNR MinnAqua: Minnesota Fish Watch (PDF)
- Minnesota DNR: Fish species classification for the lake index of biological integrity (native and non-native species)
- Minnesota DNR lake surveys (LakeFinder) — lake records, stocking and survey catch rates. Minnesota DNR contributed to this work.
- Minnesota DNR state record fish (certified and non-certified weight lists; angler names are not reproduced here)