DNR survey data · statewide
3 Overlooked Crappie Lakes in Minnesota
Crappie water that fishes above its reputation, picked from 2,463 surveyed Minnesota lakes by DNR catch rate, fish size and trophy record.
By David Berget · Published 2026-08-17
DNR surveys have recorded crappie in 2,463 Minnesota lakes. Here are 3 of them.
Each card says what its lake is good for, because the lakes with the most crappie and the lakes with the biggest crappie are usually different lakes.
Numbers and size. Trap nets averaged 44.8 crappie per net, and about 1 in 185 of them went 14 inches or better, unusually high for water like this.
- 199 acres
- 20 ft deep
- biggest 14 in
- surveyed 2024
Numbers and size. Trap nets averaged 38.4 crappie per net, and about 1 in 909 of them went 14 inches or better, high for water like this.
- 169 acres
- 32 ft deep
- biggest 11 in
- surveyed 2021
Big fish. 25% of the crappie measured here were 10 inches or better.
- 53 acres
- 43 ft deep
- biggest 13 in
- surveyed 2016
How these crappie lakes were picked
Crappie school, so a trap net either lands on them or does not, and any one survey is a snapshot of a fish whose year classes boom and crash on a few years' cycle. The moderate mark for that gear is 20 crappie per net and the lakes below cleared it, counted by a survey crew rather than by anglers. 10 inches is the length the DNR calls quality for the species.
Of the 2,463 lakes with crappie on record, 1,321 clear the habitat gate: under 60 feet deep, with at least 50% of the water in the shallow zone where the food is. Anything already ranked among the state's best-known crappie water is set aside, since those lakes are already well covered. These 3 are what is left after keeping only the lakes surveyed since 2016 that cleared the mark above, one entry per water body, each with a public boat launch. Full methodology: how the grades work.