Portage Lake (Aitkin County)
Aitkin County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 01006900
Portage Lake (Aitkin County) has no DNR stocking rows in LakeFinder; this page carries its DNR depth, access and survey data.
- Portage Lake (Aitkin County) shows no stocking records in Minnesota DNR LakeFinder as of .
- Maximum depth 18 ft, mean depth 8 ft; surface area 372 acres, 313 littoral acres, 5.1 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 4.3 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (targeted survey).
- Aitkin County, nearest town Kimberly; DNR lake number (DOW) 01006900.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey; depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Public accesses
| Type | Owner | Where |
|---|---|---|
| O | UKN | - The state owned access with concrete log ramp is on the southeast end of the lake. |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow bullhead | Special trap nets | 25.67 | 154 | 0.00 |
| Black crappie | Special trap nets | 6.17 | 37 | 0.48 |
| Brown bullhead | Special trap nets | 6.00 | 36 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Special trap nets | 5.67 | 34 | 0.27 |
| Pumpkinseed | Special trap nets | 5.33 | 32 | 0.22 |
| Northern pike | Special trap nets | 2.50 | 15 | 2.55 |
| Black bullhead | Special trap nets | 1.33 | 8 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | Special trap nets | 0.17 | 1 | 0.06 |
Catch per net (CPUE) is the DNR survey's count per gill net or trap net set; higher means more of that species were sampled, not a fishing forecast. Top species per gear shown; where we have no verified common name for a DNR code, the code itself is shown.
Portage Lake is 372 acres with an average depth of 8 feet and a maximum depth of 18 feet. A targeted panfish assessment was conducted on 5/14/2025. A total of 34 Bluegill were captured for a trap net catch rate of 5.7 per net. Bluegill averaged 6.7 inches with fish up to 9.3 inches observed. Fish ranged from 2 to 8 years old with age 7 (2018 year-class) fish absent in the sample. Ages 4 and 5 (2021 and 2020 year-class) were the most frequent age-classes in the sample and made up 32 and 44 percent of the Bluegill catch. Bluegill averaged 6.2 inches in 4 years and was within the range of previous assessments (historical range was 3.9 to 7.2 inches at age 4). Thirty-seven Black Crappie were sampled, resulting in a trap net catch rate of 6.1 per net. Crappie averaged 9.2 inches with fish up to 14.0 inches observed. Fish ranged from 4 to 9 years old with all age-classes observed. Age 5 (2020 year-class) fish were the most frequent in the sample and accounted for 35 percent of the Crappie catch. Crappie averaged 7.3 inches in 4 years and was within the range of previous assessments (Historic range was 5.5 to 7.5 inches at age 4).
Minnesota DNR survey narrative, .
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