Portage Lake (Crow Wing County)
Crow Wing County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 18005000
DNR records show 4 stocking entries at Portage Lake (Crow Wing County) since 2017, most recently walleye fingerlings in 2025 (1,800 fish).
- Portage Lake (Crow Wing County) has 4 DNR stocking records across 4 years (2017-2025): walleye (4).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 6,500 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 37 ft; surface area 287 acres, 110 littoral acres, 2.6 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 13.1 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass, smallmouth bass, tullibee (cisco), and 3 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (targeted survey).
- Crow Wing County, nearest town Garrison; DNR lake number (DOW) 18005000.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 6/19/1969 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,800 | 90.0 |
| 2021 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,116 | 62.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,809 | 60.3 |
| 2017 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,775 | 71.0 |
1 fish purchased and stocked by private citizens and sporting groups.
Field note · Minnesota stocks by year, not by truck day: walleye fry go in within weeks of ice-out, fingerlings and yearlings mostly in fall, and stream trout in spring and fall. A row here means the fish went in during that year; DNR adds the year's rows after the fact, so the current year can look empty until winter.
Public accesses
| Type | Owner | Where |
|---|---|---|
| C | UKN |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegill | 50-ft beach seine | 96.00 | 960 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | 50-ft beach seine | 34.80 | 348 | 0.00 |
| BKF | 50-ft beach seine | 23.80 | 238 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | 50-ft beach seine | 21.50 | 215 | 0.00 |
| BCS | 50-ft beach seine | 4.90 | 49 | 0.00 |
| Blacknose shiner | 50-ft beach seine | 4.20 | 42 | 0.00 |
| Golden shiner | 50-ft beach seine | 3.80 | 38 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | 50-ft beach seine | 3.00 | 30 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Backpack electrofishing | 43.93 | 54 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | Backpack electrofishing | 20.34 | 25 | 0.00 |
| Johnny darter | Backpack electrofishing | 10.58 | 13 | 0.00 |
| BKF | Backpack electrofishing | 8.14 | 10 | 0.00 |
| Rock bass | Backpack electrofishing | 4.88 | 6 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | Backpack electrofishing | 3.25 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Largemouth bass | Backpack electrofishing | 1.63 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Yellow bullhead | Backpack electrofishing | 0.81 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 14.00 | 126 | 0.31 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 4.00 | 36 | 0.25 |
| Brown bullhead | Standard trap nets | 3.44 | 31 | 0.83 |
| Bowfin (dogfish) | Standard trap nets | 1.89 | 17 | 3.69 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard trap nets | 1.22 | 11 | 0.80 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.78 | 7 | 0.64 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.56 | 5 | 0.52 |
| Rock bass | Standard trap nets | 0.44 | 4 | 0.36 |
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.
A targeted survey of nearshore fish species in Portage Lake was conducted on June 16, 2025, by Lake Biological Monitoring and Assessment (LBMA) Program staff. Sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake, and each was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 50-foot or 15-foot seine, where possible. Backpack electrofishing was completed at 10 sampling stations. Similarly, a 50-foot seine was used at all stations. Nearshore sampling captured 17 species of fish including five species that are intolerant of disturbance (i.e., Banded Killifish, Blackchin Shiner, Blacknose Shiner, Iowa Darter, and Rock Bass) and none that are tolerant of disturbance. A summer trap net survey was conducted by LBMA Program staff during the week of June 16, 2025. Nine trap nets were set along the shoreline in locations that encompassed multiple habitat types. Trap net sampling captured twelve species of fish, including one that is intolerant of disturbance (i.e., Rock Bass) and one that is tolerant of disturbance (i.e., Black Bullhead). Bluegill comprised a majority of the catch by number and whereas Bowfin comprised a majority by biomass. The nearshore and trap net survey data were combined with gill net data from a survey conducted during the week of June 12, 2023 to describe the fish community and provide a fish-based IBI (FIBI) score. The FIBI uses fish community data to measure a lake's health, and the types of fish species present can help identify any stressors that may be negatively affecting the lake environment. In Minnesota lakes, certain fish species cannot survive without clean water and a healthy habitat (e.g., Blackchin Shiner, Iowa Darter, and Rock Bass), while other species are tolerant of degraded conditions (e.g., Black Bullhead). The FIBI score, composed of several fish community diversity and composition metrics, indicates the overall health of a lake by comparing it to what is expected for a healthy lake. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website. Results from this survey provide evidence that the fish community Portage Lake is healthy as indicated by an FIBI score that meets the exceptional aquatic life use threshold determined for similar lakes. The FIBI results are similar to previous findings, which indicated that Portage Lake is fully supporting aquatic life use. The survey results will be considered when the biological health of the lake is assessed during the Mississippi River-Brainerd Watershed assessment process, which will be completed in coordination with…
Minnesota DNR survey narrative, .
All Minnesota stockings · every Minnesota lake with a page · state CSV · this lake on DNR LakeFinder
Stocking rows, depths, accesses and survey figures are Minnesota DNR LakeFinder data as of 2026-09-02; contours are the DNR bathymetric survey. Regulations, slot limits and special rules are on the DNR page linked above, not here.
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