Best Family Fishing Lakes in North Dakota
Top 50 family fishing lakes in North Dakota. Filtered for abundant panfish (bluegill, crappie, perch, sunfish, pumpkinseed), no known access restrictions (access data verified for Minnesota), and safe water quality (A, B, or C grade). Kids catch fish here.
Family-fishing weights panfish presence — bluegill, crappie, perch — together with reasonable access and an average water-quality grade. Kids do best with abundant, easy-to-catch species rather than challenging trophy fishing. Arnegard Dam Lake (A) tops the North Dakota list.
Family-fishing favors abundance over trophy size. A lake with a deep, productive panfish community gives more first-fish moments than a lake with a few large walleye.
| Rank | Lake | County | State | Grade | Clarity | Area | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arnegard Dam Lake | McKenzie | ND | A | - | 24 acres | 12.2 ft |
| 2 | Wood Lake | Benson | ND | A | - | 104 acres | 26.2 ft |
| 3 | Epping-Springbrook Dam-Littoral Lake | Williams | ND | A | - | 139 acres | 25.4 ft |
| 4 | Jarvis Beach Lake | Rolette | ND | A | - | 304 acres | 26.3 ft |
| 5 | Lake Upsilon | Rolette | ND | A | 11.2 ft | 110 acres | 25 ft |
| 6 | Spiritwood Lake | Stutsman | ND | A | 31 ft | 493 acres | 54.7 ft |
| 7 | Twin Lakes | LaMoure | ND | A | 14.1 ft | 1,736 acres | 40.3 ft |
| 8 | Round Lake | McHenry | ND | A | 12.1 ft | 308 acres | 16.7 ft |
| 9 | Patterson Lake | Stark | ND | B | - | 946 acres | 24.8 ft |
| 10 | Whitman Dam Lake | Nelson | ND | B | 12 ft | 143 acres | 20.8 ft |
| 11 | Kota Ray Dam Lake | Williams | ND | B | 7.7 ft | 28 acres | 26.2 ft |
| 12 | Arroda Lake | Oliver | ND | B | 6.7 ft | 43 acres | 36.7 ft |
| 13 | Skjermo Lake | Divide | ND | B | 7.7 ft | 44 acres | 19 ft |
| 14 | Jamestown Reservoir | Stutsman | ND | B | 7.2 ft | 17,427 acres | 36.2 ft |
| 15 | Lutz Dam Lake | Bowman | ND | B | 14.4 ft | 4 acres | 12.6 ft |
| 16 | Lake Ashtabula | Barnes | ND | B | 6.6 ft | 5,470 acres | 42.8 ft |
| 17 | Pheasant Lake | Dickey | ND | B | 3.6 ft | 234 acres | 19.1 ft |
| 18 | Lake Ashtabula | Barnes | ND | B | 3.4 ft | 5,178 acres | 42.8 ft |
| 19 | Baukol-Noonan Dam Lake | Divide | ND | B | 9.7 ft | 38 acres | 28 ft |
| 20 | Northgate Dam Lake | Burke | ND | B | 9.4 ft | 152 acres | 23.6 ft |
| 21 | Mt Carmel Dam Lake | Cavalier | ND | B | 7.9 ft | 386 acres | 31.2 ft |
| 22 | Blacktail Dam Lake | Williams | ND | B | 7.2 ft | 158 acres | 36.3 ft |
| 23 | North Lemmon Lake | Adams | ND | B | 5.7 ft | 50 acres | 31.4 ft |
| 24 | Homme Dam Lake | Walsh | ND | B | 5.7 ft | 290 acres | 29.3 ft |
| 25 | Clark Lake | Stutsman | ND | B | 10 ft | 287 acres | 21.9 ft |
| 26 | Lake Darling | Renville | ND | B | 9.8 ft | 9,655 acres | 28.7 ft |
| 27 | Wheaton Lake | Rolette | ND | B | 8.5 ft | 164 acres | 25.6 ft |
| 28 | Gordon Center Lake | Rolette | ND | B | 8.2 ft | 164 acres | 28.3 ft |
| 29 | Jarvis Lake Center | Rolette | ND | B | 7.7 ft | 304 acres | 26.3 ft |
| 30 | Moores Lake | Dickey | ND | B | 6.2 ft | 29 acres | 12.9 ft |
| 31 | Kettle Lake | Williams | ND | B | 5.3 ft | 8 acres | 35.8 ft |
| 32 | Lake Darling | Renville | ND | B | 4.9 ft | 9,432 acres | 28.7 ft |
| 33 | Lake Williams | Kidder | ND | B | 4.7 ft | 182 acres | 30.5 ft |
| 34 | Lake Audubon | McLean | ND | B | 4.7 ft | 19,095 acres | 59.4 ft |
| 35 | North Carlson Lake | Ward | ND | B | 3.7 ft | 87 acres | 24.7 ft |
| 36 | Lake Tschida | Grant | ND | C | 5.2 ft | 10,953 acres | 57 ft |
| 37 | Lake Tschida | Grant | ND | C | 5.1 ft | 10,953 acres | 57 ft |
| 38 | Lake Lamoure | LaMoure | ND | C | 8 ft | 494 acres | 31.4 ft |
| 39 | Lake Metigoshe | Bottineau | ND | C | 5.4 ft | 1,620 acres | 23.3 ft |
| 40 | Fordville Dam Lake | Grand Forks | ND | C | 4.4 ft | 197 acres | 29.9 ft |
| 41 | White Earth Dam Lake | Mountrail | ND | C | 3 ft | 160 acres | 19.5 ft |
| 42 | Kulm-Edgeley Dam Lake | LaMoure | ND | C | 9 ft | 27 acres | 27.4 ft |
| 43 | Dion Lake | Rolette | ND | C | 8.5 ft | 90 acres | 20.1 ft |
| 44 | Bisbee-Big Coulee Dam Lake | Towner | ND | C | 8 ft | 240 acres | 26.9 ft |
| 45 | Mcville Dam Lake | Nelson | ND | C | 6.9 ft | 33 acres | 24.7 ft |
| 46 | Red Willow Lake | Griggs | ND | C | 6.4 ft | 151 acres | 23.5 ft |
| 47 | Carlson-Tande Dam Lake | Griggs | ND | C | 5.6 ft | 16 acres | 23 ft |
| 48 | East Arroda Lake | Oliver | ND | C | 5.6 ft | 43 acres | 33.6 ft |
| 49 | Short Creek Dam Lake | Burke | ND | C | 3.8 ft | 112 acres | 27.6 ft |
| 50 | Belfield Dam Lake | Stark | ND | C | 3.8 ft | 9 acres | 16.3 ft |
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.