Updated Aug 2026
Fishing Guides
What fish are in each lake, and where the water is cleanest for them. 3,027 lakes with documented fish across 3 states, every list ranked on water-quality readings.
Fishing Guides by State
Each state guide has an interactive species-filter map, the cleanest lakes by species, the full species rollup, and fishing by county.
Minnesota Fishing
1,585 lakes · 72 species documented
Wisconsin Fishing
1,115 lakes · 9 species documented
Michigan Fishing
327 lakes · 97 species documented
By Fish Species
137 documented species. Each has a "best lakes" page ranked on water-quality readings, nationally and per state.
Plan a Trip
Reports, timing, safety, and the rules — everything around a day on the water.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes these fishing guides different?
Every lake list is ranked on measured water quality. Each lake's nutrient and algae readings — total phosphorus, total nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, and turbidity — are shown beside the EPA National Lakes Assessment 2022 condition class for that lake's own ecoregion, so a reading is compared against the lakes it would naturally resemble. LakeQuality publishes no letter grade. So "best lakes for a species" here means the cleanest, healthiest water, not just where fish were reported.
Which states have fishing guides?
Full fishing guides cover Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan: 3,027 lakes with documented fish species. Each has an interactive species-filter map, the cleanest lakes by species, and fishing by county.
Where does the fish data come from?
State agency survey, stocking, and public fishing-access records (MN/WI/MI/ND DNR, Indiana DNR, NY DEC), shown next to each lake’s water-quality readings. A species listed here has been recorded in that lake.