Here’s some interesting information from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Did you know? Minnesota fishing facts
There are about 1.4 million licensed anglers in Minnesota.
About 500,000 people are expected to fish on Minnesota’s opening day of the walleye and northern pike season, Saturday, May 14.
Minnesota has 11,842 lakes, 5,400 of which are considered fishing lakes. There are over 18,000 miles of fishable rivers and streams, including 3,800 miles of trout streams.

Lakes, rivers, and wetlands facts

General

Minnesota’s waters flow outward in three directions:
North to Hudson Bay in Canada
East to the Atlantic Ocean
South to the Gulf of Mexico

Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is the largest water-based park in the National Park System.

By the numbers

Counties with no natural lakes:
Mower, Olmsted, Pipestone, Rock

Number of lakes:
11,842 (10+ acres)

Number of natural rivers and streams:
6,564 (69,200 miles)

Wetlands acreage present in 1850:
18.6 million acres

Wetlands acreage present in 2008:
10.6 million acres

Names

Ten most common lake names:
Mud, Long, Rice, Bass, Round, Horseshoe, Twin, Island, Johnson, Spring

In-Depth

Deepest inland lake:
Portsmouth Mine Pit near Crosby (450 feet and rising)

Deepest natural lake:
Lake Saganaga, Cook County (240 feet deep)

Depths of other lakes:

Name	County	Maximum Depth
Lake Superior	—	1,290 feet
Ten Mile	Cass	209 feet
Lower LaSalle	Hubbard	204 feet
Loon Lake	Cook	202 feet
Rainy	St. Louis	161 feet
Leech	Cass	150 feet
Cass	Beltrami / Cass	120 feet
Otter Tail	Otter Tail	120 feet
Minnetonka	Hennepin	113 feet
Vermillion	St. Louis	76 feet
Winnibigoshish	Cass	70 feet
Mille Lacs	Mille Lacs	42 feet
Upper Red	Beltrami	18 feet

Size and Length

Ten largest lakes (entire lake within borders of Minnesota):

Red Lake (both “Upper” and “Lower”) – 288,800 acres
Mille Lacs Lake – 132,516 acres
Leech Lake – 111,527 acres
Lake Winnibigoshish – 58,544 acres
Lake Vermilion – 40,557 acres
Lake Kabetogama – 25,760 acres
Mud Lake (Marshall County) – 23,700 acres
Cass Lake – 15,596
Lake Minnetonka – 14,004 acres
Otter Tail Lake – 13,725 acres

Largest border lakes:
Lake Superior (20,364,800 acres total with 962,700 acres in Minnesota)
Lake of the Woods (950,400 acres total with 307,010 acres in Minnesota)

Longest shoreline:
Lake Vermilion, St. Louis County (290 miles of shoreline)

Minnesota River length:
370 miles

Mississippi River length in Minnesota:
680 miles

State and national Wild and Scenic Rivers:
589 miles

Total Area Covered by Lakes and Rivers (deep water):
2,560,299 acres

Total surface water area including wetlands:
13,136,357 acres

(Reviewed 2013)

Minnesota Water Facts