Madison Lake fishing: Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Walleye
Target species: Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Bigmouth Buffalo, Channel Catfish, Freshwater Drum, River Carpsucker
Boat: 3 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Madison Lake (E) Public Water Access Site, 2 lanes.
The lake
Madison Lake covers 1,398 acres in Minnesota, across Blue Earth County. It is a lake: 90.9% of it is 27 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 50 feet (15.2 m). Our records hold 19 species for this water.
7 target fish, led by Northern Pike
- Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
- Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
- Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
- Bigmouth Buffalo — Feeding water: 70–80°F.
- Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
- Freshwater Drum — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
- River Carpsucker — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
Also recorded here: Shortnose Gar, Black Bullhead, White Sucker, White Bass, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Bluegill, Yellow Perch, Bowfin, Yellow Bullhead, Common Carp, Gizzard Shad.
Depth and bottom
Deepest measured point: at least 50 ft (15.2 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 90.9% of the water is 27 feet or shallower. We hold 24 depth contour lines for this water.
- 0–3 ft: 29.7% of the water
- 3–6 ft: 16.4% of the water
- 6–9 ft: 14.5% of the water
- 9–12 ft: 5.4% of the water
- 12–15 ft: 5% of the water
- 15–18 ft: 4.8% of the water
- 18–21 ft: 4.6% of the water
- 21–24 ft: 5.2% of the water
- 24–27 ft: 5.3% of the water
- 27–30 ft: 3.4% of the water
- 30–33 ft: 2% of the water
- 33–36 ft: 1.3% of the water
- 36–39 ft: 0.8% of the water
- 39–42 ft: 0.6% of the water
- 42–45 ft: 0.5% of the water
- 45–48 ft: 0.4% of the water
- 48–50 ft: 0.3% of the water
Water and conditions
Our water temperature readings average 69°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. The coldest single reading we hold is 45°F and the warmest is 86°F; the warmest monthly average is 76°F. pH averages 8.3. These readings span 2016–2025.
3 ramps and launches on this water
On this water we hold 3 trailer ramps and 1 shore access point.
- Madison Lake (E) Public Water Access Site — 2 lanes, restrooms. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
- Madison Lake, Bray Park Public Water Access Site — 2 lanes, restrooms. Blue Earth County.
- Madison Lake (NW) Public Water Access Site — 1 lane, restrooms.
Shore access for bank fishing
- Madison Lake (SE) Public Water Access Site — 1 lane, restrooms. Blue Earth County.
Fee and opening hours are blank for all 4 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.
What is hard here
Only 3 public ramps are on file, so the launch decides where you fish.
Where this data comes from
- Minnesota DNR — Minnesota DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
- Minnesota DNR — Minnesota DNR: reported depths: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
- Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
