Buckeye Lake fishing: Walleye, Muskellunge, Largemouth Bass
Target species: Walleye, Muskellunge, Largemouth Bass, Sauger, Blue Catfish, Channel Catfish, Bluegill
Boat: 4 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Buckeye Lake State Park - Brooks Park.
The lake
Buckeye Lake covers 2,757 acres in Ohio, across 3 counties: Perry, Fairfield and Licking. It is a lake: 90.5% of it is 8 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is 15.5 feet (4.7 m). Our records hold 15 species for this water.
7 target fish, led by Walleye
- Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
- Muskellunge — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
- Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
- Sauger — Feeding water: 45–65°F.
- Blue Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
- Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
- Bluegill — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
Also recorded here: Burbot, White Bass, Redear, Pumpkinseed, Yellow Perch, Sunshine Bass, Common Carp, Western Mosquitofish.
Depth: down to 15.5 ft at the deepest measured point
Deepest measured point: 15.5 ft (4.7 m). 90.5% of the water is 8 feet or shallower. We hold 92 depth contours for this water, drawn from 47,655 soundings.
- 0–1 ft: 6.5% of the water
- 1–2 ft: 5.2% of the water
- 2–3 ft: 9% of the water
- 3–4 ft: 14.7% of the water
- 4–5 ft: 18.5% of the water
- 5–6 ft: 13.7% of the water
- 6–7 ft: 12% of the water
- 7–8 ft: 10.9% of the water
- 8–9 ft: 6.4% of the water
- 9–11 ft: 2.3% of the water
- 11–13 ft: 0.8% of the water
Water and conditions
Our water temperature readings average 72°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. The coldest single reading we hold is 51°F and the warmest is 87°F; the warmest monthly average is 82°F. pH averages 8.7. These readings span 2016–2018. The latest reading is from 2018, more than three years ago: read these numbers as history, not as the water today.
Stocking: 59,657,746 fish, 1992–2022
Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife records list 59,657,746 fish released into this water from 1992 to 2022. The latest stocking on record is from 2022, more than three years ago.
- Yellow Perch: 13,663,179 in 2018–2022
- Walleye: 1,320,492 in 1970–1997
- Largemouth Bass: 159,257 in 1970–1983
- Channel Catfish: 97,901 in 1988–2017
- Muskellunge: 44,075 in 1970–1986
- Blue Catfish: 33,120 in 1975
- Bluegill: 17,284 in 2017
3 more species on the stocking list.
4 ramps and launches on this water
On this water we hold 4 boat ramps.
- Buckeye Lake State Park - Brooks Park — Millersport, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. South Bank, Millersport 43046- · phone (740) 467-2690 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Buckeye Lake State Park - Fairfield Beach — Thornville, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. Lakeshore Drive, Thornville 43076- · phone (740) 467-2690 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Buckeye Lake State Park - Lieb's Island - *POSSIBLE RAMP CLOSURE DURING DAM REPAIR — Millersport, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. 2905 Liebs Island Road, Millersport 43046- · phone (740) 467-2690 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Buckeye Lake State Park - North Shore - *POSSIBLE PARKING CLOSURE DURING DAM REPAIR — Buckeye Lake, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. State Route 79, Buckeye Lake 43008- · phone (740) 467-2690 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
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
With 90.5% of the water 8 feet or less, low level turns the flats into hazards.
Where this data comes from
- Ohio DNR — Ohio DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
- 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.
