Cowan Lake fishing: Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Channel Catfish
Target species: Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Channel Catfish, Sauger, Bluegill
Boat: 6 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Cowan Lake Sailing Club.
The reservoir
Cowan Lake covers 684 acres in Ohio, across Clinton County. It is a reservoir: 92.6% of it is 24 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is 35.9 feet (10.9 m); at the dam, USGS RESSED gives 48 feet (14.6 m) at full pool. Our records hold 5 species for this water.
5 target fish, led by Largemouth Bass
- Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
- Muskellunge — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
- Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
- Sauger — Feeding water: 45–65°F.
- Bluegill — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
Depth: down to 35.9 ft at the deepest measured point
Deepest measured point: 35.9 ft (10.9 m). USGS RESSED gives 48 ft (14.6 m) at the dam at full pool: a measured figure, not a survey map. 92.6% of the water is 24 feet or shallower. We hold 50 depth contours for this water, drawn from 21,519 soundings.
- 0–2 ft: 9.4% of the water
- 2–4 ft: 9.3% of the water
- 4–6 ft: 7.9% of the water
- 6–8 ft: 7.5% of the water
- 8–10 ft: 9.4% of the water
- 10–12 ft: 8.3% of the water
- 12–14 ft: 7.9% of the water
- 14–16 ft: 7.3% of the water
- 16–18 ft: 7.3% of the water
- 18–20 ft: 7.8% of the water
- 20–22 ft: 5.3% of the water
- 22–24 ft: 5.2% of the water
- 24–26 ft: 4.2% of the water
- 26–28 ft: 2.8% of the water
- 28–30 ft: 0.3% of the water
Stocking: 4,562,974 fish, 1993–2022
Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife records list 4,562,974 fish released into this water from 1993 to 2022. The latest stocking on record is from 2022, more than three years ago.
- Sauger: 316,384 in 1974–1985
- Muskellunge: 40,266 in 1988–2007
- Channel Catfish: 5,511 in 1971–2021
- Largemouth Bass: 5,100 in 1970
- Bluegill: 250 in 2021
One more species on the stocking list.
6 ramps and launches on this water
On this water we hold 6 boat ramps.
- Cowan Lake State Park - Campground North Side — Wilmington, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. 1756 Osburn Road, Wilmington 45177- · phone (937) 382-1096 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Cowan Lake State Park - Dock Site — Wilmington, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. 1756 Osburn Road, Wilmington 45177- · phone (937) 382-1096 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Cowan Lake State Park - East End Ramp — Wilmington, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. Beechwood Road, Wilmington 45177- · phone (937) 382-1096 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Cowan Lake State Park - West End Ramp — Wilmington, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. at S.R. 730's sharp turn, take a right, Wilmington 45177- · phone (937) 382-1096 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- South Shore Marina — Wilmington, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. 7379 State Route 730, Wilmington 45177- · phone (937) 382-1096 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
- Cowan Lake Sailing Club — Wilmington. at S.R. 730's sharp turn, take a right, Wilmington 45177- · phone (937) 289-2522 · website clsa.us
Fee and opening hours are blank for all 6 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 6 public ramps are on file, so the launch decides where you fish.
Where this data comes from
- Ohio DNR — Ohio DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
- USGS RESSED — USGS RESSED reservoir sedimentation database: 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.
