Portage Lakes fishing: Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish

Target species: Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish
Boat: 5 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Burches Landing.

The lake

Portage Lakes covers 336 acres in Ohio, across Summit County. It is a lake: 93.2% of it is 18 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is 33.7 feet (10.3 m). Our records hold 5 species for this water.

Depth: down to 33.7 ft at the deepest measured point

Deepest measured point: 33.7 ft (10.3 m). 93.2% of the water is 18 feet or shallower. We hold 48 depth contours for this water, drawn from 9,649 soundings.

  • 0–2 ft: 5.6% of the water
  • 2–4 ft: 10.1% of the water
  • 4–6 ft: 11.2% of the water
  • 6–8 ft: 14.7% of the water
  • 8–10 ft: 13.5% of the water
  • 10–12 ft: 12.7% of the water
  • 12–14 ft: 10.8% of the water
  • 14–16 ft: 7.3% of the water
  • 16–18 ft: 7.3% of the water
  • 18–20 ft: 5.7% of the water
  • 20–22 ft: 1.3% of the water

2 target fish, led by Largemouth Bass

  • Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
  • Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.

Also recorded here: Redear, Common Carp, Spottail Shiner.

Stocking: 601,465 fish, 1974–2021

Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife records list 601,465 fish released into this water from 1974 to 2021. The latest stocking on record is from 2021, more than three years ago.

  • Channel Catfish: 106,937 in 1974–2021
  • Largemouth Bass: 45,309 in 1974–1981

2 more species on the stocking list.

5 ramps and launches on this water

On this water we hold 5 boat ramps.

  • Burches Landing — Akron, Kieffer Marine. 354 Portage Lakes Drive, Akron 44319- · phone (330) 644-0234 · website kieffermarine.com
  • Kieffer Marine — Akron, Kieffer Marine. 252 Portage Lakes Drive, Akron 44319- · phone (330) 644-0234 · website kieffermarine.com
  • Old State Park — Akron, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. 619 State Park Drive, Akron 44319- · phone (330) 644-2220 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
  • Portage Lakes State Park - North Reservoir — Akron, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. State Mill Road, Akron 44319- · phone (330) 644-2220 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov
  • Portage Lakes State Park - Turkeyfoot — Akron, ODNR Division of Parks & Recreation. 5031 Manchester Rd., Akron 44319- · phone (330) 644-2220 · website parks.ohiodnr.gov

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 5 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.

Water and conditions

Our water temperature readings average 67°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. These readings span 2016. The latest reading is from 2016, more than three years ago: read these numbers as history, not as the water today.

What is hard here

Only 5 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.
  • 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.