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Big Stone Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The prairie border lake: 26 miles of Minnesota-South Dakota water at the Minnesota River's source, grinding out walleye and perch the old way.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
67 / 71 F
Wind
SE 21 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Big Stone Lake feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 21 mph, falling pressure near 1011 hPa and a high of 71. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:02 AM-12:02 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeExcellent

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Northern pikeExcellent

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

White bassGood

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

CrappieGood

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 64 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Minnesota requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents. What a Minnesota licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Minnesota, read off the agency, are on the Minnesota seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp67 F
High / Low71 / 57 F
WindSE 21-40 mph
Pressure1010.5 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain68% cloud, 22%
Sunrise / Sunset07:53 / 18:27
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Big Stone Lake this week

Today is the pick of the week on Big Stone Lake, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
10:02 AM-12:02 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM
Minor period
4:26 AM-5:26 AM
Sun
07:53 to 18:27
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 22 mph
Rain chance
22%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Big Stone Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the Big Stone Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
White bass
Northern pike
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Big Stone Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 76 F, wind to 13 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 71 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 16 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Minnesota requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

MN or SD license (border reciprocity on the lake). Walleye 4/day with slot protections: check current border rules.

Access

Ortonville city ramp, Big Stone Lake SP (MN) launches, Hartford Beach SP (SD).

About this water

12,610 acres, 26 miles long, on the MN-SD border. Source of the Minnesota River.

Fishing Big Stone Lake: the full guide

Long water on the prairie

Big Stone stretches 26 narrow miles along the MN-SD line: the Minnesota River's headwater lake, shallow and fertile, ringed by granite outcrops that named it. The fishery is prairie classic: walleye as the daily bread, jumbo perch as the winter economy, and bullheads-and-crappie filling the family stringers between.

Walleye the long-lake way

The lake fishes like a corridor: fish migrate the length with the seasons: spring at the north-end rivermouth rocks, summer scattered along the 8-15-ft flats and points (harness-and-bottom-bouncer water), fall re-stacking on the gravel. Wind sets the day: the lake funnels blows lengthwise, and the walleye chop doctrine applies in full.

The perch tradition

Big Stone's jumbo perch built its winter reputation: ice villages off Ortonville chase 12-inch-plus fish across the mud basins, and good year-classes make statewide news. Summer perch ride the deep weed edges: locals cash in quietly while the walleye boats pass by.

Border simplicity

MN-SD reciprocity covers the lake: either license works on the water. Ortonville (MN) and Big Stone City (SD) anchor the south end's services; state-park and municipal ramps chain the shoreline. It is unfancy, uncrowded, productive water: the prairie lake formula that never stopped working.

Common questions

Which state's license works on Big Stone?

Either: the border-water agreement covers the lake proper. Tributaries and adjacent waters revert to their own state's rules.

When is the perch bite at Big Stone?

January-February through the ice off Ortonville: the jumbo years draw crowds from three states. Summer sleeper: deep weedlines in August with crawler pieces.

Is fishing good at Big Stone Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Waubay Lake35 miBitter Lake36 miLake Poinsett63 miGreen Lake83 miOtter Tail Lake83 miLake Thompson88 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.4000, -96.6000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.