Benjamin

Benjamin Lake is a 33-acre lake with a maximum depth of 128 feet located within the Chippewa National Forest 12 miles north of Pennington in Beltrami County. An historic CCC encampment is located on Benjamin Lake and is maintained as an interpretive learning center by the US Forest Service. There is a public water access located on the southwest shore of the lake off of State HWY 39, also known as the Scenic Highway. A shore fishing pier and swimming area are also available for public use. Benjamin is managed as a designated stream trout lake that has been stocked annually in the fall with catchable-size Rainbow Trout. A trout stamp is required for anglers that want to fish on the lake. There are a few exceptions to this requirement that can be found in the regulation book. The number of Rainbow Trout captured has declined over the past few surveys and correlates with the introduction and expansion of two unwanted warmwater fish species: Bluegill and Yellow Perch. These nuisance species have outcompeted trout for available food resources and are likely causing poor growth and survival of stocked trout in recent years. Only one (1) Rainbow Trout was captured in this survey of Benjamin Lake. Despite poor catch rates for trout in recent surveys, Benjamin has seen an increase in fishing activity in recent years, particularly during the winter stream trout season which begins on the 2nd Saturday in January and runs through March 31 each year. A recent management plan revision increasing the number of trout stocked as well as stocking frequency for Benjamin Lake will take effect in 2023. The goal of the stocking revision will be to provide more consistent trout fishing opportunities throughout the year on Benjamin Lake. The total number of Rainbow Trout stocked will increase from 1,500 to 2,200 catchable-size fish annually. These fish will be divided between two stocking events (spring and fall) as opposed to the previous one-time stocking of fish in the fall. Another change that anglers should notice will be the addition of catchable-size Brown Trout (300 fish annually) to the lake's stocking plan. As observed in other area stream trout lakes, Brown Trout will readily prey upon fish such as Bluegill and Yellow Perch, although they may not exert enough predation to reduce these populations substantially. Brown Trout stocking will provide a means to utilize the lake's excess production of these unwanted fish species and should provide a trophy component to the lake's fishery as these fish can grow to large sizes.

Benjamin Lake is a 33-acre lake with a maximum depth of 128 feet located within the Chippewa National Forest 12 miles north of Pennington in Beltrami County. An historic CCC encampment is located on Benjamin Lake and is maintained as an interpretive learning center by the US Forest Service. There is a public water access located on the south west shore of the lake off of State HWY 39, also known as the Scenic Highway. A shore fishing pier and swimming area are also available for public use. Benjamin is managed as a stream trout lake and is stocked annually with 3,000 yearling Rainbow Trout that typically range from 9 to 11 inches in length. Prior to 2012 Benjamin Lake was stocked with fingerling Rainbow Trout. However, unwanted Bluegill and Yellow Perch populations began to thrive in the absence of predators and reached high numbers which necessitated a shift to catchable-size trout as these unwanted species were competing with young trout for available food and habitat. The stocking of catchable-size Rainbow Trout has helped to improve angler success, and reports of good Rainbow Trout fishing are received throughout the summer and fall months. Benjamin Lake was also recently opened to winter fishing in 2016, providing additional trout fishing opportunity. The catch rate for Rainbow Trout in the 2017 survey was 1/gill net, which was up from the most recent assessment (0.33/gill net in 2006) but well below historic catches which ranged as high as 17/gill net prior to the infestation of warm water species. All trout captured in 2017 (n=3) were in the 11-inch length interval. Bluegill and Yellow Perch captured in the 2017 survey were in poor condition and heavily infested with black spot or Neascus which is a common fish parasite. These fish remain edible but have a small average size. Bluegill captured in trap nets averaged 5.59 inches in length with fish up to 7.87 inches captured. Yellow Perch captured in gill nets averaged 7.77 inches in length although larger individuals are present in the lake. A lake reclamation project aimed at eliminating the unwanted warm water fish community in Benjamin Lake is currently in the planning process. Previous lake reclamations were successful at improving Rainbow Trout management and the quality of the fishery.

Benjamin Lake is a 33-acre lake with a maximum depth of 128 feet located within the Chippewa National Forest 12 miles north of Pennington in Beltrami County. An historic CCC encampment is located on Benjamin Lake, and is maintained as an interpretive learning center by the US Forest Service. There is a public access site located on the southwest shore off of State HWY 39, also known as the Scenic Highway. There is also an accessible fishing pier which provides shore fishing opportunities, as well as a public swimming area. Benjamin is managed as a stream trout lake and has been stocked annually with fingerling rainbow trout. There has been a decline in the quality of the trout fishery in recent years due to the presence of high numbers of small bluegill and yellow perch, which compete with young trout for available resources. As a result, growth and survival of stocked fingerling trout has been poor. To address this situation, rainbow trout stocking will be switched from fall fingerlings to catchable-size yearling fish which are 9 to 11 inches in length. This should alleviate many of the factors that were limiting trout growth and survival and will be immediately noticeable to anglers. The shift in stocking strategies will be implemented in the spring of 2012. Benjamin is scheduled to be stocked prior to the stream trout lake fishing opener of May 12, 2012. Benjamin Lake also received a stocking of surplus broodstock brown trout (2 to 4 lbs/fish) in the fall of 2011. Benjamin Lake does hold some quality-size yellow perch, which have managed to grow despite the extremely high abundance of bluegill and perch in the lake. The 2011 population assessment captured perch up to 12.9 inches in length, with 15% of the trap net catch greater than 10 inches in length.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Yellow Perch, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Walleye, and Bluegill in Benjamin. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

We don't have a confirmed public access point on record for Benjamin. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for current access details before you go.

Benjamin has a maximum depth of 128 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Benjamin is from 2022.

No invasive species are on record for Benjamin in Minnesota DNR data. Always clean, drain, and dry your equipment to help keep it that way.