Dead

Dead Lake is located in south-central Hubbard County, five miles north of Dorset. Dead has a surface area of 130 acres and a maximum depth of 34.0 feet. There is no public access on Dead. Dead is connected to Ojibway Lake, which lies to the south, by a small channel. Boating between the two lakes is dependent upon water levels in the lakes. During the high water period of the late 1990s boating between the two lakes was easy, however during the summer of 2017 the channel was very shallow and boating was limited to small craft, with dragging and push poling in several spots. There is a state-owned public access located on the southwest shore of Ojibway. Dead has excellent water quality and clarity, and supports good populations of Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, and panfish. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical, chemical, and other characteristics. Dead is in lake class 25. Class 25 lakes have the characteristics of hard water, good water clarity, and an irregular shaped shoreline. Other class 25 lakes in the area include Bad Axe, West Crooked, Spider, and Third Crow Wing Lake. Present and past surveys have shown Dead to support a healthy Largemouth Bass population in both numbers and size of Bass. Anglers will find good numbers of Largemouth Bass in the 12 to 16 inch size range and Bass up to 20.4 inches were sampled in the survey. Good water quality, aquatic vegetation cover, and spawning substrate provide excellent habitat for Largemouth Bass in Dead. Dead supports a healthy panfish population and can provide good fishing for Black Crappie, Bluegill, and Pumpkinseed. The panfish population in Dead is probably known more for numbers than size of fish. Anglers will find Black Crappie in the 9-11 inch size range, and Bluegill and Pumpkinseed in the 6-7 inch size range. Northern Pike are abundant in Dead, with the population dominated by small, "hammer handle" pike. Sampled Northern Pike were an average length and weight of 20.6 inches and 1.8 pounds, with pike measured up to 30.0 inches. Currently no aquatic invasive species (AIS) have been identified in Ojibway. To avoid spreading AIS, lake users are required to remove all aquatic plants or animals from their watercraft and drain all water from their boats before leaving the lake.

Upper and Lower Ojibway (also known as Upper and Lower Dead or East and West Dead) Lakes are located in south-central Hubbard County, five miles north of Dorset. The two lake basins are connected by a small channel that can be navigated with a small boat. Upper and Lower Ojibway are managed and surveyed as one lake. Upper and Lower Ojibway have a combined area of 292 acres and a maximum depth of 34 feet. There is a state-owned public access located on the southwest shore of Lower Ojibway. Ojibway has excellent water quality and clarity, and supports good populations of largemouth bass, panfish, and northern pike. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical, chemical, and other characteristics. Ojibway is in lake class 25. Other area lakes in this same class include Bad Axe, Belle Taine, West Crooked, Third Crow Wing, Eagle, Big and Little Mantrap, Little Sand, Spider, Straight, and Two Inlets. Ojibway supports a healthy largemouth bass population. Spring electrofishing catch rates (89 bass/hour) were high when compared to other area lakes. The number of largemouth bass sampled over 15.0 inches was higher than past surveys. Good water quality, aquatic vegetation cover, and spawning substrate provide excellent habitat for largemouth bass in Ojibway. Ojibway has an abundant panfish population and can provide good fishing for black crappie, bluegill, and pumpkinseed. The panfish population in Ojibway is known more for numbers than size. Anglers will find black crappie in the 9-11 inch size range and bluegill and pumpkinseed in the 6-7 inch size range. Bluegill and black crappie growth rates were slow when compared to other class 25 lakes. Northern pike are abundant in Ojibway. The northern pike gillnet catch rate of 15.8 pike/gillnet was well above the range "typical" for this lake class and similar to past surveys. Sampled northern pike had an average length and weight of 21.1 inches and 2.0 pounds, with pike measured up to 31.5 inches. The northern pike population in Ojibway is limited by high reproduction and recruitment of young pike and slow growth rates. Other species sampled included high numbers of yellow bullhead and moderate numbers of yellow perch. White sucker, black bullhead, and golden shiner were sampled in low numbers.

Upper and Lower Ojibway Lakes are located in south-central Hubbard County, five miles north of Dorset. The two lake basins are connected by a small channel that can be navigated with a small boat. Upper and Lower Ojibway are managed and surveyed as one lake. Upper and Lower Ojibway have a combined area of 292 acres and a maximum depth of 34 feet. There is a state-owned public access located on the southwest shore of Lower Ojibway. Ojibway has excellent water quality and clarity, and supports good populations of bass, panfish, and northern pike.The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical, chemical, and other characteristics. Ojibway is in lake class 25. Other area lakes in this same classification include Bad Axe, Belle Taine, West Crooked, Third Crow Wing, Eagle, Big and Little Mantrap, Little Sand, Spider, Straight, and Two Inlets.Ojibway supports a healthy largemouth bass population. Spring electrofishing was conducted for the second time and moderate numbers of largemouth bass were sampled when compared to other area lakes (59.6 bass/hour). The number of bass sampled over 16.0 inches was low when compared to other area lakes. Good water quality, aquatic vegetation cover, and spawning substrate provide excellent habitat for largemouth bass in Ojibway. Ojibway has an abundant panfish population and can provide good fishing for bluegill, pumpkinseed, and black crappie. The panfish population in Ojibway is known more for numbers than size. Good numbers of bluegill in the 6-7 inch size range and crappie in the 8-9 inch size range were sampled. Bluegill and black crappie growth rates were slow when compared to other class 25 lakes.Northern pike are abundant in Ojibway. The northern pike gillnet catch rate of 19.1 pike/gillnet was well above the range "typical" for this lake class. Past surveys have had similar northern pike abundance. The northern pike population in Ojibway is known more for numbers than size, dominated by "hammer handle" pike. Sampled northern pike had an average length and weight of 22.0 inches and 2.4 pounds, with pike measured up to 33.9 inches. The northern pike population in Ojibway is limited by high reproduction and recruitment of young pike and slow growth rates.Other species sampled included high numbers of yellow bullhead, and low numbers of yellow perch, black bullhead, and golden shiners.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Largemouth Bass, Black Crappie, Walleye, Northern Pike, and Rock Bass in Dead. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

Minnesota DNR records list public access for Dead. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for the launch type and directions before you go.

Dead has a maximum depth of 34 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Dead is from 2017. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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