Minnesota · Largemouth and smallmouth bass
Largemouth and smallmouth bass size limit in Minnesota
You can keep one today — within these limits
Southern and North-central zones inland (includes Lake Minnetonka)
Closed today| Size limit | 14 inches and up | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 6 | per person per day, combined |
| Possession | 6 | total you may hold |
Catch-and-immediate-release only from September 8 through May 23 — the combined 6-fish harvest window runs roughly May 24 through September 7 each year. Minnesota's own regulation table words the largemouth and smallmouth rows slightly differently; this is our best-faith reading, see uncertain[] for the exact source wording. Reopens after May 23. The numbers above are what applies when it is open.
14 inches, six a day combined — but only inside a roughly 15-week harvest window in early summer. Outside that window, bass fishing is legal but every fish must go back.
Rainy Lake (Canada–Minnesota border water)
Open year-round| Size limit | No size limit stated | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 6 | per person per day, combined |
| Possession | 6 | total you may hold |
No minimum size and no closed season at all — a real contrast to the roughly 15-week harvest window that applies on the inland waters this site also tracks (Lake Minnetonka).
Mille Lacs Lake
Open today| Size limit | Up to 17 inches | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 3 | per person per day, largemouth and smallmouth bass combined, only fish under 17 inches may be kept; smallmouth harvest runs May 23 - Sept 13, largemouth harvest runs May 23 - Feb 28 the following year - outside each species' own window, that species is catch-and-release only |
| Possession | 3 | total you may hold |
Closes each year Closed to ALL bass harvest March 1 through May 22 (catch-and-release only for both species). Outside this shared window the two species diverge: smallmouth harvest closes again Sept 14, largemouth harvest continues on through Feb 28 - see notes
Mille Lacs runs its own bass rule, not the statewide zone default: a hard 17-inch ceiling (no true slot) and a much longer largemouth season than smallmouth. The season above marks the one stretch (Mar 1 - May 22) when neither species may be harvested; from Sept 14 through Feb 28 largemouth alone stays harvestable while smallmouth reverts to catch-and-release, a state this schema's single season field can't fully express - trust the notes over the season badge for that stretch.
What we left out on purpose
- Minnesota's own bass table words the largemouth and smallmouth rows slightly inconsistently — the smallmouth row clearly closes the combined-harvest window on September 7 (catch-and-release only afterward), while the largemouth row describes a longer window 'when smallmouth season is open' that reads as extending further. We modelled the combined harvest window as the clearly stated May 24 – September 7 range; if Minnesota intends something more permissive for largemouth specifically, our figure is conservative rather than wrong in the risky direction.
- Season open/close dates tied to 'the Saturday nearest May 11' or similar floating rules are set to the 2026 calendar date and will drift by a few days in other years — flagged in each affected region's notes.
- Minnesota's northern pike, muskellunge and walleye zone and named-lake exceptions run for dozens of pages beyond Rainy Lake and Lake Minnetonka, the two waters this site actually reports on — the same restraint used for Colorado's, Kansas's and Michigan's named-water exceptions.
- Lake sturgeon, burbot, whitefish/cisco (both under separate netting-season rules), bullhead, gar, smelt and rough fish (bowfin, buffalo, carp, suckers — no limit) are not modelled here; none are the finfish this silo focuses on for either Rainy Lake or Lake Minnetonka.
- Minnesota's 2026 season introduced a genuinely continuous bass season statewide (no true closure anywhere, ever - catch-and-release fills every gap between harvest windows); this was cross-checked directly against the DNR's own February 23, 2026 press release and does not change the harvest-window dates already modelled here, only confirms there is no true closed season to correct.
Other species limits in Minnesota
Where to try today
- Gull Lake 6/10 · Biting
- Lake Minnetonka 6/10 · Biting
- Lake Winnibigoshish 7/10 · Biting
- Leech Lake 6/10 · Biting
- Mille Lacs Lake 6/10 · Biting