Bass Regulations
Type of Water |
Daily Bag Limit |
Minimum Size |
Lakes |
5, any combination of largemouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass |
14 inches |
Rivers/Streams |
5, any combination of largemouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass |
No fish 12 to 15 inches may be kept and no more than two fish over 15 inches may be kept |
3, any combination of largmouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass |
14 inches |
|
Special Lake Regulations
Special largemouth bass regulations are in effect for many Indiana waters.
The expected benefits of size limits are an increase in the number of bass caught (although many must be released), an increase in bass size, and in some cases, improvement in bluegill size and increased predation on abundant prey like gizzard shad.
Regulations on bass fishing differ on the Ohio River.
Lake Limits by County
15-inch minimum size limit:
- Patoka Lake (Orange, Dubois, and Crawford counties)
16-inch minimum size limit:
- Cecil M. Harden Lake (Parke County)
18-inch minimum size limit and two fish daily bag limit:
- Ball Lake (Steuben County)
- Blue Grass, Loon Pit (Warrick County)
- Fidler Pond (Elkhart County)
- Failing Lake, also known as Gentian Lake (Steuben County)
- Flat Fork Creek Park ponds A and B (Hamilton County)
- Kunkel Lake (Wells County)
- Robinson Lake (Whitley and Kosciusko counties)
- All lakes at Tri-County Fish & Wildlife Area (Kosciusko, Noble, and Elkhart counties)
- Bixler Lake, Henderson Lake, Little Long Lake, and Round Lake (Noble County)
- J.C. Murphey Lake at Willow Slough Fish & Wildlife Area (Newton County)
20-inch minimum size limit and one fish daily bag limit:
- Turtle Creek Reservoir (Sullivan County)
12- to 15-inch slot size limits:
At the following lakes, largemouth bass that are from 12 to 15 inches in length may not be harvested. The daily bag limit applies to bass under 12 inches and over 15 inches.
- Buffalo Trace Lake (Harrison County)
- Ferdinand State Forest Lake (Dubois County)
- Montgomery City Park Lake (Daviess County)
12- to 15-inch slot size limit (no more than two bass larger than 15 inches):
- Big Long Lake (LaGrange County)
No minimum size limit waters:
- Brownstown Pit (Jackson County)
- Burdette Park lakes (Vanderburgh County)
- Chandler Town Lake (Warrick County)
- Cypress Lake (Jackson County)
- Deming Park lakes (Vigo County)
- Garvin Park Lake (Vanderburgh County)
- Glen Miller Pond (Wayne County)
- Hayswood Lake (Harrison County)
- Henry County Memorial Park Lake (Henry County)
- Hovey Lake at Hovey Lake Fish & Wildlife Area (Posey County)
- Krannert Lake (Marion County)
- Lake Sullivan (Marion County)
- Ruster Lake (Marion County)
- Schnebelt Pond (Dearborn County)
Special Regulations for Rivers & Streams
20-inch minimum size limit and one fish daily bag limit:
- Sugar Creek (Montgomery, Parke, Boone, Clinton, and Tipton counties)
12-inch minimum size limit (5 bass daily limit):
- All rivers and streams in Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Perry, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Clark, Jefferson, Switzerland, Ohio, and Dearborn counties (with the exception of the Blue River, where the slot limit applies in Crawford, Harrison, and Washington counties).
