Indiana Lake Depths

Pike family

Redfin (grass) pickerel

Esox americanus · also called grass pickerel, mud pickerel

Native to IndianaRecorded in 52 Indiana lakes

Indiana DNR lists this fish as “Redfin (Grass) Pickerel”, Esox americanus. The species has two forms: the redfin of Atlantic-coast rivers, and the grass pickerel of the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins. Indiana lies in the grass pickerel's range, so Indiana's fish is usually that form.

Illustration of a redfin (grass) pickerel in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
6–10 in; occasionally 12 in
Spawns
Early spring, at 43–53°F, scattering eggs over plants
Eats
Mostly fish; also crayfish, frogs and large insects
Needs
Clear water with dense plants; intolerant of murky water
Indiana record
13.8 oz — Coffee Creek Park Pond, Porter County, 2020

Where redfin (grass) pickerel have been recorded

52 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list redfin (grass) pickerel, across 12 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyJ C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyHamilton Lake, Steuben CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyAdams Lake, LaGrange CountyJAMES LAKE, Kosciusko CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyBig Lake, Noble CountySilver Lake, Steuben CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyIrish Lake, Kosciusko CountyAtwood Lake, LaGrange CountyFox Lake, Steuben CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyBear Lake, Noble CountyCenter Lake, Kosciusko CountyStone Lake, LaGrange CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyFlint Lake, Porter CountySechrist Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Noble CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyEagle Lake, Noble CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyStory Lake, DeKalb CountyBig Otter Lake, Steuben CountyHill Lake, Kosciusko CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyBell Lake, Steuben CountyLittle Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyShock Lake, Kosciusko CountyEngle Lake, Noble CountySpear Lake, Kosciusko CountyHog Lake, LaPorte CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountyRound Lake, Steuben CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyBrokesha Lake, LaGrange CountyRivir Lake, Noble CountyMartin Lake, LaGrange CountyClear Lake, Porter CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyPleasant Lake, Noble CountyLake Arrowhead, Steuben CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyLindsey Lake, Noble County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 52lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them

A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.

Inland lakes on this list run from 14 to 3,508 acres (median 82) and from 8 to 90 ft deep (median 44 ft).

How many turn up in DNR surveys

Indiana DNR crews survey lakes the same way everywhere: timed night electrofishing along the shore, plus gill and trap nets set overnight. The standard method makes lakes comparable. These are the DNR’s own sampling rates from its community surveys, 2008–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.

Found in
45 of 175 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
4.0 per hour where found
Highest
18 per hour
Method
fish per hour of night electrofishing

“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Nets and electrofishing catch different fish: by the other method it turned up in 14 lakes at a typical 0.25 per net lift. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Stone Lake, LaPorte 2017 18
  2. Appleman Lake, LaGrange 2012 12
  3. Lawrence Lake, Marshall 2017 10
  4. Pretty Lake, Marshall 2017 10
  5. Bell Lake, Steuben 2015 8.0
  6. Center Lake, Kosciusko 2020 8.0
  7. Fox Lake, Steuben 2015 8.0
  8. Brokesha Lake, LaGrange 2015 6.0
  9. Eve Lake, LaGrange 2016 6.0
  10. Little Cedar Lake, Whitley 2014 6.0

Fish per hour of night electrofishing, with survey years. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

A small pike: long, tube-shaped body, a dark teardrop under the eye, and blotches or wavy bars along the sides. Unlike northern pike and muskie, the fins carry no spots. Despite the name, the grass pickerel form found in Indiana usually has yellow-green lower fins, not the red ones of the Atlantic-coast redfin.

Don’t confuse it with

Northern pike — Much larger, with white or yellow spots on the body and dark spots or wavy lines on the fins.

Life in an Indiana lake

Redfin pickerel live in clear, heavily vegetated water: slow streams, wetlands and natural lakes. They disappear where water turns murky or streams are ditched.

In early spring they move into shallow, weedy backwaters to spawn, scattering eggs over plants with no parental care. The young eat insects until they reach about 2 inches in early June, then switch to small fish.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Indiana Fishing Guide is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory.

All 52 lakes with redfin (grass) pickerel

Show every lake, by county

DeKalb County 1

Story Lake

Kosciusko County 9

Center Lake, Dewart Lake, Hill Lake, Irish Lake, JAMES LAKE, Lake Wawasee, Sechrist Lake, Shock Lake, Spear Lake

LaGrange County 9

Adams Lake, Appleman Lake, Atwood Lake, Brokesha Lake, Eve Lake, Martin Lake, Stone Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 3

Hog Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 1

Rosser Park Pond

Marshall County 3

Lawrence Lake, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 10

Bear Lake, Big Lake, Diamond Lake, Eagle Lake, Engle Lake, Lindsey Lake, Lower Long Lake, Pleasant Lake, Rivir Lake, Round Lake

Pike County 2

Pigeon Pit, West Twin Pit

Porter County 2

Clear Lake, Flint Lake

Steuben County 8

Bell Lake, Big Otter Lake, Fox Lake, Hamilton Lake, Lake Arrowhead, McClish Lake, Round Lake, Silver Lake

Whitley County 3

Blue Lake, Little Cedar Lake, Round Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana