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Home › Waters › Ohio › Indian Lake
Lake · West central Ohio, Logan County, the Great Miami River headwaters at Russells Point and Lakeview · Ohio

Indian Lake Fishing Guides

A shallow west-central Ohio lake built as a canal feeder reservoir, now one of the state's most consistent saugeye fisheries, with channels, islands and heavy summer boat traffic.

Sunrise burning off mist over a timbered reservoir
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Indian Lake

Indian Lake covers roughly fifty-eight hundred acres in Logan County and owes its existence to the canal era. It was enlarged in the nineteenth century as a feeder reservoir for the Miami and Erie Canal, flooding a natural marsh and a set of smaller lakes, and the resulting shoreline is irregular in a way no modern reservoir would be. Channels, islands, causeways and shallow bays break the lake into distinct areas. The gauge at Russells Point reports stage, elevation and water temperature.

Depth is the lake’s defining constraint. Average depth runs only a handful of feet and the deepest holes are modest, so the whole basin warms quickly, weeds establish heavily through summer and wind stirs the water column readily. Dredged channels running between the islands and along the shoreline provide the deeper water fish use when conditions push them off the flats, and those channels are the structure most local anglers organise their fishing around.

Saugeye are the headline fishery. Ohio stocks them here and they thrive in exactly this kind of shallow, fertile, turbid water, producing a reliable year-round fishery that peaks in fall and again through the ice. Crappie, both black and white, are abundant and heavily fished around the channel edges and brush. Largemouth bass use the vegetation and the shoreline cover, yellow perch and bluegill are common, and channel catfish, common carp and freshwater drum are always available.

Summer brings heavy recreational boat traffic from the lakeside communities, so serious fishing happens early, late or in the off season. The lake also freezes reliably in most winters, and the ice fishery is a genuine part of the annual cycle rather than an afterthought.

Access is excellent, with a state park, numerous ramps and a full service economy at Russells Point and Lakeview. Shoreline and pier fishing are both practical here, which is not true of every Ohio lake this size.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

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We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

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5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

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Pool right now

995.42ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.03 ft → steady
  • Water temperature59 F
  • For the dateNear the highest this lake has been this week of the year

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 03260500, Indian Lake at Russells Point OH. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Indian Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Indian Lake ft (NAVD88)

Now: 995.42 ft pool elevation, read 5:00 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 03260500, Indian Lake at Russells Point OH).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Russells Point - the gauge location and the main lakeside village, with services.
Lakeview - the second lakeside community, with lodging, fuel and tackle.
Indian Lake State Park - the state park with multiple ramps, camping and shoreline access.
Moundwood and Old Field Beach - developed access areas on the lake.
Blackhawk and Long Island - island areas with channel structure and shoreline cover.
Bellefontaine - the county seat a short drive south, with full services.
Great Miami River - the outflow downstream, with its own stream fishing.

Seasons

Spring: saugeye and crappie move shallow and the lake fishes as well as it does at any point in the year.
Summer: weeds thicken, boat traffic peaks and fishing shifts to the channels at first and last light.
Fall: the strongest saugeye stretch of the year as the water cools and fish concentrate.
Winter: reliable ice in most years, with saugeye and crappie drawing heavy pressure.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Indian Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Saugeye, White Crappie, Yellow Perch on the Indian Lake in Ohio.

Where can you access the Indian Lake?

Russells Point - the gauge location and the main lakeside village, with services. Lakeview - the second lakeside community, with lodging, fuel and tackle. Indian Lake State Park - the state park with multiple ramps, camping and shoreline access. Moundwood and Old Field Beach - developed access areas on the lake. Blackhawk and Long Island - island areas with channel structure and shoreline cover. Bellefontaine - the county seat a short drive south, with full services. Great Miami River - the outflow downstream, with its own stream fishing.

When is the best time to fish the Indian Lake?

Spring: saugeye and crappie move shallow and the lake fishes as well as it does at any point in the year. Summer: weeds thicken, boat traffic peaks and fishing shifts to the channels at first and last light. Fall: the strongest saugeye stretch of the year as the water cools and fish concentrate. Winter: reliable ice in most years, with saugeye and crappie drawing heavy pressure.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Indian Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Ohio agency site: https://ohiodnr.gov/buy-and-apply/hunting-fishing-boating/fishing-resources/fishing-regulations