Lake Winnibigoshish Water Level
Lake Winnibigoshish is at 1,297.98 ft today (Oct 31), 0.46 ft below its 1,298.44 ft full pool, down 0.10 ft this week.
Minnesota · Mississippi River headwaters
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Water level history
About Lake Winnibigoshish
Lake Winnibigoshish is a reservoir on the Mississippi River headwaters in Minnesota, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Locals just call it Big Winnie. Its full summer pool sits at 1298.44 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Lake Winnibigoshish's water level
Big Winnie is the Mississippi River held back in a basin. The Corps of Engineers dam at the outlet, about 14 miles northwest of Deer River, controls runoff from 1,442 square miles, and the gage readings you see here are in the NGVD 1929 datum the St. Paul District has used for its record since 1887. USGS describes a normal operating range of 1,294.94 to 1,300.94 feet, which holds 439,636 acre-feet of controlled storage, with a maximum allowable range up to 1,303.14. Those numbers trace back to an old staff gage whose zero sat at 1,288.94 feet; Minnesota statute still writes the limits as stages of 6.0 and 12.0 feet on that gage. In practice the swing is far smaller. Over 2015 through 2025 the Corps record shows a typical late winter level near 1,297.5 feet, a climb to about 1,298.4 in June and July, and a slide back toward 1,297.6 by November.
The first dam went in between 1881 and 1884, a timber crib structure filled with rock that used about two million board feet of local pine. It was replaced with the concrete control structure still standing today in 1899 and 1900, and that dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Its original steel tainter gates and machinery came out in 1931, and the bays ran on stop logs alone until slide gates were fitted in 1966. The reservoir sits inside the Leech Lake Reservation, and the rising water, roughly 14 feet, flooded Ojibwe villages, gardens, maple groves, cranberry marshes, wild rice beds and burial mounds, and joined Winnibigoshish to Cut Foot Sioux Lake. The government opened with an offer of $15,466.90, which the Ojibwe refused. Talks dragged from 1881 to 1886, and a final settlement with the Leech Lake Ojibwe did not come until 1985.
By DNR measure the lake covers 56,544 acres with a mean depth of only 15.1 feet and a maximum of 70. It is a shallow, wind swept reservoir with sandy shoreline and gently sloping shoals, prone to heavy waves and constant mixing when the wind comes up. Walleye, yellow perch and northern pike are the main targets. Under the 2026 regulations every walleye from 18 to 23 inches must be released immediately, with only one over 23 inches allowed in possession, and the rule covers connected waters including Cut Foot Sioux, Little Cut Foot Sioux, Raven Flowage and the Mississippi down to Knutson Dam. Faucet snails turned up in 2007 and zebra mussels in 2012, and the DNR notes that clearer water tends to favor bass, sunfish and pike over walleye. A fisheries input group that includes the Leech Lake Band began meeting in 2025.
Lake Winnibigoshish — frequently asked
What is the normal water level of Lake Winnibigoshish?
In summer the lake usually sits close to 1,298.4 feet (NGVD 1929), which is the full pool figure this page uses. The Corps record for 2015 through 2025 shows June and July levels centered right around there. The broader normal operating range listed by USGS runs from 1,294.94 to 1,300.94 feet, so a reading a foot below summer level in late winter is routine, not a sign of trouble.
Why is Lake Winnibigoshish lower in winter?
The Corps draws the six headwaters reservoirs down through fall and winter to make room for spring snowmelt, then refills them toward summer operating bands that begin before the fishing opener and end after Labor Day. How far Winnie drops depends on the snowpack; the Corps sets final drawdown targets after basin snow surveys in late February and early March. In the 2021 drought it held the lake at 1,297.15 feet with minimum outflow.
What is the record high water level on Lake Winnibigoshish?
USGS lists the highest level of record as 1,303.39 feet on 30 July 1905, when the reservoir held about 996,500 acre-feet. That is roughly five feet above today's summer level and above the 1,303.14 foot top of the maximum allowable range. The Corps daily record shows the next highest peak at about 1,303.2 feet in late June 1950. Since 2000 the lake has not gone above about 1,300.4 feet, reached in June 2001.
What is the lowest Lake Winnibigoshish has ever been?
The lows came in the droughts of the 1930s. USGS gives the minimum of record as 1,288.25 feet on 20 October 1931, while the Corps elevation series dips further, to about 1,287.1 feet at the end of October 1930. Either way the lake was ten to eleven feet below its modern summer level. Since 2000 the lowest reading was about 1,296.75 feet in late October 2021.
What are the walleye regulations on Lake Winnibigoshish?
For the 2026 season, which opened 9 May, all walleye from 18 to 23 inches must be released immediately and only one walleye over 23 inches may be kept. The statewide limit of six walleye and sauger combined still applies. The special rule also covers connected waters such as Cut Foot Sioux, Little Cut Foot Sioux, Raven Flowage, Sugar Lake and the Mississippi down to Knutson Dam, and sunfish are limited to five a day.
Who operates the Winnibigoshish dam and when was it built?
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, built the original timber dam from 1881 to 1884 and replaced it with the present concrete structure in 1899 and 1900. It is one of six Corps dams on the Mississippi headwaters, with Leech, Pokegama, Sandy, Cross (Pine River) and Gull. Built to supplement river flows downstream at Minneapolis, the system now focuses on flood risk management, recreation and environmental stewardship.
How big and how deep is Big Winnie?
The Minnesota DNR puts Winnibigoshish at 56,544 acres, with a mean depth of 15.1 feet and a maximum depth of 70 feet. Other references list it at around 57,000 or even 67,000 acres, depending on what connected waters are counted. The shallow average depth and long open fetch explain why the lake builds big waves quickly in a strong wind.
Other lakes near Lake Winnibigoshish
See current levels for all 6 Minnesota lakes and reservoirs →
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