Kabetogama Lake

Kabetogama Lake is a clear lake in northern St. Louis County, Minnesota, and lies entirely within Voyageurs National Park. According to the National Park Service, it is 15 miles long and covers 25,760 acres. It has 78 miles of shoreline, a maximum depth of 80 feet and about 200 islands. It is one of the 10 largest inland lakes in the state. The lake drains east into Namakan Lake and runs roughly parallel to Rainy Lake, with only a thin peninsula between the two. It belongs to the Hudson Bay drainage of the Arctic watershed. The communities of Kabetogama, on the south shore, and Ash River are the main gateways to the lake.

The National Park Service runs boat launches at the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center and the Ash River Visitor Center. The Minnesota DNR runs the Wooden Frog access, and St. Louis County runs an access on the north side. The park lists a boat ramp, a dock, boat-trailer parking and aquatic invasive species inspection at the lake. In 2023 the Park Service began replacing the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center ramp with concrete lanes 16 feet wide. Kabetogama is classified as experimental waters, so possessing filleted fish while fishing on or traveling across the lake is prohibited. The lake has 28 frontcountry campsites, which can be reached only by boat and require a permit.

The Ojibwe name refers to a lake lying parallel to another lake. Resorts began opening around 1918; there were 26 by 1936 and 42 camps, hotels and resorts by 1949. Reefs were charted in 1939 to aid boating and fishing. Fish species include walleye, sauger, northern pike, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and lake sturgeon. In 2025 the DNR set up the Lake Kabetogama Fisheries Input Group.