Lake Bemidji

Lake Bemidji is a glacial lake in southern Beltrami County, Minnesota. A Beltrami County water quality report gives its area as 6,580 acres and its maximum depth as 76 feet. The city of Bemidji sits on its southwestern shore. The lake lies less than 50 miles downstream from the source of the Mississippi River. The river enters on the south side from Lake Irving and leaves on the east side through Stump Lake, continuing toward Wolf, Andrusia and Cass lakes. More than 396,000 acres of the Upper Mississippi watershed drain into the lake, and it has about 15 miles of shoreline. Its name comes from the Ojibwe bemidjigamaag, meaning "lake with crossing waters," which refers to the river flowing across it.

Public boat access includes the City of Bemidji's Diamond Point, Nymore Beach and Cameron Park ramps and its Paul Bunyan Park carry-in site. The Minnesota DNR runs the Northwoods and Lake Bemidji State Park ramps, and Northern Township runs the ramp at Lavinia. Accessible fishing piers stand at the inlet near downtown Bemidji and in Lake Bemidji State Park. Under a Beltrami County rule, boats must travel at slow-no wake speed at all times in the corridors linking Lake Bemidji to Lake Irving and to Stump Lake. Zebra mussels and starry stonewort have been reported in the lake.

The fishery is managed mainly for walleye, yellow perch, northern pike and muskellunge. The Crookston sawmill, which opened on the south shore in 1903, was the second-largest sawmill in the country by 1910.