At 3,410 acres, Lake Wawasee is the largest natural lake in Indiana. Its waters are clear and deep with very little wood or shoreline structure. A popular resort area, the lake is surrounded by year-round and summer homes and lots of boat docks that offer good fishing structure.
Wawasee receives heavy bass-fishing pressure from individuals, large tournaments and many small club tournaments. Jed Pearson, the state’s District 3 fisheries biologist, completed a study of Wawasee in 2000. The study showed that the number of bass caught and kept or caught and released annually approached the estimated number of adult bass in the lake. Pearson estimates that the Kosciusko County lake contains about 35,000 largemouth bass that measure 8 inches or more. Creel surveys show the annual number of largemouth bass caught and kept or caught and released totaled 31,672.
In September 2004, 113 bass were caught in a major Wawasee tournament. The total weight for the bass was 187.46 pounds, an average of nearly 1.7 pounds per fish. The biggest bass caught in the tournament was 4.02 pounds. The same tournament organization held a contest in May 2003, which weighed in 298 bass totaling 481.16 pounds for a 1.6-pound average.
There are grassflats and weedbeds throughout the lake. The best bass fishing often occurs around the numerous shallow weedbeds located on underwater hills and humps. The bottom of this lake is sand and gravel with many shallow humps in open water. In the spring, many bass are caught in the canal and on Syracuse Lake (414 acres), which connects with Wawasee via a canal. Topwater baits are very popular and successful in the early mornings. Wawasee also has excellent populations of smallmouth bass and northern pike.
There is one concrete boat ramp on Wawasee and a state-owned ramp on Syracuse. There are no launch fees. Nearly all tournaments launch from Wawasee.
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