Ponto Lake is a 347-acre (1.4 km²) lake located 2 miles (3.2 km) north and 8 miles (13 km) east of Backus, Minnesota

Backus, Minnesota

Backus is a city in Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 250 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

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A public access is located on the southeast shore just north of State Highway 84. The Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources (MNDNR) has classified Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

's lakes into 43 different classes based on physical, chemical and other characteristics. Ponto Lake is in Lake Class 23; lakes in this class generally have hard water, are very deep and clear, and have a low amount of lake area less than 15 feet deep. This lake is managed primarily for walleye

Walleye

Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...

 and northern pike

Northern Pike

The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...

 and secondarily for bluegill

Bluegill

The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...

, black crappie, largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, and yellow perch

Yellow perch

The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...

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Ponto Lake has an abundant population of naturally reproducing walleye. The average length of these walleye was 17 inches (43 cm), and the largest sampled was 27 inches (69 cm). Northern pike were also abundant, averaged about 18 inches (46 cm) long, and had a maximum length of 37 inches (94 cm). Ponto Lake has a good population of largemouth bass, and fish up to 16 inches (41 cm) were sampled. Bluegill, black crappie and yellow perch are available for anglers, however numbers sampled in the 2002 assessment were low.