Bass Lake Preserve is a 606-acre preserve in Munson Township.  It includes the 160-acre Bass Lake, a treasured natural resource in Geauga County for many generations, and Spring Brook Sanctuary, a State Nature Preserve protecting Ohio's last known indigenous population of brook trout. It is Geauga Park District’s intent to protect this natural area in perpetuity.

The Bass Lake Lodge can be reserved. Please review the lodge guidelines here. There is no running water inside the lodge. Portable outdoor restroom facilities are provided. Click here to reserve shelters.

Access to the lake for boating and fishing is open to the public from dawn to dusk by permit only. Shoreline fishing is not permitted.  In accordance with the management plan approved by Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Geauga Park District must restrict the number of boats permitted on the lake each day. To obtain a permit, boaters must contact the Park District. Click here for more information about boat permits.

All Ohio boating and fishing licensing and safety regulations apply. Fish may be taken only with rod and reel or cane pole; a current Ohio fishing license is required in accordance with state regulations. Collecting live bait is not permitted. Geauga Park District encourages catch-and-release practices to help maintain a balanced and healthy fish population.

Currently there are no available hiking trails at Bass Lake Preserve.

Lying in an ancient glacial flat and surrounded by extensive wetlands, the shallow Bass Lake is a natural lake at the headwaters of the Chagrin River. The sheltering wetlands have protected the lake from shoreline development, resulting in a multitude of exceptional, ecologically-rich communities. Scenes on parts of the lake today are as they must have appeared to early inhabitants of the region. About 90 percent of the shoreline is mantled in trees, shrubs, and marsh vegetation.

Bass Lake is an important stop-over for waterfowl and neotropical-songbirds during the great spring and fall migrations. Bald eagles nest in the lowland woods near the lake; beavers ply the swampy tributaries; native brook trout still swim in small streams that flow into the lake. Wild rice grows in the marshy margins, and red and silver maples, white oak, pin oak, and American elm characterize the lakeshore forest. The preserve is home to wild turkey, ruffed grouse, white-tailed deer, masked shrew, and the northern long-eared bat – all species that illustrate a mature, complex ecosystem with significant diversity. Northern birds, such as the yellow-bellied sapsucker and the dark-eyed junco – both rare nesting birds in Ohio – appear here.

Click below for a map from Mapquest®.