Sherburne County Shootout Kayak Fishing Tournament

Sherburne County Shootout Kayak Fishing Tournament

Get ready for a shootout! The Sherburne County Shootout brings kayak bass fishing to the lakes of Sherburne County, Minnesota, for the second stop in the 2027 MNKFA County Clash Series.

Held in July 2027, this Minnesota kayak fishing tournament challenges anglers to choose from eligible public waters throughout Sherburne County and hunt down their biggest bass. With dozens of fishable lakes and waters known for quality largemouth and smallmouth bass, anglers will have plenty of choices—and plenty of decisions to make when tournament morning arrives.

The Sherburne County Shootout is more than a battle for one day’s bragging rights. It’s part of the three-event 2027 County Clash Series, joining the Wright County Rumble and Carver County Big Bass Bash. Every inch counts as anglers compete for individual tournament honors while accumulating inches toward the season-long Top Gun Angler title.

Pick your lake. Find your bass. Put your best fish on the board.

Welcome to the Sherburne County Shootout.

Sherburne County, Minnesota has 83 lakes that are at least 10 acres in size, according to Sherburne County.

There is a larger number if you include small basins and intermittent waters: an older county water plan says the Minnesota DNR identified as many as 227 water basins, some of which can be dry during low-water years.

Sherburne County also highlights 16 of its better-known recreational/fishing lakes, including Ann, Big, Birch, Briggs, Eagle, Big Elk, Little Elk, Fremont, Julia, Orono, Rush and Sandy.

For the Sherburne County Shootout, the DNR data gives us a pretty good starting point. I’d build the eligible-water list around lakes with documented largemouth populations and legitimate public access. The DNR notes that spring nighttime electrofishing is specifically used to sample bass, so it’s particularly useful for this comparison.

My 10-lake working list

The stars are my shorthand for tournament suitability, not DNR ratings.

The two that really jump out

Birch Lake would be at the top of my investigation list. In the DNR’s May 23, 2019 electrofishing survey, biologists collected 79 largemouth, at 57.5 bass/hour, with a largest fish of 21.7 inches. That’s exactly the combination we’re looking for: decent numbers with documented trophy-size potential.

Ann Lake is right there with it. The same DNR survey series produced 57 largemouth, averaging 14.1 inches, with the largest measuring 20.9 inches. Its catch rate was 29.6/hour.

Those two give you actual DNR documentation of 20″+ largemouth.

Rush and Julia are very interesting

Rush Lake produced 73 largemouth at 44.3/hour, with a 13.0″ average and 19.3″ maximum.

Julia Lake produced 88 largemouth at 36.7/hour, averaging a very respectable 13.7″, with fish reaching 19.1″.

Neither survey happened to produce a 20-incher, but that’s obviously not evidence that 20-inch bass aren’t present. Electrofishing is a sample of the population, not a census.

Orono is the wildcard

Orono’s largemouth numbers look terrible at first glance: only 3 LMB were sampled, or 1.1/hour.

But one was 20.1 inches.

More importantly, Orono looks like a smallmouth opportunity. The DNR collected 130 smallmouth at 49.6/hour, averaging 14.2″, with a largest fish of 20.4 inches.

If your Sherburne County Shootout rules allow both largemouth and smallmouth—as MNKFA-style bass events typically do—Orono becomes much more interesting.

The same applies somewhat to Big Elk. Its largemouth sample wasn’t impressive, but the DNR found 42 smallmouth, averaging 15.9 inches, with fish up to 19.8 inches.

Public access looks promising

The DNR’s Benton/Sherburne public-access inventory confirms accesses on several of the lakes we’re discussing. For example, it shows concrete access at Ann, Birch, Eagle, and the south access on Briggs, with another carry-in access on northwest Briggs.