Garrison walleye statue

Garrison, Minnesota, United States

·

Animals and creatures

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The Mille Lacs Walleye is a roughly 19-foot-long, 14-foot-high fish statue at the lake lookout in Garrison, Minnesota. Erected in 1980, it was stripped and repainted in late 2023 by Hickory Lake Auto for the Garrison Commercial Club.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Garrison walleye statue

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

46.29379° N, 93.82427° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Garrison's walleye is a large fish statue at the lake lookout beside Mille Lacs, and it draws a steady flow of passing visitors. Lakeland PBS described the statue on Mille Lacs Lake in 2024 as one of Minnesota's most popular roadside attractions, and the Brainerd Dispatch called it one of the state's most viewed.

The Dispatch gives its size as 19 feet long and 14 feet high; Lakeland PBS says nearly 20 feet long. According to Lakeland PBS it was erected in 1980 and had not been worked on since 2008. Lakeland PBS adds a local legend that Paul Bunyan and his ox Babe struggled over three days to catch the fish, and notes the walleye is Minnesota's state fish.

In 2023 the Garrison Commercial Club decided to redo it, the Dispatch reported. The fish was trucked up Highway 169 to Hickory Lake Auto, where owner Larry Karpen said it was stripped and the old paint removed. To get the subtle tones right while keeping some of the nostalgia, the team worked from a walleye mount by the late taxidermist Ray Lasher, and an additive in the paint gave it a fresh "out of the water" look. Karpen told Lakeland PBS the shop had it about three weeks, that the structure had deteriorated and needed rebuilding, and that roughly 90 per cent of the old paint was removed. The Dispatch said it was due back at its spot at the lake lookout that week, in December 2023.

Minnesota's New Country wrote in November 2025 that it stands right off Highway 169 as you get into town and that more than 300 cars a day stop for a picture.

It is a quick roadside stop, and the lake lookout setting makes it easy to combine with a look at Mille Lacs.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

A large fish statue at the Garrison lake lookout, beside Highway 169. Minnesota's New Country reported in November 2025 that more than 300 cars a day stop for photographs. It is a short roadside stop.

ACCESS

At the lake lookout in Garrison, Minnesota, right off Highway 169 as you get into town (Minnesota's New Country, November 2025). A public roadside stop; stop and park carefully.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

The Lady of the North Shore is an 11.5-foot-tall chainsaw carving of a mermaid on a hill overlooking Lake Mille Lacs on Conifer Street in Garrison, carved by Troy Halget at Pikes Point in fall 2006 and commissioned by Terry Drahosh.

Roadside giants

·

0.4 km away

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Something not right?

If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.

Suggest an update →Report a problem →