Walsingham Reservoir is an impoundment — the source of Pinellas County's first water-supply system in 1937. Storm drainage feeds it; the outfall passes under Walsingham Road into a channelized reach of upper McKay Creek, into Taylor Lake, and on to Clearwater Harbor. None of that is a boating route: the outfall is a road crossing into a ditch, so a boat launched here fishes this lake and nothing else — and the gasoline-motor ban settles it for trailered craft anyway.
There is no gauge, no stage record and no drawdown schedule for this water, and no depth figure anywhere — the Tampa Bay Water Atlas record for the lake prints "No Data Available" against both mean and maximum depth. Surface area depends on who is measuring: FWC's Fish Management Area listing and the county both publish 100 acres, while the mapped polygon and the water atlas both measure 84–85. The 100-acre figure is the managing agencies' and the bag limits are written against it, so it headlines this page; the measured figures are what the maps say. The lake has no row in SWFWMD's monthly Hydrologic Conditions Report, so there is no stage to check before a trip.
Plain English Summary
| Motors | "Gasoline motors may not be used on boats." That sentence is FWC's Fish Management Area rule for Walsingham Park Lake, and Pinellas County republishes it word for word on the park page. The county labels the facility a "Non-Combustion Engine" boat ramp and its ramp roster calls it a "Small Ramp for Boats without Gas Motors." Note what the rule does and does not say: it bans gasoline motors. Neither agency's text states whether an electric trolling motor is permitted, and we found no page that says so outright — the "non-combustion" label suggests electric is fine. Call Pinellas County Parks at (727) 464-3000 before you tow. |
| Gear | "Cast nets or minnow seines are prohibited" (FWC Fish Management Area rule; republished by Pinellas County). |
| Prohibited activities | "Swimming, and taking of fish or wildlife with firearms or possession of alcoholic beverages are prohibited" (FWC Fish Management Area rule). Pinellas County's park page carries the swimming and firearms elements: "Swimming and taking of fish or wildlife with firearms is prohibited." |
| Bluegill and redear | Aggregate bag limit 20 (FWC Fish Management Area rule for Walsingham Park Lake). |
| Sunshine bass | Bag limit 4. "Sunshine bass less than 10 inches in total length must be released immediately" (FWC Fish Management Area rule). |
| Channel catfish | Bag limit 6 (FWC Fish Management Area rule). |
| Crappie — agencies disagree | Pinellas County's park page posts "Crappie Bag Limit: 10. Crappie less than 10 inches in total length must be released immediately." That line does not appear in FWC's current Fish Management Area entry for this water; we read FWC's Walsingham Park Lake entry on 2026-07-31 and its complete text runs from "Open to fishing" to "Channel catfish bag limit: 6" with no crappie line in it. FWC issues the FMA rules, so we are not publishing the county's crappie limit as an FMA regulation. The county's number is also stricter than Florida's statewide crappie rule, so following it will not put you over. Obey posted signage on site and check FWC. |
| Hours and park closures | "Open 7 days a week, 7 a.m. to sunset." Pinellas County also closes all county parks two days a year, the day after Thanksgiving and December 25 (Pinellas County Parks & Conservation Resources). |
| Parking permit | No permit and no fee to use this ramp. The county's boat-ramp-parking page lists Walsingham Park with "Small Ramp for Boats without Gas Motors – No Permit Required," against "$6 per day for a vehicle parking with or without a trailer" at the county's boat ramp pay stations and an annual Boat & Beach Pass at "$110 plus tax. Total Base Rate: $117.70." |
| Fishing license | A Florida freshwater fishing license is required under statewide law unless you are exempt. We did not find any Walsingham-specific licensing language on either FWC's Fish Management Area page or Pinellas County's park page, and we did not establish whether any FMA-specific exemption applies here. |
| State boating restricted areas | Florida Administrative Code rule 68D-24.010, "Pinellas County Boating Restricted Areas" (effective October 30, 2013), exists. Its stated purpose on flrules.org is "to reduce vessel speeds on the Florida Intracoastal Waterway within Pinellas County, where necessary, to manage and promote the use of this state waterway for safe boating." We read the rule's flrules.org record twice with different prompts on 2026-07-31 and found no inland freshwater lake named in either read; the rule text itself sits behind a viewer we could not open. We are not aware of a state boating-restricted area on this lake, and the operative restriction here is the FMA gasoline-motor ban. |
| Full legal text | Official boating regulations → |
Can I use a gas outboard on Walsingham Reservoir?
Are electric trolling motors allowed?
How much does it cost to launch at Walsingham Park?
What fish are in Walsingham Reservoir?
How deep is the lake?
Which park entrance do I use for the boat ramp?
Walsingham Reservoir is the 100-acre lake inside Pinellas County's 354-acre Walsingham Park, between Largo and Seminole — a real reservoir, not a scenery pond: it supplied the county's first water system in 1937, serving its first customers at a million and a half gallons a day. Today it is a managed fishery. FWC lists it as a Fish Management Area under the name Walsingham Park Lake, with its own rules: gasoline motors may not be used on boats, bluegill and redear carry a 20-fish aggregate bag, sunshine bass a 4-fish limit with a 10-inch minimum, channel catfish a 6-fish limit. The sunshine bass are the tell — a sterile hatchery hybrid that points to an active stocking program.
The launch is free with no permit required, in a county where nearly every other ramp costs $6 a day, and the whole lake runs at paddle and trolling-motor speed. The county also posts a crappie limit of 10 fish at 10 inches that FWC's current entry does not carry; FWC issues the FMA rules, but follow the county's posted number and you are inside both. Around the water sits a full county park — flush restrooms, a fishing platform, eight picnic shelters with grills, a dog park, a playground and six miles of trail — so a Saturday lot is mostly not boaters. The water atlas flags a 2021 fish-consumption advisory for this lake with no DOH entry behind it; until one surfaces, the state's default for unlisted waters is up to six ounces per week.