Recent West Metro lake survey summaries

Updated: Dec. 31, 2019

2019 preliminary lake survey sampling

Preliminary summaries of recent sampling not yet posted on LakeFinder.  

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Lake (County) DateSpeciesNumber/netAvg. length (in)Max. length (in)
Spurzem [Spurzen] (Hennepin)
6/17/19		Northern Pike6.818.933.5
Bluegill96.28.0
Black Bullhead1611.013.2
Fish (Scott)
6/24/19		Walleye4.315.418.9
Black Crappie107.79.9
Bluegill486.78.3
Bde Maka Ska [Calhoun] (Hennepin)
7/1/19		Walleye1.016.121.0
Northern Pike2022.134.2
Black Crappie5.37.89.4
Bluegill655.98.2
Cedar (Hennepin)
7/8/19		Walleye1.820.124.3
Northern Pike8.223.931.7
Black Crappie406.811.5
Bluegill585.48.3
Harriet (Hennepin)
7/8/19		Walleye0.916.923.5
Northern Pike8.525.236.4
Black Crappie3.68.912.2
Bluegill726.38.5
Fish (Hennepin)
7/15/19		Walleye2.014.523.2
Northern Pike9.525.434.4
Bluegill696.48.2
Lake of the Isles (Hennepin)
7/15/19		Walleye1.220.924.0
Northern Pike1621.527.2
Bluegill535.58.2
Largemouth Bass4.812.722.3
Dutch (Hennepin)
7/22/19		Northern Pike5.024.431.9
Black Crappie298.610.3
Bluegill387.18.9 
Independence (Hennepin)
7/22/19		Walleye3.618.428.0
Northern Pike1.929.432.7
Black Crappie458.210.4
Bluegill235.98.0
Minnetonka (Hennepin)
6/3/19		Walleye1.719.826.5
Northern pike1123.037.1
Black crappie2.68.410.6
Bluegill416.38.3
Waconia (Carver)
8/5/19		Walleye5.616.626.6
Northern pike2.427.537.8
Black crappie9.58.610.6
Bluegill765.58.2

2019 post-winterkill assessment

In September 2019, we sampled Reitz Lake with electrofishing. The lake had a partial winterkill in 2018-19 and survey was made to assess degree of kill. (Recent reports of partial winterkills reported from winters of 2012-13, 2010-11, and 2007-08). Sampling was brief and selective, intended to check presence and sizes of gamefish, particularly largemouth bass.

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Lake (County) DateSpeciesNumberAvg. length (in)Length range (in)
Reitz (Carver) Sept 20, 2019Northern Pike515.08.8 - 25.3
Largemouth Bass 154.9 3.4 - 6.8
Bluegill242.8 1.6 - 6.4
Black crappie 2208.1 3.5 - 11.1
1 Fish were hatched this year, indicating presence of spawning adults after winterkill   2 Crappie in 10- and 11-inch size groups among fish captured

2019 bass electrofishing

We sampled a portion of surveyed lakes with electrofishing, which uses a specialized boat to run electricity through the water, to target largemouth bass. These are preliminary summary results. Once a lake's survey is posted on LakeFinder, final bass-sampling results will be included. Note: Steiger Lake has a catch-and-release-only Special Regulation for largemouth bass and northern pike.

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Lake (County) DateSpeciesNumber/hourAvg. length (in) / % over 15 inchesMax. length (in)
Fish (Hennepin) 5/13/19Largemouth4911.4 / 15%19.7
Steiger [Stieger] (Carver) 5/14/19Largemouth4614.1 / 54%19.3
Fish (Scott) 5/16/19Largemouth8413.0 / 24%20.8
Dutch (Hennepin) 5/22/19Largemouth649.6 / 24%19.9
Spurzem [Spurzen] (Hennepin) 5/23/19Largemouth1013.9 / 30%16.5

2019 spring sampling

Soon after ice-out, we sampled Steiger Lake, with a Special Regulation of Catch-and-Release only for largemouth bass and northern pike, to check sizes of those species. Results are from 15 net lifts at 10 locations.

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Lake (County) DateSpeciesNumberAvg. length (in)Length range (in)
Steiger [Stieger, Victoria] (Carver) Apr 15-17, 2019Northern Pike 18223.116.7 - 31.5
Largemouth Bass 21516.2 6.6 - 19.5
1  None over 32 inches, three fish over 30 inches, majority 18-23 inches.         2 None over 20 inches, twelve fish over 15 inches, majority 16-19 inches.

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