Waterville Area Fisheries 2022 Fishing Outlook - files
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Waterville Area Fisheries
2022 Fishing Outlook
Lakes managed by the DNR Waterville Area Fisheries range from
deep, stable lakes to prairie potholes - and provide a true variety
Walleye
of fishing opportunity for anglers. Waterville Fisheries staff follow Good natural reproduction over the past 3-4 years has Walleye
strategic lake management plans, conductiong rotating lake sur- populations looking strong in many area lakes. Fountain Lake and
veys to monitor fish populations in Le Sueur, Blue Earth, Faribault, Albert Lea Lake both had good numbers of large fish. Elysian Lake
Waseca, Steele, Dodge, Freeborn, Mower, and Rice counties in has seen excellent Walleye action the past few years and shows no
southern Minnesota. sign of slowing down. Lakes connected to the Cannon River also
have excellent numbers. Walleye anglers have many options.
The data provided here show a breakdown of fish caught during
sampling in 2019, 2020, and 2021 for selected species, by size. We
hope you can use this information to decide what to fish for and
Northern Pike
where in 2022. Northern Pike have benefited from years of high water (not this
year!) with good natural reproduction on top of stocking. Northern
The data we present here are from standard surveys conduct- Pike numbers in most lakes are in the range considered desireable
ed with trap nets, gill nets, and electrofishing. They represent a by anglers and managers alike. Few lakes in the area suffer from
snapshot in time. One poor survey does not mean numbers have the "hammerhandle" problem common in other parts of the state.
crashed or a lake has no big fish. Likewise, high net catches do not Northern Pike over 24 inches can be found at many lakes including
guarantee angling success. Use the results shown here as a start- Volney, Ballantyne, and Steele.
ing point for your trip and best of luck!
Waterville area lakes are part of the Southern Zone, which means
Bluegill and crappie anglers can only keep two northern pike that must be at least 24
Due to COVID-19 work place safety precautions the figures inches long. St. Olaf Lake near New Richland has a 30 inch mini-
presented here show trap net data for bluegill and crappies from mum size limit that will remain in effect.
2019-2021, although most data are from 2019 and 2021.
Many small lakes in the area hold large numbers of mid-sized
Largemouth Bass
Bluegills. Anglers looking for numbers should check out lakes such For fast action anglers should check out lakes with high bass
as George, Ballantyne, or Steele. Anglers looking for larger fish numbers such as Frances or Clear Lake in Waseca. Lakes with low
should head to lakes with lower Bluegill numbers such as German, to medium densities of bass such as Tetonka, Cannon, Ballantyne,
Roberds, or Washington. and Lura often offer the best crack at fish topping the 20 inch
mark.
Almost all area lakes offer decent crappie fishing. Pick a lake and
give it a go. For larger fish try the Jefferson chain, Madison, or Clear Lake in Waseca has a no kill regulation for Largemouth Bass.
Fountain. All Largemouth Bass must be released.
Please release big bluegills (greater than 9 inches), they ensure
quality size and take many years to replace.
Catfish
The Minnesota River is the best bet for channel catfish and
Yellow Perch flathead catfish in the Waterville area. The stretch from Cortland
Large Yellow Perch are typically associated with large, shallow to Henderson holds a variety of catfish habitat, especially woody
"Walleye lakes" and can be tough to come by in southern Min- snags. The Le Sueur and Blue Earth rivers are also excellent choices
nesota. However, some area lakes do offer quality Yellow Perch for channel catfish. If you prefer to chase channel catfish in lakes
including the Cannon River chain of lakes in Waterville, Gorman, try Roberds Lake, Lake Tetonka, or Cannon Lake.
and German. Many lakes managed primarily for Yellow Perch (more species continued on back page)
such as Pickeral and Genevea are low due to lack of rain or draw-
down. However, Freeborn Lake may provide decent action this
winter.
Catch per gill net Catch per trap net Catch per trap net
120
20
40
100
80
100
200
50
150
60
0
80
0
20
60
40
0
Fountain West Jefferson George
Greenleaf Fountain Ballantyne
Tetonka Ray’s Steele
Cannon Fish
East Jefferson
French West Jefferson
Steele
German George Cedar
Elysian Albert Lea Kelly Dudley
Albert Lea
Cedar East Jefferson
Lower Sakatah French German
Upper Sakatah Ray’s
Madison
Wells
Duck Duck
Bluegill
Cody
Crappie
Yellow Perch
Volney Clear (Waseca)
Gorman
Washington French
Volney
Elysian Tetonka
Madison
Gorman Greenleaf
Washington
Tetonka Mazaska
East Jefferson
German Madison
Lura
Kelly Dudley Frances
Shields
Fish Fountain
Kelly Dudley
Roberds Washington
Ballantyne
Sabre Roberds
Cedar
Clear (Waseca) Gorman
Duck
Mazaska Volney
Inches
West Jefferson
12
Ballantyne
8 - 10
8 - 10
Albert Lea
8 - 10
10 - 12
10 - 12
Roberds
Frances Elysian
Catch per hour Catch per gill net Catch per gill net
50
100
150
200
250
20
10
30
5
40
0
20
0
10
15
0
Frances Lura Albert Lea
Clear (Waseca) Steele Elysian
Ballantyne Sabre Fountain
Elysian Kelly Dudley Wells
Fountain Frances Clear (Waseca)
Steele German Upper Sakatah
George Fountain Cannon
Cedar Lily Sabre
Volney Roberds Greenleaf
Madison Volney Lower Sakatah
Largemouth Bass
Washington Ballantyne Gorman
Walleye
Shields Madison
Kelly Dudley
East Jefferson Lura
German Northern Pike
Gorman Mazaska Frances
Inches
Ray’s
< 12
> 20
Roberds East Jefferson
15 - 20
12 - 15
Gorman Tetonka
Cedar Cedar
West Jefferson Volney
Clear (Waseca) Washington
George Shields
Duck Mazaska
Madison Cody
Washington German
Lower Sakatah
Inches
Roberds
Inches
< 14
> 24
< 24
> 34
18 - 24
14 - 18
24 - 28
28 - 34
Cannon Ballantyne
Bullheads Catch per gill net
Bullheads remain a popular target for Wateville area anglers. We 0 50 100 150 200 250
field many calls each year asking where to go for good bullhead
fishing. All Waterville Area lakes have bullheads, the graph at the
right shows the lakes with the highest net catches. The majority of Greenleaf
bullheads sampled are Black Bullheads. Albert Lea
Muskellunge Cody
French Lake, by Faribault, is the only muskie lake in the Waterville Steele
area. Recent sampling shows a population of about 200 adult Wells
Muskie in the lake, or only 1 fish for every 4 acres of water. There
Lily
may not be a lot of muskie in French Lake (and that’s by design)
but fish over 40 inches are common and fish over 50 inches are a Ballantyne
real possibility. French Lake is also home to a small population of Lura
big northern pike.
Frances
Trout George
Bullheads
A few options exist for those seeking trout in the Waterville area. Duck
The ponds at Paul’s Creek near St. Peter are stocked every spring Inches
Clear (Waseca) > 14
with 5,000 ten to twelve inch rainbow trout.
Elysian 12- 14
If you prefer to fish moving water check out Rice Creek, by Dundas, 10 - 12
for brook trout. Rice Creek is loaded with small to medium sized Shields < 10
brook trout and some large fish. Rice Creek is accessible to anglers Washington
via angling an angling easement. To learn more about angling
easements and trout fishing in general, see DNR's trout stream Fountain
webpage https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/trout_streams/ German
index.html
Kelly Dudley
Rainbow trout were also stocked in Wolf Creek again in 2021. Cedar
Other Species Cannon
For those seeking something off the beaten track, the Waterville East Jefferson
area offers a host of “other” fish. Lakes like German and Mazaska West Jefferson
offer longnose gar. Mazaska also sports a healthy population of Sabre
big, hard fighting white bass. The Minnesota, Le Sueur, and Blue
Earth rivers (as well as other, smaller rivers) are a bonanza for Gorman
anglers looking for less sought-after species like various redhorse, Lower Sakatah
white suckers, shovelnose sturgeon (catch and release only!), and
gar. Tetonka Lake, along with the Cannon River, Straight River, and
the Minnesota River offer an opportunity to catch a smallmouth
bass or two. Options are nearly endless for anglers or those look-
ing to arrow a carp.
For more information visit LakeFinder on the MN DNR website Lake survey year
(http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html). 2019 - Ballantyne, Steele, Cedar, Duck, Madison, Frances, Wash-
ington, Gorman, Volney, Mazaska, Fish.
2020 - Roberds, Cannon, French, Lower Sakatah, Upper
Sakatah, Lura, Ray's, Shields, Tetonka, Wells.
2021 - Clear (Waseca County), East Jefferson, German, West
Jefferson, Fountain, Kelly-Dudley, Elysian, Lily, Greenleaf, George,
Albert Lea, Sabre.
2022 - Cedar, Frances, Mazaska, Madison, Duck, Washington,
Roemhildts, Reeds, St. Olaf, Crystal, Loon, Gorman, Volney.
WATERVILLE AREA FISHERIES
(507) 497 - 1820
50317 Fish Hatchery Road Waterville, MN 56096
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