Horseshoe

Horseshoe Lake is a 237-acre lake located in northeastern Aitkin County approximately 9 miles northeast of McGregor. The lake is shallow with a maximum depth of only 12 ft. and summer algal blooms are relatively common. The water is a tannin stained dark brown in color, limiting the secchi disk reading to only 1.5 ft. Most of the shoreline is ringed with wild rice. Shallow water areas are comprised primarily of sand, silt, and muck with occasional areas of gravel and rubble. Horseshoe Lake does occasionally suffer from partial winterkills, the most recent known was a partial kill in the winter of 2007-2008, although partial kills have probably occurred in other years as well. Access can be gained either through the channel from Lake Minnewawa or through a private access on the northeast corner of the lake . The lake is part of the Quality Sunfish Initiative and has a 10 fish bag limit for sunfish. There is a special regulation for Walleye too where anglers can keep 3 Walleye with 1 over 20 inches. Historically Walleye have been naturally occurring in Horseshoe Lake. In order to improve an apparent declining natural population, Walleye fry were stocked into Horseshoe Lake, annually from 2012 - 2016 and are now stocked in alternating years concurrent with Lake Minnewawa. The 2022 catch of 2/gill net was identical to 2015 yet below the management goal of 3/net. It appeared there was more natural reproduction in this survey than years past, but some of those may have been stocked fish from Minnewawa that migrated into Horseshoe. Northern Pike numbers were up a bit, and their size was about average for this type of lake, although overall the size structure has dropped off over the last few surveys. There are still some decent pike to be caught though, fish ranged from 18.5 inches to 30.3 inches. Lower pike densities are generally favorable for Walleye management in this type of lake. Perhaps what is most notable is the lake's panfish population. Bluegill and Black Crappie populations are healthy, and both maintain decent size structures for the area. There has been improvements in Black Crappie and Bluegill sizes in recent years. Black crappie averaged over 8 inches, while Bluegills averaged about 7.5 inches. Yellow Perch numbers are in the normal range for this lake class but are probably too small to be of interest to anglers with no fish over 8 inches sampled in 2022. With an average length of 6.2 inches, the perch should provide good forage for the lake's Northern Pike and Walleye. Although abundance is low, Largemouth Bass are present, and quality sized fish do exist. Only one was caught in this survey but it was nearly 16 inches and in previous surveys we have observed them to nearly 20 inches. Horseshoe Lake maintains a healthy aquatic plant community with much of the shoreline rimmed with emergent and floating plants. Maintaining healthy plant communities is important for maintaining good water quality and fish habitat.

A targeted survey of nearshore fish species in Horseshoe Lake was conducted on August 9, 2022, by Aitkin Area Fisheries Staff. Sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake, and each was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 50-foot or 15-foot seine, where possible. Backpack electrofishing was completed at all ten sampling stations, but two stations were sampled from the boat due to site conditions. Similarly, a 50-foot seine was used to sample four stations, a 15-foot seine was used at two stations and site conditions prevented the use of seines at four stations. Nearshore sampling captured 11 species of fish. The nearshore data were combined with trap net and gill net data from an August 2022 survey to describe the fish community and provide a Fish-based Index of Biotic Integrity (FIBI) score. The FIBI uses fish community data to measure a lake's health, and the types of fish species present can help identify any stressors that may be negatively affecting the lake environment. In Minnesota lakes, certain fish species cannot survive without clean water and a healthy habitat (e.g., Rock Bass), while other species are tolerant of degraded conditions (e.g., Black Bullhead). The FIBI score, composed of several fish community diversity and composition metrics, indicates the overall health of a lake by comparing it to what is expected for a healthy lake. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website. Data from this survey will contribute biological information about the health of the fish community to the Mississippi River-Grand Rapids Watershed assessment process in coordination with MN Pollution Control Agency.

Horseshoe Lake is a 237 acre lake located in northeastern Aitkin County approximately 9 miles northeast of McGregor. The lake is shallow with a maximum depth of only 12 ft. and summer algal blooms are relatively common. The water is a tanin stained dark brown in color, limiting the secchi disk reading to only 3ft. Most of the shoreline is ringed with wild rice. Shallow water areas are comprised primarily of sand, silt, and muck with occasional areas of gravel and rubble. Horseshoe Lake does occasionally suffer from partial winterkills, the most recent observed was a partial kill in the winter of 2007-2008. Access can be gained either through the channel from Lake Minnewawa or through a private access on the northeast corner of the lake. Historically walleye have been naturally occurring in Horseshoe Lake. In order to improve an apparent declining natural population, walleye fry have been stocked into Horseshoe Lake, annually since 2012. The 2015 catch of 2/gill net is up from past surveys. All but one of the walleyes captured in the gill nets were from fry stocked years. There is some fish movement between Horseshoe and Minnewawa. Northern pike were caught in below average numbers, and their size was about average. Fish ranged from 17" to 24.6", with an average length and weight of 21.3" and 2.0 lbs. Lower pike densities are generally favorable for walleye management in this type of lake. Perhaps what is most notable is the lake's panfish population. Bluegill, black crappie, and yellow perch catches have decreased from the last survey. With the decrease in abundance, there has been improvement in black crappie and bluegill sizes. Black crappie averaged about 8" while bluegills averaged about 7.5". Yellow perch numbers are still in the normal range for this lake class, but are probably too small to be of interest to anglers with only 2 fish over 8" sampled in 2015. With an average length of 6.2", the perch should provide good forage for the lake's northern pike and walleye. Although abundance was relatively low, the largemouth bass population did exhibit quality sized fish. The 3 fish observed in the trap net sample ranged from 17" to nearly 20". A new survey tool was used in this survey to assess the quality of the shoreland, shoreline and aquatic areas called Score-the-Shore. Overall Horseshoe Lake scored 69.8 out of a possible score of 100. This score translates to a "Poor" rating, however it was only 0.2 points away from the "Fair" rating at 70. Other lakes in the area with similar scores were Flemming (69) Waukenabo (71) and Dam (69). Despite a poor Score-the-Shore rating, Horseshoe Lake maintains a healthy aquatic plant community with much of the shoreline rimmed with emergent and floating plants. Maintaining healthy plant communities is important for maintaining good water quality and fish habitat.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Walleye, Largemouth Bass, and Northern Pike in Horseshoe. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

Minnesota DNR records list public access for Horseshoe. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for the launch type and directions before you go.

Horseshoe has a maximum depth of 12 feet and a mean depth of 7 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Horseshoe is from 2022.

No invasive species are on record for Horseshoe in Minnesota DNR data. Always clean, drain, and dry your equipment to help keep it that way.