Turner

Turner Lake is a small, shallow lake located 4.5 miles west of McGregor. It has maximum depth of 21 feet, is slightly bog stained and has water clarity of about six feet. There is a county owned access at the west end of the lake for launching small fishing boats and canoes. The rest of the shoreline has minimal development. Northern Pike numbers remained steady similar to the previous survey at 12/gill net and the size structure is pretty good for a small lake, with a mean size of nearly 23 inches. The largest pike in the sample was slightly over 30 inches. Though both Yellow Perch and Golden Shiner numbers appear to have decreased since the previous survey ten years ago, the presence of a perch population and a Golden Shiner population will provide good forage for pike. Bluegill were again found in minimal abundance and are well below the average for this lake class, similar to our findings in 1998 and 2008. Although abundance is low, the size structure isn't bad with an average size of 6.5 inches and individuals up to 9.3 inches. Abundance has been similar in each of three surveys going back to 1998 averaging 4.2/net. Growth rates were good in the late 1990's, substantially slower in 2008 and good again in 2019. Periodic winterkills may be one reason for shifts in growth. Since this lake is suspected to experience occasional winterkills, it is possible that Bluegill densities might have been much higher at points between our survey intervals. Black Crappie catches for gill nets (3.5/gill net) were normal and trap nets (4.9/trap net) were above normal for this lake type but in general are not very abundant compared to other lakes in the area. Crappie were decent sized averaging about 8 inches with fish up to 10.3 inches sampled. Black Crappie growth rates were slow, with the 2012 year class being the strongest in the system. It is likely that occasional winterkill events affect the fish populations in Turner Lake to varying degrees. Often this can have positive effects such as accelerated growth rates in the short term for the survivors and their offspring. Species such as Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Yellow Perch, and Golden Shiners are very tolerant of low oxygen levels in winter. Whereas Bluegill and to a lesser extent Northern Pike and Black Crappie are more susceptible.

Turner lake is a small, shallow lake located 4.5 miles west of McGregor. It has clarity of about six feet and is slightly bog stained. There is a county owned access at the west end of the lake for launching small fishing boats and canoes. The rest of the shoreline has minimal development. Northern pike numbers appear to have increased since 1998 and the size structure is pretty good for a small lake, with a mean size of nearly 23 inches. The largest pike in the sample was slightly over 33 inches. The presence of a perch population and a golden shiner population will provide good forage for pike. Both perch and golden shiner numbers appear to have increased in the last ten years. Bluegill were found in minimal abundance and are well below the average for this lake class, this was similar to our findings in 1998. Although abundance was similar to 1998, growth rates were substantially slower with a resulting smaller size distribution. Whereas in 1998 over 60% of the bluegill were over 8 inches, in 2008 none were observed over 7.2 inches. Most of the bluegill observed in 2008 were from the 2002 year class and based on the back-calculated lengths they appeared to have growth rates much slower than the few fish observed from other year classes. It seems unlikely that, at the very low densities that were observed in Turner Lake, intraspecific competition should be sufficient to affect growth. More likely, that since this lake is suspected to experience occasional winterkills, it is possible that bluegill densities might have been much higher preceding our assessment and post-2001. In March 2008, DNR staff conducted dissolved oxygen sampling on Turner Lake and found minimal levels throughout the water column (0.4 ppm at 3 ft to 0.1 ppm at 12 ft). Although we were never notified of any winterkill, it is likely that centrarchids experienced a strong partial kill. Trap net catches for black crappie have declined significantly from 5.8 per trap net in 1998 to 1 per net in 2008. Black crappie growth rates were slow and the mean size was small. The 2002 year class of black crappie seems to be the strongest in the system right now. It is likely that winterkill may also have affected the crappie in a similar fashion to the bluegill. It is also likely that both species should have accelerated growth rates in the next few years, until densities once again increase to the point that growth rates are diminished. In contrast, pumpkinseed sunfish, yellow perch, and golden shiners are very tolerant of low oxygen levels in winter. All of these tolerant species displayed rather robust size distributions, and as mentioned earlier the perch and golden shiners should offer a good forage base for the northern pike.

There was a decline of nearly all species from the initial assessment in 1978. However, only two trap nets were set in 1978 making comparison difficult. The abundance of northern pike as indicated by the gill net catch was just below the median for lake class 36. Growth of northern pike is slower than the state average after the first year of life. The index of abundance of bluegill in the trap nets was below normal for this lake type, while growth was above the state average for first few years of life. Black crappie abundance was good with catches above the third quartile, but growth was below average with only 20% of the fish greater than 8.5 inches long. Yellow perch abundance was above the state median for this lake class, but again growth was below the state average. With the exception of bluegill, growth of each species in Turner Lake is below normal. The reasons for this are unknown. This lake is listed as one that occasional experiences winterkill. However, no winterkills have been documented.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Northern Pike, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Yellow Perch, and Pumpkinseed in Turner. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

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

Turner has a maximum depth of 21 feet and a mean depth of 8 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Turner is from 2019.

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