Fleming

Fleming Lake is a shallow, very fertile lake located in central Aitkin County, five and one-half miles south of Palisade. Fleming Lake has a history of occasional partial winterkills, although there are no recent reports of such an event. The lake is a popular destination for many anglers in search of northern pike, bluegill and black crappie. The primary management species for Fleming Lake are northern pike, black crappie and bluegill. Yellow perch are considered a secondary management species and offer a great forage base for the lake's healthy northern pike population. Largemouth bass are also present in the lake and spring electrofishing was conducted for the first time in 2017, to gauge their abundance. A variety of fisheries management surveys have taken place on the lake dating back to 1950. Currently the lake is not stocked and is surveyed on a ten year rotation. At 1.5/gill net lift northern pike were not overly abundant in this survey and showed a decrease from 2008, but they do have plenty of yellow perch as forage and have maintained a nice size structure. The average size for pike was 26.7 inches and individuals up to 32 inches were sampled. Bluegill abundance has decreased from the previous survey, but were still within the normal range for this lake type at 20.6/trap net. The size structure of bluegill was favorable with a mean length of 6.5 inches and fish close to 9 inches being sampled. Yellow perch are well above average in abundance for this class of lake. Maintaining a good yellow perch population is important for the health of this fishery. Yellow perch provide an excellent forage base for the northern pike and are likely a big reason for the favorable northern pike size structure. Healthy perch populations are also known to positively affect other species such as bluegill, which also have respectable size structure in Fleming Lake. It's thought that yellow perch play a role in the dynamics of bluegill sunfish by reducing the densities of young of year bluegills so they do not become stunted. Fleming Lake is a "numbers" lake when it comes to black crappie and based on our records, they have never been large sized. The largest sampled this year was 9.6 inches in gill nets, but acceptable size fish, over 8 inches, are quite abundant. In the trap nets there were 6 measured larger than 10 inches with the largest being 10.3 inches. This species does well in shallow, fertile lakes. With the advent of curly-leaf pond weed in Fleming Lake, there may be changes to the water quality and fish community in the not-so-distant future. It is exceedingly important that lake users and shoreland owners use good practices to prevent the spread to other waters and to prevent other invasive species from becoming established in Fleming Lake.

A targeted survey of the nearshore fish community on Fleming Lake was conducted on June 20, 2017. Sampling stations 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 stations with two sites sampled from the boat. A 50-foot seine was used to sample one station, a 15-foot seine was used at six stations, and soft sediments with abundant emergent vegetation in deep water prevented the use of seines at three sampling sites. Nearshore sampling captured 10 different native species of fish. Data from this targeted nearshore survey was combined with data from a standard gill and trap netting survey in August 2017 to calculate a Fish-based Index of Biologic Integrity (FIBI) score that describes the overall health of the lake. 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. 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. The FIBI score for Fleming Lake based on this survey was above the impairment threshold for aquatic life use determined for similar lakes. Data from this survey will contribute biological information about the health of the fish community to the Mississippi River-Brainerd Watershed assessment process in coordination with MN Pollution Control Agency. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website.

Fleming Lake is a shallow, very fertile lake located in central Aitkin County, five and one-half miles south of Palisade. Fleming Lake has a history of occasional partial winterkills, although there are no recent reports of such an event. The lake is a popular destination for many anglers in search of northern pike, bluegill and black crappie. The northern pike are not overly abundant, but they have plenty of food and are of nice size; 76% were over 24 inches. The average size of northern pike sampled during the survey was over 27 inches long and weighed five pounds. Although their abundance has increased steadily since we first surveyed the lake in 1978, growth rates do not appear to have been affected. Bluegill have been increasing in recent years and are very abundant. Although growth rates are above average for Aitkin County, they do appear to be decreasing somewhat in comparison with previous assessments. Fishing pressure may also be a limiting factor in the size structure of the bluegill population. The number of fish over the angler preferred size (7.5 inches) is very low, although the strong 2002 year class may soon reach that mark. Black crappie have never been large sized in Fleming Lake. The largest caught this year was 10 inches, but acceptable size fish, over 8 inches, are quite abundant. This species does well in shallow, fertile lakes with a history of occasional partial winterkills. Both summer and winter anglers should find these very abundant fish easy to catch. Yellow perch are well above average in abundance for this class of lake, which is likely why growth rates for northern pike are so fast. They may also play a role in the dynamics of bluegill sunfish by reducing the densities of young of year bluegills, thereby increasing first year growth rates. Maintaining a good yellow perch population is important for the health of this fishery.

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

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

Fleming has a maximum depth of 15 feet and a mean depth of 6 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Fleming is from 2017. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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