Stevens

Stevens Lake is an 105-acre lake located east of Longville, MN that has 2.8 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 63 feet. There is a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) public access on the southeast shore. The DNR has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different classes based on physical, chemical, and other characteristics. Stevens Lake is in Lake Class 32; lakes in this class are large, shallow, turbid, and irregularly shaped lakes. This lake is primarily managed for largemouth bass, bluegill, and black crappie and secondarily for northern pike. Largemouth bass are present in Stevens Lake and fish up to 20 inches were sampled. Bluegill are abundant with a mean length of 6 inches. Of the fish sample, 53% were greater than 6 inches and fish up to 8 inches were sampled. Black crappie are abundant in Stevens lake when compared to other Lake Class 32 lakes. However, many of the black crappie were small. Other fish species that are available to anglers to catch are bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, northern pike, pumpkinseed sunfish, yellow bullhead, and yellow perch. Anglers can help maintain or improve the quality of fishing by practicing selective harvest. Selective harvest allows for the harvest of smaller fish for table fare, but encourages release of medium- to large-sized fish. Releasing these fish can help maintain balance in the fish community in Stevens Lake and provide anglers the opportunity to catch more and larger fish in the future. Shoreline areas on the land and into the shallow water provide essential habitat for fish and wildlife that live in or near Minnesota's lakes. Overdeveloped shorelines can't support the fish, wildlife, and clean water that are associated with natural undeveloped lakes. The combined effects of all lakeshore owners "fixing up" their property can destroy a lake's valuable natural shorelines.Shoreline habitat consists of aquatic plants, woody plants and natural lake bottom soils. Plants in the water and at the water's edge provide habitat, prevent erosion and absorb excess nutrients. Shrubs, trees, and woody debris such as fallen trees or limbs provide good habitat both above and below the water and should be left in place. Natural lake bottom materials like silt or gravel are more ecologically productive than pure sand trucked in for a swimming beach. A tidy lawn and a sandy beach make great spots for sunbathing and swimming but do little to provide habitat for fish and wildlife. By leaving a buffer strip of natural vegetation along the shoreline, property owners can reduce erosion, help maintain water quality, and provide habitat and travel corridors for wildlife.Only if more lakeshore owners manage their shoreline in a natural condition can fish and wildlife populations on Minnesota lakes remain healthy and abundant. More specific information on protecting or restoring shorelines and watersheds is available through the local DNR Fisheries office.

The northern pike gillnet catch is within the historical range of 2.0 to 7.7 per gillnet. The northern pike capture ranged from 16 to 28 inches in length. The trapnet catch of bluegill (24.6/TN) is similar to catches from previous assessments (ranged from 17.2 to 23.3 per trapnet). The growth rate for bluegill is fairly slow - 8 years to attain a length of 7 inches. Though few largemouth bass were captured, presumably due to the types of gear used, they exhibited a good length frequency (fish from 5 to 18 inches).The black crappie population appears to be fairly abundant (12.3/TN). Fair numbers of black crappie have been captured in all previous assessments. The length frequency of black crappie ranged from 4 to 13 inches with fish present in essentially every inch group. There was a large number of fish (73% of catch) present in the range of 5.5 to 7.0 inches. These fish are from the 1986 year class. The growth rate of black crappie is good.The population of yellow perch appears to be very low; none were captured in the 1968 and 1988 assessments and very few during the 1982 and 1985 assessments.

NORTHERN PIKE-GOOD, WHITE SUCKER-POOR, YELLOW BUL- LHEAD-GOOD, BROWN BULLHEAD-POOR, PUMPKINSEED-POOR, BLUEGILL-GOOD, LM BASS-GOOD, BLACK CRAPPIE-FAIR, BOWFIN-POOR.

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

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

Stevens has a maximum depth of 63 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Stevens is from 2004. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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