Little Comfort

Little Comfort Lake is a small fertile lake located in southwestern Chisago County just east of the City of Wyoming. Water depths of 15 feet or less make up 44% of the lakes 36 acres. In the winter of 1985/86 Little Comfort Lake experienced a partial fish winterkill, but has not showed evidence of a winterkill since then. The fishery is replenished during this type of event via its connection to Big Comfort Lake. This connection also provides supplemental fish to the fish community. During the winter, when ice and heavy snow cover can cause a decrease in light penetration, lakes with an abundance of shallow water acreage may experience low oxygen levels. Becaues plants, which require light for survival, are the primary producers of oxygen during the winter season and bacteria consume oxygen when decomposing dead plants, fertile shallow lakes may be subject to some degree of fish winterkill when oxygen levels decline. Little Comfort Lake may be subject to winterkill during severe winters. The lakes surrounding shoreline is characterized by marshland, residential land, and bog land while the watershed is primarily lake/marshland followed by urban/residential land, marshland, undeveloped forest or woodland, livestock/pasture, and crop land. Little Comforts fishery is managed primarily for northern pike with largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish, and black crappie as the secondary management species. Past management has included an alternating full survey and population assessment schedule as per a five year rotation. However, a scheduled population assessment was not conducted in 1995 due to time constraints. Since Little Comfort lacks a public access and has a self sustaining fishery, future management goals could be modified to a full survey as per a ten year schedule.A standard lake survey was conducted during the week of June 22, 2000 to evaluate the current status of the fish population, the physical, chemical, and biological factors concerning habitat, and the water quality. Evaluation of the fish population utilized gill net, trap nets, and late summer shoreline seining. The selected gear types were chosen based on guidelines obtained from the MN DNR Manual for Instructions to Lake Survey. Habitat and water quality data were also collected based on guidelines from this manual. Numbers of northern pike for this lake type were found to be below normal; however, the average weight, at 3.9 pounds, was above normal. Fish lengths extended from 20.9 to 29.3. Little Comfort Lake northern pike growth was typical of normal when compared to statewide averages. Currently, walleye stocking has not been included in management practices due to the lakes small size and lack of public access. Previous surveys have never sampled walleye in test nets before the 2000 survey. Current walleye abundance was well above normal for this lake type while an average weight of 2.1 pounds was typical of normal. Walleye lengths extended from 14.2 to 26.2 inches with a very respectable average length of 18.1 inches. The resident walleye population in Little Comfort Lake has most likely resulted due to migration from Big Comfort Lake which has been stocked on a regular basis. Lack of suitable walleye spawning habitat, lack of historical walleye stocking, and the presence of year classes that match stocking efforts in Big Comfort Lake supports the above conclusion regarding the origin of Little Comfort walleye. One 12.8 inch largemouth bass that weighed just over a pound was sampled during the 2000 survey. Since gill and trap nets have not been as effective at capturing largemouth as spring night electrofishing, future management goals should include this sampling gear as part of the next survey. Two of the panfish species sampled during this survey, black crappie and pumpkinseed sunfish, were found at normal abundance levels while bluegill sunfish were well above normal in number. According to historical records, the bluegill catch in 2000 was the highest ever recorded while the average size was the smallest ever recorded. Panfish lengths ranged from 5.8 to 8.1, 3.7 to 4.9, and 3.5 to 7.5 inches, respectively. When compared to statwide averages, bluegill and crappie growth was representative of normal. Yellow perch were found in below normal numbers. Previous surveys indicated that perch numbers were always low in abundance. Reproductive success for bluegill sunfish and largemouth bass was good white some success was displayed for black crappie. Other fish species captured during the 2000 survey included black and brown bullhead, bowfin (dog fish), common carp, hybrid sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, and white sucker.

IN JUNE, 1990, LAKE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED ON LITTLE COMFORT LAKE. TO DETERMINE THE STATUS OF THE FISH POPULATIONS, THREE GILLNETS AND FOUR TRAPNETS WERE SET AND TWO SHORELINE STATIONS WERE SEINED. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THESE EFFORTS THE STATUS OF THE FISH POPULATIONS COMPARED TO PREVIOUS SURVEYS AND TO LAKES OF THE SAME CLASSIFICATION STATEWIDE ARE AS FOLLOWS: THE NORTHERN PIKE NET CATCH (2.67/ SET) WAS LOWER THAN THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (4.50/ SET) BUT REMAINED ABOVE THE FIRST QUARTILE (2.58/SET). THE 1990 NORTHERN PIKE NET CATCH WAS ALSO LOWER THAN THE NET CATCH OF THE PREVIOUS SURVEY IN 1985 (4.33/SET). THE 8 NORTHERN PIKE THAT WERE CAPTURED RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 10.0 TO 27.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUPS OF 25.0 TO 25.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 3.45 POUNDS. AGE ANALYSIS DETERMINED THAT CAPTURED FISH WERE FROM TWO TO SIX YEARS OLD. AVERAGE BACK- CALCULATED LENGTHS FOR EACH AGE CLASS WERE LOWER THAN THOSE TYPICAL FOR NORTHERN PIKE THROUGHOUT THE STATE, INDICATING LOWER THAN AVERAGE GROWTH PARTICULARLY DURING YEARS ONE AND TWO. NORTHERN PIKE WERE APPERENTLY SELF-SUSTAINING IN LITTLE COMFORT LAKE AS INDICATED BY RATHER CONSIST YEAR CLASSES WITHOUT STOCKING. THE BLUEGILL NET CATCH (45.75/SET) WAS HIGHER THAN THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (25.00/SET) BUT WAS BELOW THE THIRD QUARTILE (65.80/SET). THE SUB-SAMPLE OF BLUEGILLS THAT WERE MEASURED (104 OF 183 CAPTURED) RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 3.5 TO 8.4 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 5.5 TO 5.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 0.18 POUNDS. AGE ANALYSIS ESTIMATED THAT FISH RANGED IN AGE FROM TWO TO FIVE YEARS WITH FOUR YEAR OLD FISH REPRESENTING 44 PERCENT OF THE CATCH. AVERAGE BACK-CALCULATED LENGTHS FOR EACH AGE CLASS WERE TYPICAL OF BLUEGILLS THROUGHOUT THE STATE, INDICATING AVERAGE GROWTH. NATURAL REPRODUCTION WAS EVIDENT FROM THE PRESENCE OF YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR AND JUVENILE FISH IN SEINE CATCHES. THE BLACK CRAPPIE NET CATCH (15.50/SET) WAS SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER THAN THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (5.25/SET) AND WAS ABOVE THE THIRD QUARTILE (12.00/SET). THE 1990 BLACK CRAPPIE CATCH WAS THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR LITTLE COMFORT LAKE. THE BLACK CRAPPIES RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 3.0 TO 8.4 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH OF 6.5 TO 6.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 0.20 POUNDS. AGE ANALYSIS ESTIMATED THAT FISH RANGED IN AGE FROM TWO TO FOUR YEARS. AVERAGE BACK-CALCULATED LENGTHS FOR EACH AGE CLASS WERE TYPICAL OF BLACK CRAPPIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE, INDICATING AVERAGE GROWTH. BLACK CRAPPIE WERE APPARENTLY SELF- SUSTAINING IN LITTLE COMFORT LAKE AS INDICATED BY RATHER CONSIST YEAR CLASSES. THE LARGEMOUTH BASS NET CATCH (0.25/SET) WAS BELOW THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (0.50/SET) AND THE FIRST QUARTILE (0.33/ SET). 1990 WAS THE FIRST YEAR THAT LARGEMOUTH BASS WERE CAPTURED IN THE PASSIVE SURVEY GEAR IN LITTLE COMFORT LAKE. FOURTEEN YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR AND 7 OLDER LARGEMOUTH BASS WERE CAPTURED IN THE SEINE HAULS. OVERALL, THESE RESULTS WERE CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS SURVERYS. EIGHT OTHER SPECIES WERE CAPTURED DURING THE SURVEY (BOWFIN, COMMON CARP, BLACK BULLHEAD, YELLOW BULLHEAD, BROWN BULLHEAD, GREEN SUNFISH, PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH, YELLOW PERCH). CATCH RATES OF THESE SPECIES, EXCLUDING COMMON CARP AND PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH, WERE SLIGHTLY BELOW THEIR RESPECTIVE STATEWIDE MEDIANS YET REMAINED ABOVE THEIR FIRST QUARTILES. CATCH RATES OF COMMON CARP AND WHITE CRAPPIE WERE JUST ABOVE THEIR RESPECTIVE STATEWIDE MEDIANS BUT REMAINED BELOW THEIR THIRD QUARTILES.

BASED ON THEIR RESPECTIVE LOCAL MEDIANS, THE PRE- SENT FISH POPULATION STATUS OF LITTLE COMFORT LAKE IS AS FOLLOWS: THE NORTHERN PIKE AT 4.33 PER SET IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE THE LOCAL MEDIAN OF 3.88 WITH AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 2.95 LBS. THE YELLOW PERCH AT 2.67 WAS LOW. THE LARGEMOUTH BASS WAS ABSENT IN THE GILL AND TRAPNET CATCH, BUT YOUNG OF THE YEAR WERE CAPTURED DURING THE SHORELINE SEINING. THE BLACK CRAPPIE WAS LOW (5.75 PER SET) AND OF AVG SIZE. THE BLUEGILL (53.75 PER SET) AND THE WHITE CRAPPIE (7.50 PER SET) SHOWED FAIRLY HIGH POPU- LATION FIGURES AND WERE OF SMALL TO AVERAGE SIZE. THE PUMPKINSEED AND BLACK BULLHEADS WERE LOW WHILE THE YELLOW BULLHEAD AND BROWN BULLHEAD WERE SLIGHT LY LOW. THE WHITE SUCKER WAS ABSENT IN THE GILL NETS AND LOW IN THE TRAPNET CATCH.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Walleye, Northern Pike, White Crappie, Green Sunfish, and Bluegill in Little Comfort. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

We don't have a confirmed public access point on record for Little Comfort. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for current access details before you go.

Little Comfort has a maximum depth of 56 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Little Comfort is from 2000. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

Yes — Little Comfort has confirmed Eurasian watermilfoil and zebra mussel. Clean, drain, and dry your equipment to avoid spreading invasives to other waters.