Sweeney

THE PRESENT FISH POPULATION IS DOMINATED BY BLHS, SMALL CEN, CATOSTOMIDS AND CYPRINIDS. BLGS AND BLBS WERE SAMPLED WELL ABOVE MEDIAN LEVELS; BLG AVERAGED 12.06 FISH PER POUND AND HAVE A PSD=10.1. BLBS AVERAGED 8.5-8.9 INCHES TOTAL LENGTH AND 2.88 FISH PER POUND. CARP WERE SAMPLED SLIGHTLY ABOVE MEDIAN LEVELS FOR NUMBER, BUT WELL ABOVE MEDIAN LEVELS FOR POUNDS PER SET FOR GILLNETS. CARP WERE SAMPLED WELL ABOVE TRAPNET MEDIANS. CAPTURED CARP AVERAGED 20.0 INCHES TOTAL LENGTH AND 4.19 POUNDS PER INDIVIDUAL. WTS AND NOP WERE SAMPLED NEAR MEDIAN LEVELS FOR GILLNETS AND WELL ABOVE MEDIAN LEVELS FOR TRAPNETS. SAMPLED NOP EXHIBITED A CALCULATED RSD = 76.92% FOR COMBINED GEAR TYPES. NOP GROWTH RATE APPEARS TO BE SLIGHTLY BELOW THE STATEWIDE AVERAGE. STOCKING OF LMB BY PRIVATE PERMIT ISSUED TO THE SWEENEY LAKE ASSOCIATION IS CONTRIBUTING ANOTHER PREDATOR SPECIES TO THE OVERALL POPULATION. GROWTH RATE FOR INDIVIDUALS SAMPLED IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE AND SEVERL YOY LMB WERE CAPTURED DURING SHORELINE SEINING. BLC WERE SAMPLED ABOVE MEDIAN LEVELS FOR GILLNETS, BUT BELOW FOR TRAPNETS. WHC AND YEP WERE ALSO CAPTURED DURING THIS SURVEY, BUT IN LOW NUMBERS. SEVERAL SAB WERE SAMPLED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE INITIAL SURVEY IN 1960. YEBS ARE ALSO PRESENT AND WERE SAMPLED ABOVE MEDIAN LEVELS FOR NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS PER TRAPNET SET.

COMPARED TO LOCAL MEDIANS, THE CATCH OF NORTHERN PIKE AND BLUEGILLS IN SWEENEY'S LAKE IS HIGH. THE NORTHERN PIKE POP. SHOWS A SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER CATCH IN 1981 THAN IN 1976. A PERMIT WAS ISSUED IN 1979 TO STOCK 12-16' NORTHERN PIKE IN SWEENEY LAKE. IT IS ASSUMED THAT THIS WAS DONE AND THAT THE FISH WOULD BE OF THAT YEAR CLASS. ASSUMING SUCH TO BE THE CASE, A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF THE 1978 YEAR CLASS ( II ANNULUS) FISH WERE FOUND IN THE NETTING. A SLIGHTLY SMALLER NUMBER OF THE 1978 YEAR CLASS (III ANNULUS) FISH WERE ALSO FOUND. THESE FISH COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO: DIFFICULTIES IN AGING, A PRIVATE STOCKING IN 1980 WITHOUT PERMIT, NATURAL REPRODUCTION, OR A 1979 STOCKING OF 2 YEAR CLASSES. GROWTH AT II AND III ANNULUS WAS FAST. CARP, BLACK BULLHEAD, PUMPKINSEED AND WHITE CRAPPIE NUMBERS PER TRAPNET LIFT INDICATE THAT LOW POPUALTIONS OF THESE SPECIES ARE PRESENT IN SWEENEY'S LAKE COMPARED TO LOCAL MEDIAN CATCHES WHITE SUCKER, YELLOW BULLHEAD, BLACK CRAPPIE AND YELLOW PERCH NET CATCHES INDICATE POPULATIONS AVG FOR THIS AREA. BLACK CRAPPIE CATCHES IN THE 1976 NETTING WOULD GIVE THE IMPRESSION OF A LOW POP. COMPARED TO LOCAL LAKES. IT CAN BE ASSUMED THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE POPULATION. THE 1981 LENGTH FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION ALSO INDICATES THIS WITH MORE SMALLER FISH BEING PRESENT THAN IN 1976 WHEN NONE WERE. FROM A STATISTICAL VIEWPOINT, A SIGNIFICANT DECLINE IN THE YELLOW PERCH POP. CAN BE SAID TO HAVE OCCURRED, THIS IS PROBABLY EXPLAI- NED BY THE INCREASE IN THE NORTHERN PIKE POPULA- TION WHICH CAN BE EXPECTED TO FORAGE HEAVILY ON PERCH. AN APPARENT ANOMALY EXISTS IN THE GILLNET CATCH FOR SWEENEY LAKE. A CATCH OF EIGHT GIZZARD SHAD IN THE GILLNETS IS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED FOR THIS LAKE. THE SURVEY CREW MEMBERS WERE THOROUGHLY FAMILIAR WITH FISH IDENTIFICATION AND HAD SEEN CONSIDERABLE NUMBERS OF GIZZARD SHAD IN THEIR PRE- VIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE. WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF MISIDENTIFICATION RULED OUT, IT CAN ONLY BE ASSUMED THAT GIZZARD SHAD WERE ILLEGALLY INTRO- DUCED INTO THE LAKE BETWEEN 1976 AND 1981 BY A PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN. NO CLOSE DIRECT CONNEC- TION VIA AN OUTLET EXISTS BETWEEN SWEENEY LAKE AND WATERS IN WHICH GIZZARD SHAD NORMALLY OCCUR. IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT THESE FISH WILL BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN A PERMANENT POPUALTION IN SWEENEY LAKE.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target White Crappie, Northern Pike, Green Sunfish, Bluegill, and Black Crappie in Sweeney. 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 Sweeney. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for current access details before you go.

Sweeney has a maximum depth of 28 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Sweeney is from 1991. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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