Fish

Fish Lake is a 300-acre, class 24 lake, located near Windom in Jackson County. Lower Mississippi Strain (LMS) Walleye have been stocked since 2015 and are now tracked to determine their ability to naturally reproduce in Fish Lake. Night electrofishing was conducted October 6, 2025, to determine the number per hour and size of age-0 Walleye from natural reproduction and determine if stocking was needed in 2025. The 2025 catch rate of Walleye fingerlings (age-0) was 0 per hour indicating limited or no natural reproduction in 2025. Walleye adults were stocked in 2025 to alleviate effects from two missing year classes in 2024 and 2025. Electrofishing will be done again in 2026 to determine the need for stocking.

Fish Lake is a 300-acre, class 24 lake, located near Windom in Jackson County. Lower Mississippi Strain (LMS) Walleye have been stocked since 2015 and are now tracked to determine their ability to naturally reproduce in Fish Lake. Night electrofishing was conducted September 26, 2024, to determine the number per hour and size of age-0 and age-1 Walleye from natural reproduction (2023) and determine if stocking was needed in 2024. The 2024 catch rate of Walleye fingerlings (age-0) was 0 per hour indicating limited or no natural reproduction in 2024. However, the age-1 Walleye catch rate was 144.0 per hour. Lengths ranged from 7.8 to 12.4 inches and averaged 9.7 inches. The 2023-year class was from natural reproduction and appears to be very abundance with excellent survival to fall of their 2nd year of growth. This year-class could become very influential in Fish Lake and create some excellent angling and increase the potential of natural reproduction into the future with additional LMS Walleye broodstock in the lake. Fingerling stocking was not done in 2024 due to the extremely high catch rate of age-1 Walleye and potential for competition with limited prey. Electrofishing will be done again in 2025 to determine the need for stocking.

Fish Lake 300-acre, class 24 lake located near Windom in Jackson County. Lower Mississippi strain Walleye have been stocked since 2015 with no stocking in 2023, which allowed for determination of natural reproduction potential of the establishing LMS walleye. Night electrofishing was conducted October 2, 2023 to determine if natural reproduction is contributing to the population in non-stocked years. The 2023 catch rate of Walleye fingerlings was 42.5 per hour. Age-0 Walleye lengths were variable. Lengths ranged from 4.7 to 7.6 inches and averaged 5.6 inches. In southwest Minnesota, a year class may be produced if the fall electrofishing catch rate is above 20.0 per hour. However, survival of age-0 Walleye can be low when the length is near to or less than 5 inches during the first year of growth. Additional sampling will be conducted to determine the success of the Walleye population. The next standard gill net and trap net survey is during the summer of 2027.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Green Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, and White Crappie in Fish. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

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

Fish has a maximum depth of 26 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Fish is from 2023.

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