Little Tamarack

Little Tamarack Lake is a 60 acre, remote lake in eastern Pine County. Minnesota lakes managed for fishing are grouped into classes based on physical, chemical, and biological similarities. Little Tamarack is a small, deep, moderatley hard water, bog stained lake which places it in lake class 29. Historic net catches have flucuated widely for black crappie and northern pike. Stocking has been very limited as the lake lacks a designated public access. In order to compare the current fish population to those in past assessments and to other lakes in lake class 29, Little Tamarack was netted in June of 2002.The black crappie gillnet catch (2.7/net) was similar to other lakes in class 29 and was higher than both the 1982 and 1992 gillnet catches. Likewise, the trapnet catch (5.3/net) was at a 20 year high and above normal for the lake class. Crappies ranged from 4.5 to 10.4 inches with a 7 inch mean. Most crappies were between 2 and 4 years old indicating slow to moderate growth. One young of the year crappie was sampled in the shoreline seining.The northern pike catch (3/gillnet) was below normal for the lake class and lower than both the 1982 and 1992 samples. Northerns ranged from 17.9 to 25.5 inches with a 21.4 inch mean. No northerns were sampled in the shoreline seining.The bluegill catch rate (38.4/net) was similar to past surveys and within the lake class norm. Sampled bluegill were small overall with a 5.1 inch average and no fish larger than 7 inches. Scale ageing indicated slow growth with 5 year old fish reaching only 5.5 inches. Young of the year bluegill were abundant in the seine hauls.Electrofishing for largemouth bass was conducted for the first time in June 2002. Their abundance was high with more than 80 sampled per hour of electrofishing. The trapnet catch was higher than normal for the lake class. Sampled bass ranged from 6.9 to 20.2 inches with a 11.4 inch and 1 pound average. Growth rates appeared good with more than 80% of the catch was between 3 and 5 years old. Shoreline seining sampled 6 young of the year bass.The yellow perch population has historically been low in the lake. Shoreline seining sampled the only perch in the survey, 3 young of the year and 2 adults. Other species sampled during the survey included brown bullhead, pumpkinseed sunfish, and white sucker.

LITTLE TAMARACK LAKE WAS SURVEYED ON JUNE 24-25, 1992 UTILIZING THREE GILLNET SETS, FOUR TRAPNET SETS, AND FOUR SHORELINE SEINE HAULS. THESE NET CATCHES ALONG WITH AGE AND GROWTH DATA WERE COMPARED TO PREVIOUS SURVEYS OF LITTLE TAMARACK LAKE AND THE STATEWIDE MEDIANS FOR LAKE CLASS 29 TO EVALUATE THE STATUS OF THE PRESENT FISH POPULATION. THE NOP GILLNET CATCH WAS 9.67/SET COMPARED TO THE 1982 CATCH OF 8.33/SET AND STILL NORMAL BASED ON THE LAKE CLASS MEDIAN OF 7.50/SET. SAMPLED NOP RANGED FROM 12.0-25.9 INCHES IN LENGTH AND HAD A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 18.0-18.9 INCHES. THEIR MEAN WEIGHT WAS 1.40 POUNDS WHICH LIES JUST BELOW THE LAKE CLASS FIRST QUARTILE VALUE OF 1.41 POUNDS. BACK-CALCULATED AGE AND GROWTH DATA FROM SCALE SAMPLES INDICATED THAT CAPTURED NOP RANGED FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS OF AGE WITH THE 1987 REPRESENTING NEARLY HALF OF THE SAMPLE. CAPTURED NOP GREW SLOWLY BASED ON THE STATEWIDE GROWTH RATE OF THE SPECIES. THE BLC NET CATCH (2.25/SET) WAS MUCH HIGHER THAN THE 1982 CATCH OF 0.25/SET AND NORMAL COMPARED TO THE LAKE CLASS MEDIAN OF 1.58/ SET. SAMPLED BLC RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 5.0-8.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 7.0-7.4 INCHES. THEIR MEAN WEIGHT WAS 0.14 POUNDS WHICH IS BELOW THE FIRST QUARTILE VALUE OF 0.20 POUNDS. BACK-CALCULATED AGE AND GROWTH DATA FROM SCALE SAMPLES INDICATED THAT CAPTURED BLC RANGED FROM THREE TO SIX YEARS OF AGE WITH THE 1987 YEAR CLASS REPRESENTING OVER HALF OF THE SAMPLE. GROWTH WAS SLOW BASED ON THE STATEWIDE GROWTH RATE OF BLC. THE BLG TRAPNET CATCH (26.00/SET) WAS DOWN FROM THE 1982 CATCH OF 70.00/SET BUT NORMAL BASED ON THE LAKE CLASS MEDIAN OF 23.50/SET. SAMPLED BLG RANGED FROM 3.0-6.9 INCHES IN LENGTH WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 5.5-5.9 INCHES. THEIR MEAN WEIGHT OF 0.09 POUNDS WAS BELOW THE FIRST QUARTILE VALUE OF 0.12 POUNDS. BACK-CALCULATED AGE AND GROWTH DATA FROM SCALE SAMPLES INDICATED THAT CAPTURED BLG RANGED FROM TWO TO EIGHT YEARS OF AGE. THE SHORELINE SEINE HAULS SAMPLED 184 JUVENILE BLG BUT NO YOY. GROWTH WAS SLOW COMPARED TO THE STATEWIDE GROWTH RATE OF BLG. THE PMK TRAPNET CATCH (9.25/SET) WAS UP FROM THE 1982 CATCH OF 5.00/SET AND NORMAL BASED ON THE LAKE CLASS MEDIAN OF 5.25/SET. SAMPLED PMK RANGED FROM 3.5-7.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 5.5-5.9 INCHES. THEIR MEAN WEIGHT OF 0.11 POUNDS WAS BELOW THE FIRST QUARTILE VALUE OF 0.15 POUNDS. BACK-CALCULATED AGE AND GROWTH DATA FROM SCALE SAMPLES INDICATED THAT CAPTURED PMK RANGED FROM FOUR TO SEVEN YEARS OF AGE WITH THE 1988 YEAR CLASS REPRESENTING OVER 50% OF THE SAMPLE. GROWTH WAS NORMAL BASED ON THE STATEWIDE GROWTH RATE OF THE SPECIES. THE TRAPNET CATCH OF LMB (0.50/SET) WAS NORMAL BASED ON THE LAKE CLASS MEDIAN OF 0.67/SET AND AN IMPROVEMENT FROM THE 1982 SURVEY WHEN NONE WERE SAMPLED. THE TWO FISH CAUGHT WERE 6.0 AND 13.8 INCHES LONG, WEIGHED 0.1 AND 1.1 POUNDS, AND WERE THREE AND SEVEN YEARS OLD RESPECTIVELY. EIGHT YOY LMB WERE SAMPLED DURING THE SHORELINE SEINE HAULS. FIVE OTHER SPECIES (WTS, YEB, BLB, BRB, AND HSF) WERE SAMPLED DURING THE SURVEY. THE THREE SPECIES OF BLH ALL HAD LOW NET CATCHES AND MEAN WEIGHTS. THE WTS AND HSF BOTH HAD NORMAL NET CATCHES WITH THE MEAN WEIGHT OF WTS (2.90 POUNDS) FALLING ABOVE THE THIRD QUARTILE VALUE OF 2.50 POUNDS.

When compared to respective local medians, the present fish population status of Little Tamarack Lake is as follows. The northern pike was high at 8.33 per set and the average weight was slightly over 1.75 pounds. The bluegill was very high at 70.00 per set, while the pumpkinseed was about average at 5.00 per set. The yellow perch and black crappie were extremely low at 0.67 and 0.25 per set, respectively. The white sucker, yellow bullhead, and black bullhead population figures ranged from slightly low to very low respectively. The largemouth bass, while not present in the gillnet or trapnet, was observed visually and taken in the shoreline seining. *Note: Due to the limited amount of lake area and adequate depth, the 1982 survey was held to 3 gillnet sets.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Largemouth Bass, Hybrid Sunfish, Black Crappie, Pumpkinseed, and Northern Pike in Little Tamarack. 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 Tamarack. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for current access details before you go.

Little Tamarack has a maximum depth of 31 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Little Tamarack is from 2002. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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