Net

Net Lake is a 136-acre lake of moderate fertility. The lake is located east of the town of Nickerson on the boarder of Pine and Carlton Counties within the Nemadji State Forest Area. The immediate shoreline surrounding Net Lake is composed of lake homes and seasonal cabins along the west/northwest shore while marshland and undeveloped forest or woodland make up the remaining shoreline. The surrounding Nemadji River watershed is primarily undeveloped forest or woodland, marshland, and some bog land. The shore is predominately sand and water clarity is pretty good with secchi readings over 6 feet. Net Lake is considered a low priority lake because of its small size, lack of public access, and self sustaining gamefish population. Past management has included some walleye stocking, but this has not occurred since 1983 due to the lack of a public access. Currently, the primary management species are northern pike and walleye with largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish, and black crappie as the secondary management species. A population assessment was conducted during August of 2005 to determine the current status of the fish population. Evaluation of the fish population utilized spring night electrofishing for largemouth bass, gill nets, trap nets, and shoreline seining. Northern pike numbers and size were at normal levels for lakes of this type. Northerns averaged 2.9 pounds with half the catch exceeding 22 inches. When compared to the 2000 sample, northern pike abundance and size has increased. Largemouth bass were sampled at a rate of 9 per hour, very similar to the 2000 rate. While bass abundance appears to be low quality sized fish were found. Only one bass was less than 14 inches in length. Bluegill and black crappie abundance along with their average sizes were typical for the lake type and fairly similar to past assessments. Both were on the small side. Few crappie reached 8 inches while less than 20% of the bluegill catch was over 6 inches. Yellow perch numbers were found at low abundance levels. According to previous surveys dating back to 1955, low perch abundance has been common except for 1977. Shoreline seining efforts found good reproductive success for bluegill, black crappie, and largemouth bass. The fish community in Net Lake was also made up of golden shiner, pumpkinseed, hybrid sunfish, and white sucker. White sucker were high in abundance but small enough to provide forage for both bass and northerns.Anglers seeking a peaceful, relaxing fishing experience with the possibility of catching a quality sized northern pike or largemouth bass may want to visit Net Lake. A fair number of smaller bluegill sunfish and black crappie could also be encountered. Since Net Lake does not have a public access, fishing enthusiasts will have to obtain permission from a private land owner to gain access to this lake. Anglers are encouraged to be selective when they harvest fish by keeping the smaller ones for eating and releasing the larger ones. Releasing larger fish will help maintain or enhance the quality of the fish population and provide future angling opportunities for others. Land owners within the surrounding watershed and lakeshore property owners can maintain the current good water quality of Net Lake by protecting or re-establishing buffer strips along the shoreline of the lake with native plants, updating failing or outdated septic systems, using only phosphorus free fertilizer (if needed) on lawns and gardens, limiting aquatic plant removel or disturbance, and limiting construction of impervious surfaces near the shoreline.

Net Lake is a 136-acre lake of moderate fertility. The lake is located east of the town of Nickerson on the boarder of Pine and Carlton Counties within the Nemadji State Forest Area. The immediate shoreline surrounding Net Lake is composed of lake homes and seasonal cabins along the west/northwest shore while marshland and undeveloped forest or woodland make up the remaining shoreline. The surrounding Nemadji River watershed, primarily undeveloped forest or woodland, marshland, and some bog land, is one of five minor watersheds that make up the St. Lawrence River Basin. The current lake management plan calls for a population assessment or a resurvey as per a five year alternating schedule. According to this schedule, a population assessment should have occurred in 1995. However, due to time constraints and low priority status the evaluation was postponed until 2000. Net Lake is considered a low priority lake because of its small size, lack of public access, and self sustaining gamefish population. Past management has included some walleye stocking, but this has not occurred since 1983 due to the lack of a public access. Currently, the primary management species are northern pike and walleye with largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish, and black crappie as the secondary management species. However, because walleye are not a self sustaining species in Net Lake (last sampled in 1980) and the lake lacks a public access, future management goals should be revised to exclude walleye from the list of managed species. Plan revisions could also include an adjustment of the survey schedule to a ten year full survey rotation.A standard lake survey was conducted during the open water season of 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 spring night electrofishing for largemouth bass, gill nets, trap nets, and shoreline seining. The selected gear types were chosen based on guidelines obtained from the MN DNR Manual of Instructions for Lake Survey. Habitat and water quality data were also collected based on guidelines from this manual. Northern pike numbers were below normal for lakes of this type, but the average size, at 2.5 pounds, was within a normal range. When compared to 1990 data, northern pike abundance has decreased, but the average size remains stable. Lengths of sampled northern ranged from 14.4 to 33.2 inches with an average length of 21.0 inches. Spring night electrofishing was used for the first time on Net Lake to sample largemouth bass. A total of 9 bass were captured that had an average weight of 1.9 pounds. Largemouth abundance appears to be low, but quality sized fish were found with lengths up to 19.9 inches (5.0 pounds). Bluegill and black crappie abundance along with their average sizes were at normal levels for this type of lake. Total lengths for bluegill ranged from 3.5 to 8.4 inches with an average length of 5.4 inches while black crappie lengths extended from 3.7 to 11.5 inches with an average length of 6.5 inches. Growth of northern pike, largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish, and black crappie were determined to be within a normal range when compared to average growth of each of these species throughout the state. Yellow perch numbers were found at low abundance levels. According to previous surveys dating back to 1955, low perch abundance has been common except for 1977. Shoreline seining efforts found good reproductive success for bluegill and largemouth bass with some success for yellow perch. The fish community in Net Lake was also made up of black bullhead, golden shiner, johnny darter, pumpkinseed sunfish, and white sucker. When compared to similar lakes, black bullhead, golden shiner, and pumpkinseed sunfish were present in below normal numbers while white sucker were typical of normal in abundance.Anglers seeking a peaceful and relaxing fishing experience full of solitude supplemented by the possibility of catching a quality sized northern pike or largemouth bass may want to visit Net Lake. A good number of smaller bluegill sunfish and black crappie could also be encountered. Since Net Lake does not have a public access, fishing enthusiasts will have to obtain permission from a private land owner to gain access to this lake. Anglers are encouraged to be selective when they harvest fish by keeping the smaller ones for eating and releasing the larger ones. Releasing larger fish will help maintain or enhance the quality of the fish population and provide future angling opportunities for other who would like to experience catching a quality sized fish. Land owners within the surrounding watershed and lakeshore property owners can maintain the current good water quality of Net Lake by protecting or re-establishing buffer strips along the shoreline of the lake with native plants, updating failing or outdated septic systems, using only phosphorus free fertilizer (if needed) on lawns, gardens, and crop land, utilizing farming practices that reduce run-off, limiting aquatic plant removel or disturbance, and limiting construction of impervious surfaces near the shoreline.

IN AUGUST, 1990, A LAKE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED ON NET LAKE. TO DETERMINE THE STATUS OF THE FISH POPULATIONS, SIX GILLNETS AND FOUR TRAPNETS WERE SET AND THREE SHORELINE STATIONS WERE SEINED. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THESE EFFORTS THE STATUE OF THE FISH POPULATIONS COMPARED TO LAKES OF THE SAME CLASSIFICATION STATEWIDE ARE AS FOLLOWS: THE NORTHERN PIKE NET CATCH (7.00/SET) WAS HIGHER THAN THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (5.00/SET) YET REMAINED BELOW THE THIRD QUARTILE (9.25/SET). THE NORTHERN PIKE RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 17.0-35.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 20.0-20.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 2.70 POUNDS. AGE ANALYSIS ESTIMATED THAT FISH RANGED IN AGE FROM 2 TO EIGHT YEARS WITH 3 AND FOUR YEAR OLDS REPRESENTING 41 AND 28 PERCENT OF THE CATCH, RESPECTIVELY. AVERAGE BACK CALCULATED LENGTHS OF ALL AGE CLASSES WERE TYPICAL OF NORTHERN PIKE THROUGHOUT THE STATE, INDICATING AVERAGE GROWTH. NATURAL REPRODUCTION WAS EVIDENT FROM THE CONSISTENT YEAR CLASSES OF NORTHERN PIKE. THE BLUEGILL NET CATCH (12.25/SET) WAS HIGHER THAN THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (7.65/SET) BUT REMAINED BELOW THE THIRD QUARTILE (23.70/SET). THE BLUEGILLS RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 3.0 TO 7.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 4.5 TO 4.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 0.08 POUNDS. AGE ANALYSIS ESTIMATED THAT FISH RANGED IN AGE FROM TWO TO SIX YEARS WITH THREE YEAR OLD FISH REPRESENTING 66 PERCENT OF THE CATCH. AVERAGE BACK-CALCULATED LENGTHS OF ALL AGE CLASSES WERE TYPICAL OF BLUEGILLS THROUGHOUT THE STATE, INDICATING AVERAGE GROWTH. NATURAL REPRODUCTION OF BLUEGILLS WAS EVIDENT FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR AND JUVENILES IN THE SEINE CATCHES. THE BLACK CRAPPIE NET CATCH (12.25/SET) WAS ABOVE THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (6.13/SET) YET REMAINED BELOW THE THIRD QUARTILE (16.00/SET). THE BLACK CRAPPIES RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 3.0 TO 10.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 4.5 TO 4.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 0.12 POUNDS. AGE ANALYSIS ESTIMATED THAT FISH RANGED IN AGE FROM ONE TO SIX YEARS WITH THREE YEAR OLD FISH REPRESENTING 43 PERCENT OF THE CATCH. AVERAGE BACK-CALCULATED LENGTHS FOR ALL AGE CLASSES WERE LOWER THAN TYPICAL OF BLACK CRAPPIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE, INDICATING BELOW AVERAGE GROWTH. SOME NATURAL REPRODUCTION OF BLACK CRAPPIE IN NET LAKE WAS EVIDENT FROM THE CONSISTENT YEAR CLASSES AND THE PRESENCE OF YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR AND JUVENILES IN THE SEINE CATCHES. THE YELLOW PERCH NET CATCH (2.50/SET) WAS WELL BELOW THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (13.00/SET) AND WAS BELOW THE FIRST QUARTILE (3.00/SET). THE YELLOW PERCH RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 5.00 TO 8.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH OF 6.0 TO 6.4 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 0.08 POUNDS. THE WHITE SUCKER NET CATCH (9.17/SET) WAS ABOVE THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (2.00/SET) AND THE THIRD QUARTILE (5.00/SET). WHITE SUCKERS RANGED IN LENGTH FROM 8.0 TO 18.9 INCHES WITH A MEDIAN LENGTH GROUP OF 1.5 TO 11.9 INCHES AND AN AVERAGE WEIGHT OF 0.86 POUNDS. FOR THE FIRST TIME, NO BLACK BULLHEADS WERE CAPTURED IN A SURVEY OF NET LAKE. FOR THE SECOND TIME, NO YELLOW BULLHEADS WERE CAPTURED. IN ADDITION, NO BROWN BULLHEAD WERE CAPTURED. IN THE PAST, BLACK BULLHEAD AND YELLOW BULLHEAD NET CATCHES HAVE TYPICALLY BEEN NEAR THEIR RESPECTIVE THIRD QUARTILES (49.50/SET, 4.60/SET). BROWN BULLHEADS WERE ONLY CAPTURED IN THE 1980 SURVEY. OVERALL, THE 1990 TEST NETTING RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE BULLHEAD POPULATIONS HAVE DECLINED. NO LARGEMOUTH BASS WERE CAPTURED IN THE GILLNETS OR TRAPNETS; HOWEVER, 22 YOUNG-OF- THE-YEAR AND 2 OLDER LARGEMOUTH BASS WERE CAPTURED IN SEINE HAULS. THESE RESULTS ARE CONSIST WITH THE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS SURVEYS ON NET LAKE. ONLY TWO OTHER SPECIES, PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH AND HYBRID SUNFISH, WERE CAPTURED DURING THE SURVEY. THE PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH NET CATCH (3.50/SET) WERE ABOVE THE STATEWIDE MEDIAN (2.71/SET) BUT REMAINED BELOW THE THIRD QUARTILE (6.37/SET). TWO HYBRID SUNFISH WERE CAPTURED DURING THE SURVEY.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Black Crappie, and Bluegill in Net. 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 Net. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for current access details before you go.

Net has a maximum depth of 15 feet and a mean depth of 6 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Net is from 2005. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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