Coe

Coe Lake is a 55 acre lake located 10 miles southeast of Gilbert. The main access is a gravel ramp off St. Louis Co Road 16 on the south side of the lake with limited parking. There is also a picnic area on the east shore with a small sand beach that can be used as a carry down access. The lake has a max depth of 22 feet and extremely bog-stained brown water. On July 9, 2018 Coe Lake was thermally stratified with a surface temperature of 76 F and a bottom temperature of 50 F. Oxygen levels were adequate for gamefish to only about 6.5 feet below the surface. There are no inlets or outlets on the lake and aquatic vegetation is extremely abundant along nearly the entire lakeshore. A fringe of watershield rims the shore, with the only openings occurring where lakeshore owners have docks and the small sand beach area described above. Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline are mostly muck, followed by sand and gravel. Except for the few private cabins, the remaining lake shore is school trust fund land on the east and county tax-forfeit land on the west. Northern pike, largemouth bass, black crappie, and bluegill were all stocked in Coe Lake in the past. The overall gillnet catch rate for all fish combined was 12 fish/net. Fish species sampled were yellow perch, bluegill, black crappie, and walleye. Trap nets caught fish at an overall rate of 31.2 fish/net. Additional species sampled in trap nets were largemouth bass, hybrid sunfish, white sucker, golden shiner, and tadpole madtom. Electrofishing was used for the first time on Coe Lake for largemouth bass sampling. Twenty-nine largemouth were captured for a catch rate of 25.2 fish/hour. This was better than average compared to other area largemouth lakes. Lengths ranged from 8 to nearly 20 inches with an average of 15 inches. Three quarters of the bass in the sample were over 14 inches long and the average fish weighed 2 pounds. Growth rates were average compared to other area lakes. The bluegill trapnet catch in 2018 was 23.1 fish/net which was slightly below average for Coe Lake, but still one of the better bluegill catches in the area. Sizes ranged from 4 to nearly 9 inches with an average of 6 inches. Ages ranged from 2 to 18 years old with strong representation from the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015 year classes. Growth was slightly below average compared to other bluegill populations in area lakes. The black crappie trapnet catch was 6.4 fish/net which was better than average compared to other area crappie lakes and past surveys on Coe Lake. Sizes were similar to past surveys with lengths ranging from 5 to 11 inches and a mean of 8 inches. Fish up to 9 years old were sampled with strong year classes in 2012 and 2013. Other species sampled in low numbers (both this survey and historically) were walleye, yellow perch, golden shiner, hybrid sunfish, white sucker, and tadpole madtom.

Coe Lake is in Ecological Lake Class 13, which consists of 84 lakes in northeast Minnesota that are small, shallow, and have very soft (unmineralized) water. Coe Lake has water that is softer and darker (more bog-stained, due to tannic and humic acids) than most of the lakes in this lake class. Coe Lake ranks as mesotrophic-to-eutrophic on Carlson's Trophic State Index, but the very low total alkalinity (3 ppm) indicates limited chemical and biological productivity. Coe Lake has no inlets or outlets. Aquatic plants grow to a depth of 8 ft, and about 15% of the lake is covered by floating-leaf or emergent plants; bladderwort, water shield, stonewort, and burreeds are the most common plants. Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline are mostly muck, followed by sand and gravel. Coe Lake was thermally stratified on 07/07/2008 with a surface temperature of 74 F and a bottom temperature of 55 F. Adequate oxygen for fish (more than 2 ppm) was retained to a depth of 9 ft, where the temperature was 68 F. Winter dissolved oxygen testing on 04/04/2008 indicated 2 ppm oxygen was retained to a depth of 6 ft and oxygen dropped below 1 ppm at 8 ft. Coe Lake is surrounded on the east by State School Section land and on the west by County Tax-Forfeit land. Ten state leased cabin sites on the southeast bay were sold to the owners of the cabins some time ago. Two access sites on this portion of the lake were retained, including a gravel boat ramp and a picnic area with a carry-down boat access. Fish populations in 2008 were sampled with two gillnets, nine standard trapnets, and four small mesh trapnets for catching small fish. Six previous fisheries investigations, dating back to 1961, used 2-4 gillnets and 3-17 standard trapnets. Small fish were sampled with shoreline seines in 1961, and small mesh trapnets in 1982 and 1986. Fish populations in 2008, as in other recent investigations on this lake, were dominated by bluegill sunfish, northern pike, and yellow perch. Largemouth bass numbers were higher in 2008 than in previous investigations, although bass are "net shy" and difficult to accurately assess with standard sampling nets. Bluegill sunfish were absent in the initial fisheries investigation in 1961 and low numbers of sunfish were stocked in 1963 (144 adults) and 1964 (150 yearlings). These introductions were successful, as high numbers of bluegill were captured in all subsequent investigations. Also captured in subsequent investigations were pumpkinseed sunfish, making it likely they were mixed in with the stocked bluegill. Bluegill numbers in 2008 (90.9/trapnet) were very high. Unlike some previous investigations where bluegill sizes were small, bluegill captured in 2008 were nice-sized and 24% were 8" or larger. Growth of bluegill captured in 2008 was somewhat faster than normal (in the third quartile) by area standards. Good bluegill reproduction occurs in most years in this lake. No northern pike were captured in the gillnets in 2008, down from the median pike catch of 2.7/gillnet in all investigations on this lake. Only one pike was caught in the trapnets. We have no explanation for the apparent decline of the pike population in 2008, as pike are easily caught in gillnets when they are present. Perhaps due to the decline in pike numbers, perch numbers in 2008 (13.0/gillnet) were higher than the median perch catch of 3.0/gillnet in all investigations on this lake. Perch are a primary prey for northern pike. Perch sizes in 2008 averaged 7.4" (0.17 lb), which was in the third quartile for this lake class. The largest perch was 9.1". Perch growth was slower than normal by area standards. Largemouth bass numbers in 2008 (1.5/gillnet, 1.4/trapnet) were higher than normal for this lake class and were higher than in previous investigations on this lake. Bass from many year-classes were present, and bass growth was somewhat faster than normal by area standards. Many of the game fish examined in 2008 were infected with neascus (black spot), and many of the perch were also infected with yellow grub. Neascus and yellow grub are common parasites that are native to the area. They cannot infect humans, are often removed by filleting fish, and are killed at temperatures used to cook fish. In summary, Coe Lake has developed into a classic bass-panfish lake with quality-sized fish of each species present. The relative absence of northern pike and the higher perch population may help maintain the quality of the bluegill population by perch foraging on small bluegill.

Bluegill sunfish are present in very high numbers; northern pike and black crappie are present in average numbers; white sucker, rock bass and yellow perch are present in below average numbers. Golden shiner, pumpkinseed sunfish, and tadpole madtom are also present. Largemouth bass and black bullhead were observed in 1961; one walleye was captured in 1983. Bluegill are very small (average length is trapnets = 4.6. Northern pike growth is good (20.6.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Largemouth Bass, Hybrid Sunfish, Northern Pike, Rock Bass, and Walleye in Coe. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

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

Coe has a maximum depth of 22 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Coe is from 2018. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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