Elbow

Elbow Lake is a 169 acre lake located southwest of the city of Virginia. It is accessed by an earthen ramp on the southwest side of the lake. It has a maximum depth of 22 feet and green colored water. On June 14, 2016 the surface temperature was 66 F and the bottom was 52 F. Oxygen levels were adequate for gamefish to a depth of 14 feet. Past dissolved oxygen checks in the winter have shown at times the lake does experience low oxygen levels under the ice. Elbow Lake is sparsely populated with homes and just over half of the shoreline is in public ownership. Most of the upland areas of the shorelines are wooded. A large part of the lake is surrounded with a fringe of cattail. Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline of Elbow Lake are mostly sand and muck with a few areas of rubble and gravel. Other than the cattail fringe, vegetation is fairly sparse and only grows to a depth of four feet. Elbow Lake has two inlets: one originates from a small lake to the north and the other is Elbow Creek which originates near Eveleth. Elbow Creek has a history of receiving sewage effluent from the city of Eveleth. During unusually wet weather events, Eveleth's treatment facility at times is unable to completely keep up and partially treated overflow can make its way into the creek. The most recent events occurred in the spring of 2014 and 2016 where partially treated effluent was able to enter the creek and lake. This excess nutrient load can supplement the natural nutrient load and at times cause strong algae blooms which creates the lakes green appearance. The only outlet (Elbow Creek) flows south to the St. Louis River. This survey used gill nets, trap nets, and night electrofishing to assess the fish population. Fish species sampled included northern pike, largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, yellow perch, walleye, white sucker, pumpkinseed, golden shiner, and tadpole madtom. The northern pike gillnet catch was 15.5 fish/net which is comparable to other surveys from the lake and very good compared to other similar lakes in the state. Sizes ranged from 18 to 36 inches with an average of 23 inches and three pounds. Sizes were larger in this survey than any other survey on the lake. Electrofishing was used for the first time on Elbow Lake to sample largemouth bass. Two and a half hours of electrofishing captured 36 largemouth for a catch rate of 14.4 fish/hour, which is slightly below average compared to other lakes in the area. Sizes ranged from 3 to 18 inches with an average of 12 inches. The average weight was one and a half pounds. It appears Elbow Lake has the ability to grow some big largemouth with just over a third of the fish measuring larger than 16 inches. Growth rates were extremely fast with a four year old bass averaging 14 inches long. The black crappie trapnet catch was 23.3 fish/net which is very good compared to other similar lakes and the highest catch rate on record for Elbow Lake. Lengths ranged from 4 to 13 inches but the average was just over 5 inches. Although the catch included a lot of small fish which brought the average size down, there were a lot of sizes that would be appealing to anglers. Forty-six crappie measured larger than 8.5 inches. As with the largemouth, the growth rates were extremely fast. The average length of a four year old crappie was 10 inches long. This is only the second survey that sampled bluegill from Elbow Lake, the first record was from 1998 when one fish was captured. The 2016 trapnet catch rate was 14.3 fish/net which is above average compared to other similar lakes. Sizes were from 3 to 9 inches with a 6 inch average. Just under half of the bluegill sampled were over 6.5 inches long. As with largemouth and crappie, the growth rates for bluegill are quite fast compared to other lakes in the area. The yellow perch gillnet catch rate was 6.2 fish/net which is above average compared to other similar lakes. Sizes were small though with an average length of 6 inches and the largest reaching just under 8 inches. Noticeable by their absence were black bullhead. Black bullhead dominated catches in both gill nets and trap nets in the past three surveys with high marks of 144/gill net and 333/trap net in 1998. It's not entirely known what happened to have such a die-off of this highly tolerable species, when the lake appears to be doing fairly well for other game species. Other species sampled but in low numbers were one walleye, white sucker, golden shiner, pumpkinseed, and tadpole madtom. Some smaller sized northern pike were infested with neascus (black spot) although the bluegill were all relatively clean.

Elbow Lake is in Ecological Lake Class 11, which consists of 49 lakes in northeast Minnesota that are small and have a large amount of shallow areas along the shoreline. The total alkalinity (amount of calcium carbonate and bicarbonate) found in Elbow Lake in 1998 was higher than in previous fisheries investigations in 1982 and 1988. Also, Elbow Lake had clearer water in 1998 (Secchi water transparency = 9 ft) than in 1983 (Secchi = 1.5 ft) or in 1988 (Secchi = 2 ft). Heavy algae blooms were occurring during the 1982 and 1988 investigations. Elbow Lake stratified thermally in the summer of 1998 and had poor oxygen (less than 2 ppm) below 16 ft, where the temperature was 59 F. The bottom temperature (at 20 ft) was 50 F. Elbow Lake has two inlets: one originates in a small lake to the north, the other is a stream that originates near Eveleth and occasionally receives bypassed sewage from the City of Eveleth. The outlet is to the St. Louis River. Shallow water bottom substrates in Elbow Lake are sand (60%), muck (15%), rubble (15%), and gravel (10%). Aquatic plants grow to a depth of 4 ft around the entire shoreline.The total catch of fish (all species combined) in the gillnets in 1998 of 180 fish/net (79 lb/net) was much higher than normal for this lake class and was higher than previous gillnet catches in this lake of 50 fish/net (38 lb/net) in 1982 and 95 fish/net (45 lb/net) in 1988. The total catch of fish in the trapnets in 1998 of 341 fish/net (75 lb/net) was roughly similar to previous trapnet catches of 259 fish/net (72 lb/net) in 1982 and 409 fish/net (186 lb/net) in 1988.Black bullhead numerically dominated the 1998 gillnet and trapnet catches, although northern pike had the most biomass (weight) in the gillnet catch. Fairly high numbers of white sucker and yellow perch were also caught in the gillnets.Black bullhead numbers in the gillnets in 1998 (144/gillnet) were much higher than normal for this lake class and were higher than previous catches in 1982 (4/gillnet) and 1988 (88/gillnet). Black bullhead numbers in the trapnets in 1998 (333/trapnet) were also much higher than normal for this lake class and were similar to previous catches in 1982 (234/trapnet) and 1988 (393/trapnet). Black bullhead sizes in 1998 averaged 6"; the largest was 8".Northern pike numbers in 1998 (15.7/gillnet) were higher than normal for this lake class and were also higher than previous catches in 1982 (3.0/gillnet) and 1988 (2.2/gillnet). Pike sizes in the gillnet catch in 1998 averaged 21". The largest pike in 1998, caught in a trapnet, was 33". Forty two percent of the pike caught in 1998 were from a strong 1995 year class, although six other year classes were represented. Pike growth (21" at age three) was faster than normal for the area.White sucker and yellow perch numbers in 1988 were normal for this lake class. Perch sizes in 1998 averaged 6"; the largest was 9". Perch growth (6" at age four) was normal for the area.Other species captured in low numbers in 1998 were black crappie, bluegill sunfish, brown bullhead, common shiner, golden shiner, largemouth bass, and pumpkinseed sunfish.Most of the largemouth bass and northern pike examined in 1998 had Neascus. Some of the yellow perch had neascus and most of the perch had yellow grubs. Neascus and yellow grubs are parasites in the skin that are common to the area, are often removed by filleting, are killed by cooking, and cannot infect humans. Three of the northern pike had lymphosarcoma. Lymphosarcoma is a cancer of the skin and underlying tissues that is transmitted from fish to fish by direct contact, usually during spawning. Eating these fish is not recommended.

Very high numbers of black bullhead are present. In addition, northern pike and white sucker are present in above average numbers; largemouth bass are present in average numbers; yellow perch are present in below average numbers. Black crappies, present in above average numbers in both the trapnets and gillnets in 1982, were not collected in 1988. White sucker sizes are large. Northern pike reproduction appears to be quite regular.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Black Crappie, Northern Pike, Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, and Pumpkinseed in Elbow. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

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

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

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Elbow is from 2016. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

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