Blueberry

Blueberry Lake is located in northern Wadena County, three miles northeast of Menahga. Blueberry is a shallow lake with a maximum depth of 15 feet. A state-owned public access is located on the northeast shore on the outlet of the Shell River off Blueberry Bridge Road. There is also a winter access on the east shore off of east Blueberry Drive. Blueberry provides angling opportunities for Northern Pike, Walleye, and panfish. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical, chemical, and other characteristics. Blueberry Lake is in lake class 41. Class 41 lakes are very large and shallow with hard and turbid water. There are no other class 41 lakes in the Park Rapids management area. Class 39 lakes are the most similar lake class and include First Crow Wing, Fourth Crow Wing, and Portage. Blueberry has a special regulation for Northern Pike. All pike 24 to 36 inches in length must be immediately released, with a possession limit of three, and only one over 36 inches. Anglers will find an abundant population of Northern Pike, with an average length and weight of 23.3 inches and 2.9 lbs with fish measured up to 33.9 inches. Walleye numbers were down slightly from previous surveys. Multiple year classes of Walleye were sampled and ranged in length from 10.0 to 27.3 inches. Yellow Perch, an important forage species for Walleye were sampled in moderate numbers for this lake class. Sampled Yellow Perch were small in size with an average length of 6.3 inches. Blueberry has been a popular lake for panfish, especially during the ice fishing season. Angling opportunities include Black Crappie, Bluegill, and Pumpkinseed. Good numbers of Bluegill in the 6-8 inch size range were sampled and moderate numbers of Black Crappie with fish measured up to 13.8 inches. Growth of panfish was very fast when compared to area lakes. Blueberry Lake is one of the very few in the area that supports a Common Carp population and provides bowfishing and angling opportunities. A low to moderate Common Carp population is present in the lake. Curly-leaf Pondweed, an aquatic invasive species (AIS) has been identified in Blueberry Lake. To avoid spreading AIS, lake users are required to remove all aquatic plants or animals from their watercraft and drain all water from their boat before leaving the access.

A targeted survey of the nearshore fish community in Blueberry Lake was conducted by Fisheries Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) Program Staff starting July 13, 2020. Fourteen sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake and each was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 15-foot or 50-foot seine, where possible. Backpack electrofishing was completed at all 14 sites with five sites sampled from the boat. A 50-foot seine was used to sample four sites, a 15-foot seine was used at four sites, and soft sediments with abundant vegetation and deep water prevented the use of seines at six sampling sites. Nearshore sampling captured 19 native and one non-native (Common Carp) species of fish including three species that are intolerant of disturbance (Blackchin Shiner, Blacknose Shiner, and Logperch) and two species that are tolerant of disturbance (Common Carp and Green Sunfish). A summer trap net survey was conducted in conjunction with the targeted survey of the nearshore fish community. Yellow Perch (40%), Bluegill (28%), and Pumpkinseed (11%) were the most dominant species by numbers in the trap nets, but they only comprise 4%, 10%, and 1% of the biomass, respectively. Of the 45 Bluegills sampled, 18% were between 5 and 7 inches, 60% were over 7 inches and 7% of the Bluegills sampled were over 8 inches. The targeted survey of the nearshore fish community data were combined with the concurrently sampled summer trap net survey and gill net data from a June 2017 standard survey to describe the fish community and provide a Fish-based Index of Biological Integrity (FIBI) score. The FIBI uses fish community data to measure a lake's health, and the types of fish species present can help identify any stressors that may be negatively affecting the lake environment. The FIBI score, composed of several fish community diversity and composition metrics, indicates the overall health of a lake by comparing it to what is expected for a healthy lake. The FIBI score for Blueberry Lake from this survey is above an impairment threshold for aquatic life use determined for similar lakes. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website. Data from this survey will contribute biological information about the health of the fish community to the Crow Wing River Watershed assessment of surface waters process completed in coordination with MN Pollution Control Agency.

Blueberry Lake (80-0034-00) is a 532.54-acre lake with a maximum depth of 15 feet located two miles north of Menahga, MN. A survey targeting near shore fish species was conducted by Park Rapids Fisheries Staff on August 3, 2017 to assess populations of non-game and small sport fish. Fourteen 100-foot sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake shore, sampling a variety of habitat types. Each site was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 50-foot or 15-foot 1/8th-inch mesh seine, depending on habitat conditions. During this assessment, two sites were sampled with a 15-foot seine. Site conditions prevented the use of seines at twelve sites. Backpack electrofishing was done at twelve sites, several of which were conducted from the side of the boat. Nearshore sampling captured several species of fish such as Bluegill, Central Mudminnow, Green Sunfish, Golden Shiner, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Pumpkinseed, and Yellow Perch. Nearshore catches will be used along with gillnet and trapnet catch data from a standard fisheries survey on June 5, 2017, to calculate a fish-based Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) score which is indicative of the health of Blueberry Lake. This survey is contributing to a watershed assessment process in coordination with MN Pollution Control Agency. Blueberry Lake is located in the Crow Wing River Watershed.

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

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

Blueberry has a maximum depth of 15 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Blueberry is from 2022.

Yes — Blueberry has confirmed faucet snail. Clean, drain, and dry your equipment to avoid spreading invasives to other waters.