Millstone

Millstone Lake is located four miles north of Maple Lake in Wright County. It has a surface area of 202 acres and a maximum depth of eight to ten feet depending on water levels. The watershed is small (705 acres) mostly agricultural, and water quality is poor. Millstone Lake has not been considered to be a "fish lake" and no fisheries management has taken place with the exception of its use as a walleye fingerling rearing pond by the MN DNR in 2001 and 2014 (both years corresponding to severe winterkill events the previous winter). There is a state owned access on west side of the lake near the Lakeview Cemetery off of Country Road 8. This brief survey was intended to determine if a possible winterkill took place in the winter of 2018-19 based on reports of dead fish discovered at the time of ice-off in the early spring of 2019. On May 7, 2019 four 1/4" single framed trap nets were set in Millstone Lake. Individual fish were not counted, but approximate numbers were as follows: 5-10 adult Black Bullheads per trap net ranging in length from 4 to 10 inches, 5-25 yearling Bluegills/ trap net approximately 2 inches in length, 2 adult BLG/ trap net ranging in length from 4 to 7 inches, 2-5 adult (4") Green Sunfish/ trap net, and a single 3 inch long Black Crappie. A visual inspection of the shoreline of the lake yielded hundreds of decaying Common Carp as well as a few badly decayed Walleye and Largemouth Bass. The results of this survey confirmed that although dissolved oxygen levels were low enough to cause some of the more winterkill susceptible species to die, conditions were not severe enough to cause mortality in the majority of the panfish and bullheads present and that conditions were not suitable for the use of Millstone as a Walleye rearing pond in the spring of 2019.

Millstone Lake is located four miles north of Maple Lake in Wright County. It has a surface area of 202 acres and a maximum depth of eight to ten feet depending on water levels. The watershed is small (705 acres) mostly agricultural, and water quality is poor. Millstone Lake has not been considered to be a "fish lake" and no fisheries management has taken place with the exception of its use as a walleye fingerling rearing pond by the MN DNR in 2001 and 2014 (both years corresponding to severe winterkill events the previous winter). There is a state owned access on west side of the lake near the Lakeview Cemetery off of Country Road 8. This brief survey was intended to determine if a possible winterkill took place in the winter of 2018-19 based on reports of dead fish discovered at the time of ice-off in the early spring of 2019. On May 7, 2019 four 1/4" single framed trap nets were set in Millstone Lake. Individual fish were not counted, but approximate numbers were as follows: 5-10 adult Black Bullheads per trap net ranging in length from 4 to 10 inches, 5-25 yearling Bluegills/ trap net approximately 2 inches in length, 2 adult BLG/ trap net ranging in length from 4 to 7 inches, 2-5 adult (4") Green Sunfish/ trap net, and a single 3 inch long Black Crappie. A visual inspection of the shoreline of the lake yielded hundreds of decaying Common Carp as well as a few badly decayed Walleye and Largemouth Bass. The results of this survey confirmed that although dissolved oxygen levels were low enough to cause some of the more winterkill susceptible species to die, conditions were not severe enough to cause mortality in the majority of the panfish and bullheads present and that conditions were not suitable for the use of Millstone as a Walleye rearing pond in the spring of 2019.

Minnesota DNR records list Bluegill, Black Crappie, and Green Sunfish for Millstone, but none have a fishing-quality score yet — they may be recently stocked or have limited survey data. See the species list above.

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

Millstone has a maximum depth of 8.5 feet and a mean depth of 4.2 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Millstone is from 2019.

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