Bean Lake (Cottonwood County)
Cottonwood County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 17005400
DNR records show 9 stocking entries at Bean Lake (Cottonwood County) since 2016, most recently northern pike fingerlings in 2025 (368 fish).
- Bean Lake (Cottonwood County) has 9 DNR stocking records across 8 years (2016-2025): walleye (5), northern pike (4).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 352,500 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 12 ft; surface area 164 acres, 162 littoral acres, 1.9 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 1.7 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, common carp, green sunfish, northern pike, orangespotted sunfish, walleye, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Cottonwood County, nearest town Storden; DNR lake number (DOW) 17005400.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey; depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 368 | 92.0 |
| 2025 | Walleye | fry | 70,500 | 0.6 |
| 2024 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 286 | 42.1 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fry | 70,500 | 0.6 |
| 2022 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 88 | 0.9 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fry | 70,500 | 0.6 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fry | 70,500 | 0.6 |
| 2017 | Walleye | fry | 70,500 | 0.6 |
| 2016 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 914 | 24.5 |
Field note · Minnesota stocks by year, not by truck day: walleye fry go in within weeks of ice-out, fingerlings and yearlings mostly in fall, and stream trout in spring and fall. A row here means the fish went in during that year; DNR adds the year's rows after the fact, so the current year can look empty until winter.
Public accesses
| Type | Owner | Where |
|---|---|---|
| concrete ramp | Minnesota DNR | - STATE OWNED PUBLIC ACCESS ON WEST SIDE OF LAKE. |
DNR fish survey, 2020
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black bullhead | Standard gill nets | 51.50 | 103 | 0.59 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 25.50 | 51 | 0.39 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 17.50 | 35 | 2.50 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 12.50 | 25 | 0.22 |
| Black bullhead | Standard trap nets | 33.38 | 267 | 0.58 |
| Walleye | Standard trap nets | 1.25 | 10 | 3.93 |
| Common carp | Standard trap nets | 0.50 | 4 | 7.03 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 0.38 | 3 | 0.41 |
| Orangespotted sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.25 | 2 | 0.02 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 0.25 | 2 | 0.20 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.25 | 2 | 7.30 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 0.25 | 2 | 0.77 |
Catch per net (CPUE) is the DNR survey's count per gill net or trap net set; higher means more of that species were sampled, not a fishing forecast. Top species per gear shown; where we have no verified common name for a DNR code, the code itself is shown.
INTRODUCTION Bean Lake is a typical shallow southern Minnesota Lake near the town of Storden in Cottonwood County, Minnesota. The 141-acre lake has a maximum depth of 10 feet. Bean Lake has a watershed acreage-to-lake acreage ratio of 3-to-1 indicating a fairly small watershed. The watershed acres of Bean Lake are agricultural with row crops and pattern tile drainage dominating the landscape. This altered hydrology leads to increased drainage which results in artificially increased water levels in lakes and streams following precipitation events. As a result, highly erodible soils within and along the watercourses and farm fields can lead to inputs of excessive nutrients. One indicator of excessive nutrients and inputs is high alkalinity, usually greater than 200 ppm (280 ppm in 2014 and unchanged at 280 ppm in 2020). Additionally, high productivity leads to high biological oxygen demand (BOD, accumulation of bacteria and living organisms in the lake that use oxygen separate from fish). Complications from a high BOD is magnified by ice and snow cover in the winter, eliminating or reducing the dissolved oxygen during winter. To combat this, aeration was started in 1991 by a local sportsman's club. From 1991 to 2013 there were no reported or observed winterkills due to low dissolved oxygen. However, during the winter of 2013-2014 there was thick ice (greater than 19 inches) coupled with longer than usual periods of snow cover on the ice that caused low dissolved oxygen. A partial fish kill was observed and documented in the late winter and early spring of 2014, with some fish surviving. Restocking of gamefish was coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and private stocking provided by Redrock Sportsman's Club. The restocking effort was successful as determined by a 2014 survey. A standard gill net and trap net survey with 2 gill nets and 8 trap nets was conducted in July of 2020 to monitor the fish community and continue to track the recovery of the fish population. WALLEYE Thirty-five Walleye between 16.9 and 20.9 inches (average = 18.6 inches) were caught in gillnets and 10 Walleye between 18.6 and 25.6 inches (average = 21.5 inches) were caught in trap nets. The gillnet catch rate of 17.5 per gillnet was just below the upper normal range for similar lakes (18.06/gillnet). The sizes of Walleye in the sample favored fish between 17 and 20 inches. Thirty-five Walleye were assigned an age by reading their ear bone (otolith) under a dissecting microscope. Thirty-four were age-3 and 1 was age-6. The 2017 stocking of Lower Mississippi…
Minnesota DNR survey narrative, .
All Minnesota stockings · every Minnesota lake with a page · state CSV · this lake on DNR LakeFinder
Stocking rows, depths, accesses and survey figures are Minnesota DNR LakeFinder data as of 2026-09-02; contours are the DNR bathymetric survey. Regulations, slot limits and special rules are on the DNR page linked above, not here.
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