Bella Lake

Nobles County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 53004500

DNR records show 8 stocking entries at Bella Lake since 2016, most recently northern pike fingerlings in 2025 (372 fish).

• Bella Lake has 8 DNR stocking records across 6 years (2016-2025): walleye (6), northern pike (1), yellow perch (1).
• The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 187,539 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 14 ft; surface area 180 acres, 180 littoral acres, 6.0 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 0.9 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum, northern pike, walleye, white crappie, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
• 1 public access on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: May 16, 2023 (targeted survey).
• Nobles County, nearest town Worthington; DNR lake number (DOW) 53004500.

Stocking history

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2023

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.

Bella Lake is a 182-acre reservoir located 8 miles south of the City of Worthington, in Nobles County. On a year with average water level fluctuations, the lake has a maximum depth of 14 ft. Bella Lake serves as an aquifer replenishment reservoir for Worthington municipal water supplies, and thus has substantial water level fluctuations (up to 5 ft.). Due to these water level fluctuations, shoreline erosion is prevalent around Bella Lake. Bella Lake is managed primarily for White Crappie and secondarily for Yellow Perch, Walleye and Northern Pike. The winter of 2022-2023 proved to be harsh on many area lakes, resulting in low dissolved oxygen levels and subsequent fish kills. While dissolved oxygen was not measured on Bella Lake, reports of dead fish were received at ice out, thus a winterkill check was done on May 15, 2023, using boat electrofishing to gauge the extent of the winterkill. The previous standard survey done on Bella Lake in 2017 documented 12 species of fish present in the lake. The electrofishing survey done in 2023 captured two species of fish, Bigmouth Buffalo (82.9 per hour) and Fathead Minnow (2857.1 per hour). The lack of other species being captured suggests that Bella Lake had a significant partial winterkill. It is possible that other species weren't sampled with electrofishing, but regardless a winterkill occurred. Bella Lake was stocked with 180,000 Walleye fry in the spring of 2023 to try to establish a top-level predator in that system.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, May 16, 2023.

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