Big Lake (St. Louis County)

St. Louis County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 69005000

Big Lake (St. Louis County) has no DNR stocking rows in LakeFinder; this page carries its DNR depth, access and survey data.

• Big Lake (St. Louis County) shows no stocking records in Minnesota DNR LakeFinder as of September 2, 2026.
• Maximum depth 30 ft; surface area 808 acres, 379 littoral acres, 9.8 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 8.0 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: northern pike, rock bass, walleye, white sucker, yellow perch.
• 1 public access on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: July 16, 2013 (standard survey).
• St. Louis County, nearest town Hoyt Lakes; DNR lake number (DOW) 69005000.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 7/19/1983 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2013

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.

Big Lake (69-0050) also known as Devilfish, is located 13 miles east of Hoyt Lakes. The public access is via a 2.5 mile long hiking trail administered by the US Forest Service that starts at the Stone Lake access parking lot and goes northeast, crossing the railroad tracks as it approaches the southwest corner of Big Lake. At the time of this assessment the trail was not being maintained. Contact the US Forest Service Laurentian Ranger District (218-229-8800) for more information. This 805 acre lake is the headwater for the South Branch of the Partridge River. It has a maximum depth of 30.0 feet and the water color is brown. On July 16, 2013 the lake had a surface temperature of 72 F and a bottom temperature of 55 F. Oxygen levels were adequate for fish to a depth of 21.0 feet. Shoreline substrates consist of mostly boulder with some sand, gravel, and muck. The overall gillnet catch rate for all fish combined in this survey was 27 fish/gill net which is average for this lake. Fish species sampled were rock bass (55%), walleye (16%), northern pike (16%), yellow perch (12%), and white sucker (1%). Thirty-five walleye were caught in gill nets for a rate of 4.4 fish/net, just below the average compared to other similar lakes in the state. This is a lower catch rate than the two previous surveys that sampled walleye at 26.5 fish/net in 1988 and 8.8 fish/net in 1993. Fish ranged in size from 7.0 to 22.0 inches with an average of 12.5 inches. Growth rates for walleye in Big Lake were extremely slow when compared to other walleye lakes in the area. Ages ranged from 1 to 11 with 40% of the fish aged coming from the 2011 year class. Thirty-one percent of the walleye were infested with neascus (black spot). The northern pike gillnet catch was 4.3 fish/net which is above the average for similar lakes throughout the state. Lengths ranged from 12.0 to 36.0 inches with an average of 22.0 inches. Growth is slightly slower than other lakes with northern pike in them in the area. Ages ranged from 1 to 10. Twenty-six percent of the pike were infested with neascus (black spot). The yellow perch catch rate was 3.4 fish/net and is lower than other similar lakes throughout the state. Lengths ranged from 6.0 to 10.0 inches with an average of 7.0 inches. Rock bass numbers have increased over time with the 2013 catch setting the new high mark at 15.0 fish/gill net. This is much higher than other similar lakes in the state. The rock bass are also quite large with an average weight of 0.4 pound/fish. Lengths ranged from 4.0 to 10.0 inches with an average of 8.0 inches. The white…

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, July 16, 2013.

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