Bingham Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 17000700

DNR records show 17 stocking entries at Bingham Lake since 2017, most recently northern pike fingerlings in 2025 (416 fish).

• Bingham Lake has 17 DNR stocking records across 8 years (2017-2025): walleye (14), northern pike (3).
• The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 755,780 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 10 ft, mean depth 8 ft; surface area 270 acres, 270 littoral acres, 3.2 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 2.8 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, white sucker, yellow perch.
• 2 public accesses on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: September 16, 2022 (targeted survey).
• Cottonwood County, nearest town Bingham Lake; DNR lake number (DOW) 17000700.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 10/24/1974 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

Stocking history

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2022

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.

Bingham Lake is a 269-acre lake, located in Cottonwood County. Since 2018, Bingham Lake has been included in a research project that is evaluating the performance of two strains of Walleye, the Lower Mississippi Strain (LMS) and the Mississippi Strain (MIS). However, during 2020, no stocking was done as no Walleye egg-take operations were conducted due to the start of the COVID pandemic causing a DNR close-contact work moratorium. Walleye stocking, including the performance evaluation, was restarted in 2021. The total fry quota for Bingham Lake was 137,000, of which half were MIS and half were LMS. The MIS Walleye come from northern Minnesota and until recently, were the primary strain stocked in Windom management area lakes. The LMS originated in the Cannon River system, was stocked in area lakes in the 1980's and early 1990's, and has persisted in some area Walleye populations despite extensive stocking of northern Minnesota strains of Walleye. LMS Walleye are present in Murray County's Lake Sarah, a lake that hasn't been stocked since 1991 because the Walleye population is sustained at high levels through natural reproduction. Bingham Lake has areas of spawning habitat and has shown sporadic natural reproduction, thus LMS Walleye have been stocked because anecdotal evidence suggests that they may have a survival advantage and natural reproduction potential in southern Minnesota lakes. To evaluate strain performance in 2022, 210 Walleye fingerlings were needed. Night electrofishing was used to collect the Walleye for the study. Standard night electrofishing (2 hours) was conducted by DNR research staff on 16 September 2022. The fingerling quota was not met with standard night electrofishing as no fingerlings were captured during 2 hours of electrofishing (0 per hour). Additional non-standard sampling utilizing day electrofishing and trap netting also failed to capture any fingerling Walleye. Therefore, no information regarding the genetic results could be obtained for 2022. While no fingerling were sampled in 2022, a standard survey was conducted during June 2022 where 22 adults were sampled. In addition, 9 adults were sampled while electrofishing for fingerlings.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, September 16, 2022.

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