Briggs Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 71014600

DNR records show 7 stocking entries at Briggs Lake since 2016, most recently walleye fry in 2024 (170,000 fish).

• Briggs Lake has 7 DNR stocking records across 6 years (2016-2024): walleye (6), bluegill sunfish (1).
• The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 1,000,000 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 25 ft, mean depth 12 ft; surface area 404 acres, 170 littoral acres, 3.9 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 2.1 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, channel catfish, common carp, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, and 9 more.
• 2 public accesses on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: October 3, 2024 (targeted survey).
• Sherburne County, nearest town Clear Lake; DNR lake number (DOW) 71014600.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 8/10/1987 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

Stocking history

¹ fish purchased and stocked by private citizens and sporting groups.

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2024

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.

The Briggs Chain of Lakes is made up of Briggs, Julia and Rush lakes which are connected by a navigable channel. Walleye fry have been stocked into the chain every other year since 1992. Night electrofishing was conducted during the evening of October 3, 2024. A total of nine young of year (YOY) Walleye were collected across the three lakes in a total of 2.3 hours of electrofishing effort for a catch rate of 3.9/hr. This was a decrease over the last stocking in 2022 (13.9/hr). Since 2006 the YOY catch rate across lakes has ranged from 5.7/hr to 131.5/hr with an average of 50.9/hr. Individual lake YOY Walleye catch rates for 2024 were 4.7/hr for Briggs, 6.7/hr for Rush, and 2.0/hr for Julia. Average fingerling length across lakes was 6.7 inches. Survival of Walleye age-1 and older was good. A total of 102 Walleye age-1 and older were collected across the three lakes in a total of 2.3 hours of electrofishing effort for a catch rate of 44.6/hr. Catch rates of age-1 and older Walleye was 52.4/hr for Briggs, 28.8/hr for Rush, and 45.1/hr for Julia. Age-1 or older Walleye sampled ranged in length from 9.1 to 23.6 inches and averaged 15.1 inches. Results from the 2024 lake survey showed that the Walleye catch ranged from 1.3 to 5.0 per gill net, which was below the median value for both Lake Classes 43 (Julia, Rush) and Lake Class 24 (Briggs). These catch rates were a slight increase over the 2019 catch rates that ranged from 1.7 to 3.5 per gill net. Perhaps more interesting was the fact that 45% of the walleye sampled in the 2024 survey were from years where stocking did not occur. Since lakes in the Briggs Chain lack suitable spawning habitat it seems likely that these fish immigrated from nearby Elk Lake which is not stocked by the DNR and is sustained entirely by natural reproduction from the connected Elk River. Fry stocking continues to be the preferred management strategy for Walleye in the Briggs Chain and will be stocked again in 2026.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, October 3, 2024.

All Minnesota stockings · every Minnesota lake with a page · state CSV · this lake on DNR LakeFinder