Crooked Lake (Crow Wing County)
Crow Wing County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 18004100
DNR records show 4 stocking entries at Crooked Lake (Crow Wing County) since 2017, most recently walleye fingerlings in 2025 (3,600 fish).
- Crooked Lake (Crow Wing County) has 4 DNR stocking records across 4 years (2017-2025): walleye (4).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 12,728 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 72 ft; surface area 463 acres, 234 littoral acres, 10.0 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 16.6 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass, smallmouth bass, tullibee (cisco), and 4 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (targeted survey).
- Crow Wing County, nearest town Garrison; DNR lake number (DOW) 18004100.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 3,600 | 180.0 |
| 2021 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,710 | 95.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 3,618 | 120.6 |
| 2017 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 3,800 | 152.0 |
1 fish purchased and stocked by private citizens and sporting groups.
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 |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brassy minnow | 15-ft beach seine | 42.80 | 214 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | 15-ft beach seine | 18.40 | 92 | 0.00 |
| Blacknose shiner | 15-ft beach seine | 10.00 | 50 | 0.00 |
| BKF | 15-ft beach seine | 1.00 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Johnny darter | 15-ft beach seine | 1.00 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Largemouth bass | 15-ft beach seine | 0.80 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | 15-ft beach seine | 0.60 | 3 | 0.00 |
| BCS | 15-ft beach seine | 0.20 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Backpack electrofishing | 35.71 | 50 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | Backpack electrofishing | 21.43 | 30 | 0.00 |
| Johnny darter | Backpack electrofishing | 10.71 | 15 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | Backpack electrofishing | 10.00 | 14 | 0.00 |
| BKF | Backpack electrofishing | 5.00 | 7 | 0.00 |
| Rock bass | Backpack electrofishing | 4.29 | 6 | 0.00 |
| Tadpole madtom | Backpack electrofishing | 2.86 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Yellow bullhead | Backpack electrofishing | 1.43 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Johnny darter | 50-ft beach seine | 8.00 | 32 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | 50-ft beach seine | 6.50 | 26 | 0.00 |
| Brook stickleback | 50-ft beach seine | 5.50 | 22 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | 50-ft beach seine | 5.25 | 21 | 0.00 |
| Largemouth bass | 50-ft beach seine | 3.00 | 12 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | 50-ft beach seine | 2.75 | 11 | 0.00 |
| BKF | 50-ft beach seine | 1.50 | 6 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | 50-ft beach seine | 0.50 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 7.89 | 71 | 0.23 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 3.67 | 33 | 0.37 |
| Brown bullhead | Standard trap nets | 2.33 | 21 | 0.58 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.89 | 8 | 0.46 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 0.78 | 7 | 0.42 |
| Rock bass | Standard trap nets | 0.67 | 6 | 0.33 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.67 | 6 | 0.69 |
| Bowfin (dogfish) | Standard trap nets | 0.22 | 2 | 3.66 |
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.
A targeted survey of nearshore fish species in Crooked Lake was conducted in June and August 14, 2025, by Lake Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program (LBMA) staff. Sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake, and each was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 50-foot or 15-foot seine, where possible. Backpack electrofishing was completed at 10 sampling stations. Similarly, a 50-foot seine was used to sample four stations, and a 15-foot seine was used at five stations. One station was not seined due to dense vegetation making site traversal difficult. Nearshore sampling captured 18 species of fish including seven species that are intolerant of disturbance (i.e., Banded Killifish, Blackchin Shiner, Blacknose Shiner, Iowa Darter, Least Darter, Rock Bass, and Smallmouth Bass) and one species tolerant of disturbance (i.e., Black Bullhead). A June 2025 trap net survey was also conducted by Lake Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program (LBMA) staff. Nine trap nets were set along the shoreline in locations that encompassed multiple habitat types. Trap net sampling captured ten species of fish, including one that is intolerant of disturbance (i.e., Rock Bass). Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, and Brown Bullhead comprised a majority of the catch by number and Biomass The nearshore and trap net were combined with gill net data from a June 2023 survey to describe the fish community and provide a fish-based IBI (FIBI) score. The FIBI uses fish community data to measure a lake's health, and the types of fish species present can help identify any stressors that may be negatively affecting the lake environment. In Minnesota lakes, certain fish species cannot survive without clean water and a healthy habitat (e.g., Blackchin Shiner, Iowa Darter, and Rock Bass), while other species are tolerant of degraded conditions (e.g., Black Bullhead and Common Carp). The FIBI score, composed of several fish community diversity and composition metrics, indicates the overall health of a lake by comparing it to what is expected for a healthy lake. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website. Results from this survey provide evidence that the fish community in Crooked Lake is healthy as indicated by an FIBI score above the exceptional use impairment threshold for aquatic life use determined for similar lakes.These results are similar to previous findings, which indicated that Crooked Lake is fully supporting aquatic life. The survey results will be considered when the biological health of the…
Minnesota DNR survey narrative, .
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Stocking rows, depths, accesses and survey figures are Minnesota DNR LakeFinder data as of 2026-09-02. Regulations, slot limits and special rules are on the DNR page linked above, not here.
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