Double Lake
Cottonwood County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 17005600
DNR records show 13 stocking entries at Double Lake since 2016, most recently black crappie adults in 2025 (200 fish).
- Double Lake has 13 DNR stocking records across 8 years (2016-2025): walleye (6), northern pike (4), yellow perch (2), black crappie (1).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 776,734 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 9 ft; surface area 240 acres, 236 littoral acres, 3.8 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 1.9 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum, northern pike, river redhorse, walleye, white crappie, white sucker, and 2 more.
- 2 public accesses on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Cottonwood County, nearest town Storden; DNR lake number (DOW) 17005600.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Black Crappie1 | adults | 200 | 20.0 |
| 2025 | Walleye | fry | 59,000 | 0.5 |
| 2025 | Yellow Perch1 | adults | 2,000 | 150.0 |
| 2024 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 802 | 117.9 |
| 2024 | Yellow Perch | adults | 240 | 60.0 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fry | 118,000 | 0.9 |
| 2022 | Walleye | fry | 118,000 | 1.0 |
| 2021 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 143 | 82.2 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fry | 118,000 | 0.9 |
| 2017 | Walleye | fry | 118,000 | 1.0 |
| 2016 | Northern Pike1 | adults | 115 | 76.7 |
| 2016 | Northern Pike | adults | 125 | 277.8 |
| 2016 | Walleye | fry | 245,734 | 2.3 |
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 | STATE-OWNED ACCESS ON NORTH END OF NORTH LAKE |
| gravel ramp | county | COUNTY OWNED ACCESS ON SOUTH END OF NORTH LAKE |
DNR fish survey, 2023
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black bullhead | Standard gill nets | 50.00 | 150 | 0.24 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 7.67 | 23 | 2.53 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 4.33 | 13 | 1.36 |
| Common carp | Standard gill nets | 3.67 | 11 | 6.74 |
| Bigmouth buffalo | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 6 | 4.11 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 6 | 0.25 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 1.00 | 3 | 2.90 |
| Freshwater drum | Standard gill nets | 1.00 | 3 | 1.64 |
| Black bullhead | Standard trap nets | 3.56 | 32 | 0.41 |
| Freshwater drum | Standard trap nets | 1.11 | 10 | 2.09 |
| Common carp | Standard trap nets | 1.11 | 10 | 7.84 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 1.00 | 9 | 0.40 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 0.56 | 5 | 0.99 |
| White sucker | Standard trap nets | 0.44 | 4 | 1.66 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.33 | 3 | 3.71 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 0.22 | 2 | 0.57 |
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.
Double Lake is a 246-acre lake located near Storden in Cottonwood County. The lake consists of two separate basins connected by a six-foot diameter culvert. This culvert is the only boat access for the general public available to enter the South basin. The South basin does provide a handicapped accessible fishing pier located along county highway 53. Water levels were low in 2023, which allowed the survey crew to pass through the culvert into the south basin of Double Lake to set nets. Double Lake has a maximum depth of nine feet, a shoreline length of 3.8 miles. While winter aeration is operated by Red Rock Sportsmen's Club in both basins, partial winterkills have still occurred during some winters. These partial winterkills haven't affected the highly diverse fish community. Species diversity is usually high likely due to a direct connection to the Cottonwood River via Highwater Creek. Double Lake is managed primarily for Walleye and secondarily for crappie, Yellow Perch, and Northern Pike. A population assessment was conducted during the week of June 26, 2023, using 3 gill nets and 9 trap nets in North and South Double Lakes. The 2023 Walleye catch rate at Double Lake was 7.7 per gill net, which is within the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes but down from the 2019 catch of 13.0 per gill net. Historically, the catch rate has averaged 9.9 per gill net since 1986. Several year classes of Walleye were present (2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022), with age-4 (2019) being the most common, comprising 33 percent of the aged Walleye. Lengths of Walleye ranged from 8.0 to 27.7 inches and averaged 18.6 inches. Despite the "lower than normal" catch rate good Walleye bites have been reported on Double Lake by anglers. Since 1986, Yellow Perch catch rates at Double Lake have averaged 7.0 per gill net and have ranged from 0.3 per gill net in 2007 to 25.0 per gill net in 2015. In 2023, the gill net catch rate was 0.7 per gill net, below the long-term average and lower than the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (2.7 to 25.0 per gill net). Yellow perch lengths were 5.4 and 9.5 inches. Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, Double Lake consistently had abundant Black Crappie populations; however, since 2011, catches have been below 4.2 per trap net. The trend continued in 2023 with a Black Crappie catch rate of 0.6 per trap net. Lengths of Black Crappie ranged from 4.4 to 13.5 inches and averaged 9.3 inches. While it appears that there are at least four year-classes present, abundance of Black Crappie remained low. Northern Pike…
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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