Esquagama Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 69056500

Esquagama Lake has no DNR stocking rows in LakeFinder; this page carries its DNR depth, access and survey data.

• Esquagama Lake shows no stocking records in Minnesota DNR LakeFinder as of September 2, 2026.
• Maximum depth 90 ft; surface area 453 acres, 82 littoral acres, 5.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 6.0 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, cisco species, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass, shorthead redhorse, walleye, white sucker, yellow perch.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: July 16, 2018 (standard survey).
• St. Louis County, nearest town Biwabik; DNR lake number (DOW) 69056500.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey (get source); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

DNR fish survey, 2018

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.

Esquagama Lake is a 453 acre lake located five miles southeast of Gilbert. It is accessed by a ramp on the south side of the lake on land that is privately owned by the Eshquaguma Country Club. This Ecological Lake Class 5 lake has a maximum depth of 90 feet and dark brown water. On July 17, 2018 Esquagama Lake was weakly thermally stratified with a surface temperature of 75 F and a bottom temperature of 42 F. Oxygen levels were adequate for gamefish throughout the water column. Esquagama is relatively developed with year round and seasonal homes. Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline are mostly sand and rubble. The only place a substantial amount of aquatic vegetation grows is in the long muck bottom bay that extends to the southwest. The Embarrass River enters the lake on the north end and empties out the southwest corner. There are no barriers to fish movement in the inlet from Cedar Island Lake. The outlet to the St. Louis River has a dam with a fixed head of several feet. At times of high water fish are able to move in and out of Esquagama Lake. The overall gillnet catch rate for all fish combined was 22.7 fish/net which was below average compared to past surveys on the lake. Fish species sampled were cisco, walleye, northern pike, white sucker, black bullhead, and yellow perch. Trap nets caught fish at an overall rate of 12.4 fish/net which was also lower than average for the lake. Additional species sampled in trap nets were bluegill, black crappie, rock bass, shorthead redhorse, pumpkinseed, and brown bullhead. Fifty-two walleye were sampled in gill nets for a catch rate of 5.8 fish/net, which was above average compared to other similar lakes in the state and the highest catch on record for Esquagama Lake. Sizes ranged from 8 to 29 inches with an average of 12 inches which was bigger than normal for the lake. As is the often the case for lakes with strong river influence, walleye growth can be somewhat slow. It takes the average walleye 7 years to reach 15 inches in Esquagama. The northern pike gillnet catch was 2.1 fish/net which was higher than normal for Esquagama but lower than average compared to other similar lakes. Lengths ranged from 16 to 39 inches with an average of 23 inches. The average weight was nearly 3 pounds which was good compared to other similar lakes in the state. The bluegill trapnet catch was 6 fish/net which was similar to most past surveys on the lake, with one exception being a high catch rate in 1999. Lengths were also similar with an average of 5 inches and the biggest fish measuring nearly 9 inches. The black…

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, July 16, 2018.

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