Fourteen Lake
St. Louis County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 69079300
DNR records show 2 stocking entries at Fourteen Lake since 2020, most recently black crappie fingerlings in 2023 (1,575 fish).
- Fourteen Lake has 2 DNR stocking records across 2 years (2020-2023): black crappie (2).
- The most-stocked species by count is black crappie: 3,075 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 14 ft; surface area 386 acres, 386 littoral acres, 3.8 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black crappie, bluegill, hybrid sunfish, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, yellow perch.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- St. Louis County, nearest town Buhl; DNR lake number (DOW) 69079300.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Black Crappie1 | fingerlings | 1,575 | 105.0 |
| 2020 | Black Crappie1 | fingerlings | 1,500 | 100.0 |
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.
DNR fish survey, 2010
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegill | 50-ft beach seine | 138.80 | 1,388 | 0.00 |
| Pumpkinseed | 50-ft beach seine | 16.10 | 161 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | 50-ft beach seine | 4.30 | 43 | 0.00 |
| Golden shiner | 50-ft beach seine | 0.90 | 9 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | 50-ft beach seine | 0.40 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Johnny darter | 50-ft beach seine | 0.10 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Backpack electrofishing | 103.74 | 64 | 0.00 |
| Pumpkinseed | Backpack electrofishing | 12.97 | 8 | 0.00 |
| Tadpole madtom | Backpack electrofishing | 6.48 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | Backpack electrofishing | 1.62 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Northern pike | Backpack electrofishing | 1.62 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 36.78 | 331 | 0.04 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 4.67 | 42 | 0.06 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 2.00 | 18 | 0.15 |
| Golden shiner | Standard trap nets | 1.00 | 9 | 0.08 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.78 | 7 | 2.31 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 0.67 | 6 | 0.09 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.33 | 3 | 0.51 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 10.67 | 64 | 2.18 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard gill nets | 7.67 | 46 | 0.06 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 7.50 | 45 | 0.04 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 2.50 | 15 | 0.12 |
| Golden shiner | Standard gill nets | 2.17 | 13 | 0.08 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 1.67 | 10 | 0.21 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 0.33 | 2 | 1.11 |
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.
Lake Fourteen is located in St. Louis County near the town of Buhl. The lake has a surface area of 376 acres and a maximum depth of 15 feet (100% littoral). Due to the shallow nature of the lake, aquatic vegetation growth is extensive. Surveys dating back to 1955 mention the abundant vegetation. Northern pike, black crappie and bluegill are the primary management species. Northern pike catches in Lake Fourteen have historically been high. The northern pike gill-net catch in 2010 was 10.7/net, up from 8.2/net in the previous survey (1998). This is above the lake management plan goal of 7.0/net and the expected range for this lake class. Northern pike size structure declined in the most recent assessment. Mean length declined from 23.6 inches in 1998 to 21.1 inches in 2010. Mean weight of gill-net sampled pike also decreased from 3.3 pounds to 2.3 pounds. Age analysis indicated consistent recruitment with fish ages 2 through 7, and 10 present in the sample. Mean length-at-age was below the statewide average for ages 1 and 2, and similar to the statewide average for all other ages. Northern pike grew to 22.7 inches in 5 years. Net catches for black crappie were within the expected ranges at 1.7/gill net and 2.0/trap net. Size structure was relatively poor. Gill-net sampled crappie averaged 7.2 inches and trap-net sampled crappie averaged 6.8 inches. Recruitment appeared consistent with ages 3 through 8, and 10 present in the sample. Mean length-at-age was below the statewide average for all ages. Black crappie took 7 years to reach 9.6 inches. Bluegill catches were above the expected range in the previous two assessments. The trap-net catch for bluegill increased again in 2010, to 36.8/net. Increased abundance of bluegill has been a common occurrence in many lakes in recent years. Size structure of bluegill was poor. Sampled fish ranged from 2.7 to 9.1 inches, with a mean length of 4.5 inches. Only 2% of bluegill exceeded 8 inches. Low numbers of walleye have been sampled in previous assessments, and only two were captured in 2010. The fish were both aged at 4 years old and averaged 14.6 inches. The yellow perch gill-net catch remained below the expected range at 2.5/net. Other species sampled in test nets included pumpkinseed, hybrid sunfish and golden shiner. Local residents mentioned that largemouth bass have become increasingly abundant in the lake, but none were sampled in this assessment. Near-shore IBI (Index of Biotic Integrity) sampling with a small-mesh seine and back-pack electrofishing was conducted in 2010 in an attempt to capture smaller…
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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