Gilchrist Lake
Pope County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 61007200
DNR records show 8 stocking entries at Gilchrist Lake since 2017, most recently walleye fry in 2024 (105,000 fish).
- Gilchrist Lake has 8 DNR stocking records across 5 years (2017-2024): walleye (8).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 740,807 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 24 ft, mean depth 10 ft; surface area 336 acres, 209 littoral acres, 5.1 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 5.9 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, common carp, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, and 3 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Pope County, nearest town Terrace; DNR lake number (DOW) 61007200.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey (get source); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Walleye | fry | 105,000 | 0.9 |
| 2022 | Walleye | fry | 209,330 | 1.9 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fry | 209,330 | 1.9 |
| 2018 | Walleye | fry | 209,000 | 2.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | adults | 24 | 8.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | fingerlings | 1,985 | 168.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | yearlings | 58 | 16.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | yearlings | 6,080 | 226.0 |
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 | - shallow |
DNR fish survey, 2023
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 20.89 | 188 | 0.16 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 5.89 | 53 | 0.60 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 1.11 | 10 | 0.10 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.22 | 2 | 0.46 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard electrofishing | 18.00 | 18 | 2.45 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 7.83 | 47 | 2.69 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 5.50 | 33 | 1.84 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 4.83 | 29 | 1.71 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 4.67 | 28 | 0.07 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard gill nets | 2.83 | 17 | 0.87 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 1.50 | 9 | 0.13 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 1.17 | 7 | 0.15 |
| Common carp | Standard gill nets | 0.83 | 5 | 4.41 |
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 Gilchrist is a shallow 321-acre basin located in southeast Pope County. Maximum depth is 24.0 feet. Approximately 61% of the surface area is less than 15.0 feet in depth. The East Branch of the Chippewa River runs through the basin. Water quality and habitat conditions are variable in response to a large watershed. Water level has varied as much as 5 feet between dry and wet weather cycles. Water clarity can become seasonally poor due to excessive algal blooms, especially in late summer. A standard lake survey was completed during May through July 2023 to assess the current fish community. Lake Gilchrist is classified as a bass/panfish type lake and is also stocked with Walleye to supplement their natural reproduction. Various life stages (fry, fingerling, yearling) of Walleye have been stocked over the years, including high density Walleye fingerling stockings from 2003 through 2017. Those high-density fingerling stockings failed to increase Walleye catch rates. Due to the greater success from past fry stockings, starting in 2018 Lake Gilchrist was switched back to Walleye fry stocking on an alternate year basis. Walleye catch rates increased slightly during the 2023 survey to the highest levels observed in nearly 40 years. Multiple year-classes of young Walleye should provide good Walleye fishing for several years to come. Average length of Walleye caught in this survey was 16.7 inches. Lake Gilchrist has a history of producing large Bluegills, Black Crappies and Largemouth Bass. Starting in the spring of 2021, a special regulation was implemented that reduced the daily limit of sunfish from 20 to 10. This regulation change was intended to help maintain or improve the size of sunfish in Lake Gilchrist. Bluegill catch rates were moderate in 2023, but many of the fish were smaller. Only 3% of the Bluegill caught in the survey were over 8 inches. Lake Gilchrist has the potential to support a high quality Bluegill fishery. Bluegill up to 10.0 inches were observed in past surveys. Black Crappie catch rates were low, but many of those observed in the survey were large. A number of crappies from 11.0 to 14.5 inches were caught in the survey. Largemouth Bass abundance also remains low to moderate, but average size is large. Over half of the bass caught during the survey were 16.0 inches or longer, and fish over 20.0 inches have been observed in recent surveys. Northern Pike catch rates returned to near average in the 2023 survey, after very high numbers of pike were encountered in the 2017 survey. While pike up to 31.6 inches were caught during this…
Minnesota DNR survey narrative, .
All Minnesota stockings · every Minnesota lake with a page · state CSV · this lake on DNR LakeFinder
Stocking rows, depths, accesses and survey figures are Minnesota DNR LakeFinder data as of 2026-09-02; contours are the DNR bathymetric survey. Regulations, slot limits and special rules are on the DNR page linked above, not here.
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