Home › States › Minnesota › Grass Lake (Otter Tail County)

Grass Lake (Otter Tail County)

Otter Tail County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 56071700

DNR records show 3 stocking entries at Grass Lake (Otter Tail County) since 2019, most recently black crappie adults in 2023 (100 fish).

Grass Lake (Otter Tail County) has 3 DNR stocking records across 2 years (2019-2023): black crappie (1), bluegill sunfish (1), walleye (1).
The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 77,000 fish on record.
Maximum depth 21 ft; surface area 72 acres, 56 littoral acres, 2.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, hybrid sunfish, northern pike, pumpkinseed, yellow bullhead.
1 public access on the DNR list.
Most recent DNR fish survey: August 15, 1989 (standard survey).
Otter Tail County, nearest town Pelican Rapids; DNR lake number (DOW) 56071700.

Stocking history

Year	Species	Size	Number	Pounds
2023	Black Crappie	adults	100	10.0
2023	Bluegill Sunfish	adults	100	20.0
2019	Walleye	fry	77,000	0.7

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
earthen ramp	Minnesota DNR	- AN ACCESS IS LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE CAMPGROUND IN MAPLEWOOD STATE PARK.

DNR fish survey, 1989

Species	Gear	Catch per net	Total catch	Avg lb
Black bullhead	Standard gill nets	170.00	170	0.08
Brown bullhead	Standard gill nets	22.00	22	0.08
Northern pike	Standard gill nets	9.00	9	1.56
Yellow bullhead	Standard gill nets	6.00	6	0.15
Walleye	Standard gill nets	2.00	2	1.60
Bluegill	Standard gill nets	2.00	2	0.10
Pumpkinseed	Standard gill nets	2.00	2	0.10
Black crappie	Standard gill nets	1.00	1	0.10
Bluegill	Standard trap nets	127.20	636	0.10
Black bullhead	Standard trap nets	83.00	415	0.07
Pumpkinseed	Standard trap nets	6.40	32	0.10
Hybrid sunfish	Standard trap nets	3.80	19	0.09
Brown bullhead	Standard trap nets	3.60	18	0.17
Northern pike	Standard trap nets	2.00	10	1.61
Walleye	Standard trap nets	0.60	3	1.57
Green sunfish	Standard trap nets	0.40	2	0.10

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.

Grass Lake is subject to periodic winterkill. The last winterkill occurred in the winter of 1980-81. State park personnel have been plowing an area of the lake during the winter in an attempt to prevent or limit the severity of winterkill. There is an extremely abundant bullhead population. Black bullheads were the most abundant at 170 per gill net, followed by yellow bullheads and brown bullheads. Only one gill net was set due to the anticipated high number of bullheads. Northern pike abundance appears to be increasing as nineteen were captured with an average weight of 1.6 lbs. Two age-classes of northern pike composed the sample. Bluegill abundance was 127.2 per trap net lift, which is five times the area median. Only 8% of the bluegills measured were greater than 7.0 inches in length. Bluegill growth rates appear to be good despite their high abundance. Three black crappies were sampled, all age-I+. Five walleyes were captured and appeared to be the result of the 1986 fry and fingerling stocking. Walleyes ranged in length from 15.2 to 19.4 inches.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, August 15, 1989.

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. Regulations, slot limits and special rules are on the DNR page linked above, not here.

Grass Lake (Otter Tail County)

Stocking history

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 1989

Hear when the states we cover post stockings