Great Northern Lake

Stearns County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 73008300

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

• Great Northern Lake shows no stocking records in Minnesota DNR LakeFinder as of September 2, 2026.
• Maximum depth 16 ft, mean depth 6 ft; surface area 196 acres, 185 littoral acres, 6.0 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 3.1 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, channel catfish, common carp, greater redhorse, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, muskellunge, and 9 more.
• 1 public access on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: October 15, 2025 (targeted survey).
• Stearns County, nearest town Cold Spring; DNR lake number (DOW) 73008300.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 6/25/1992 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2025

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.

The Sauk River Chain of Lakes (SRCL) is located in south-central Stearns County near the city of Cold Spring. A dam on the Sauk River built in the early 1900s created the SRCL and provides access to over 3,200 acres of connected water, including Bolfing, Great Northern, Knaus, Krays, Schneider, Zumwalde, Cedar Island, and Horseshoe Lakes. Prior to 2001, the Walleye fishery was supported through fingerling stockings during odd-numbered years. In 2001, the stocking strategy switched from fingerling to fry stocking during odd-numbered years and was often supplemented by natural reproduction and fry stocking conducted by the lake association. Fall electrofishing for young-of-year (YOY) Walleye was initiated in the East Lakes (Bolfing, Great Northern, Knaus, Krays, Schneider, and Zumwalde) in 2015 to monitor the distribution and abundance of YOY Walleye and naturally reproduced fish migrating downstream from Horseshoe and Cedar Island Lakes. Fall electrofishing results indicated strong natural reproduction, leading to the discontinuation of Walleye stocking in 2018. A targeted electrofishing survey was conducted on October 15, 2025, to assess YOY Walleye abundance within the East Lakes complex, represented by Great Northern Lake. During this survey, 17 Walleye were captured, all of which were age-1+ fish. The catch rate was15.8 fish/hour (on-time). Walleye ranged in length from 11.7 to 27.9 inches and averaged 16.6 inches in total length. No YOY Walleye were captured in the 2025 survey. Since the discontinuance of fry stocking in 2018, YOY Walleye catch rates across the East Lakes have ranged from 0 to 162/hr, with a long-term average of 56.7/hr. Annual fall YOY electrofishing will continue, and if YOY catch rates across the SRCL remain below 25/hr for three consecutive years, fry stocking will take place the following spring as per the Lake Management Plan.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, October 15, 2025.

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