Kings Lake (Stearns County)
Stearns County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 73023300
DNR records show 6 stocking entries at Kings Lake (Stearns County) since 2016, most recently walleye yearlings in 2025 (300 fish).
- Kings Lake (Stearns County) has 6 DNR stocking records across 5 years (2016-2025): walleye (6).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 5,150 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 44 ft, mean depth 23 ft; surface area 204 acres, 46 littoral acres, 3.1 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 12.8 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: (targeted survey).
- Stearns County, nearest town Freeport; DNR lake number (DOW) 73023300.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 8/20/1957 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Walleye1 | yearlings | 300 | 100.0 |
| 2023 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,000 | 50.0 |
| 2020 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,000 | 50.0 |
| 2020 | Walleye1 | yearlings | 1,000 | 50.0 |
| 2018 | Walleye1 | yearlings | 1,000 | 100.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye1 | yearlings | 850 | 85.0 |
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.
Public accesses
| Type | Owner | Where |
|---|---|---|
| concrete ramp | Minnesota DNR |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGS | 50-ft beach seine | 110.20 | 551 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | 50-ft beach seine | 87.40 | 437 | 0.00 |
| Golden shiner | 50-ft beach seine | 33.60 | 168 | 0.00 |
| BKF | 50-ft beach seine | 30.00 | 150 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | 50-ft beach seine | 27.60 | 138 | 0.00 |
| Blacknose shiner | 50-ft beach seine | 22.00 | 110 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | 50-ft beach seine | 20.40 | 102 | 0.00 |
| LED | 50-ft beach seine | 8.20 | 41 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Backpack electrofishing | 34.38 | 57 | 0.00 |
| BKF | Backpack electrofishing | 9.65 | 16 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | Backpack electrofishing | 8.44 | 14 | 0.00 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Backpack electrofishing | 3.02 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Black crappie | Backpack electrofishing | 3.02 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Green sunfish | Backpack electrofishing | 3.02 | 5 | 0.00 |
| LED | Backpack electrofishing | 3.02 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Central mudminnow | Backpack electrofishing | 1.81 | 3 | 0.00 |
| LED | 15-ft beach seine | 31.33 | 94 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | 15-ft beach seine | 18.33 | 55 | 0.00 |
| PGS | 15-ft beach seine | 7.67 | 23 | 0.00 |
| Blacknose shiner | 15-ft beach seine | 2.67 | 8 | 0.00 |
| Brassy minnow | 15-ft beach seine | 1.00 | 3 | 0.00 |
| Green sunfish | 15-ft beach seine | 0.33 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Largemouth bass | 15-ft beach seine | 0.33 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Brook stickleback | 15-ft beach seine | 0.33 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 18.78 | 169 | 0.16 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 3.44 | 31 | 0.19 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 2.11 | 19 | 0.92 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 0.56 | 5 | 0.22 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 0.56 | 5 | 0.13 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.33 | 3 | 0.15 |
| Brown bullhead | Standard trap nets | 0.22 | 2 | 1.18 |
| Walleye | Standard trap nets | 0.22 | 2 | 1.95 |
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.
A targeted survey of nearshore fish species in Kings was conducted on August 25-August 27, 2025, by Lake Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program (LBMA) staff. Sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake, and each was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 50-foot or 15-foot seine, where possible. Backpack electrofishing was completed at 10 sampling stations. Similarly, a 50-foot seine was used to sample five stations, and a 15-foot seine was used at three stations. Two stations were not seined due to high water depths that made foot traversal difficult. Nearshore sampling captured 22 species of fish including six species that are intolerant of disturbance (i.e., Banded Killifish, Blackchin Shiner, Blacknose Shiner, Iowa Darter, Least Darter, and Pugnose Shiner) and one that is tolerant of disturbance (i.e., Green Sunfish). A concurrent summer trap net survey was also conducted by LBMA staff. Nine trap nets were set along the shoreline in locations that encompassed multiple habitat types. Trap net sampling captured 10 species of fish Bluegill and Black Crappie comprised a majority of the catch by number, whereas Bluegill and Yellow Bullhead comprised a majority by biomass. The nearshore and trap net were combined with gill net data from a June 2025 survey to describe the fish community and provide a fish-based IBI (FIBI) score. The FIBI uses fish community data to measure a lake's health, and the types of fish species present can help identify any stressors that may be negatively affecting the lake environment. In Minnesota lakes, certain fish species cannot survive without clean water and a healthy habitat (e.g., Blackchin Shiner, Least Darter, and Pugnose Shiner), while other species are tolerant of degraded conditions (e.g., Green Sunfish and Common Carp). The FIBI score, composed of several fish community diversity and composition metrics, indicates the overall health of a lake by comparing it to what is expected for a healthy lake. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website. Results from this survey provide evidence that the fish community in Kings Lake is healthy as indicated by an FIBI score that exceeds the exceptional use threshold determined for similar lakes. These results are similar to previous findings, which indicated Kings Lake is fully supporting aquatic life. Kings Lake was also selected for a repeat survey to evaluate within-season variability, so you may note two similar surveys completed in summer 2025. The survey results will be…
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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