Leander Lake
St. Louis County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 69079600
DNR records show 5 stocking entries at Leander Lake since 2016, most recently walleye fry in 2024 (140,000 fish).
- Leander Lake has 5 DNR stocking records across 5 years (2016-2024): walleye (5).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 445,000 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 45 ft; surface area 252 acres, 59 littoral acres, 3.0 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- St. Louis County, nearest town Idington; DNR lake number (DOW) 69079600.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey; depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Walleye1 | fry | 140,000 | 1.4 |
| 2022 | Walleye1 | fry | 70,000 | 0.7 |
| 2021 | Walleye1 | fry | 70,000 | 0.7 |
| 2018 | Walleye1 | fry | 100,000 | 1.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye1 | fry | 65,000 | 0.7 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O | UKN | - CARRY-IN THROUGH DNR LAND ON NW PENINSULA and THRU USFS SWIMMING BEACH and PICNIC AREA ON S SHORE. |
DNR fish survey, 1991
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 12.00 | 72 | 0.16 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 1.33 | 8 | 1.50 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 1.17 | 7 | 0.23 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 0.67 | 4 | 0.57 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard trap nets | 0.50 | 3 | 0.17 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 0.17 | 1 | 0.10 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 5.40 | 27 | 2.69 |
| Tullibee (cisco) | Standard gill nets | 4.20 | 21 | 0.33 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 10 | 0.23 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 1.20 | 6 | 6.35 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard gill nets | 1.00 | 5 | 0.32 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard gill nets | 0.20 | 1 | 1.50 |
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.
CURRENT TEST NETTING RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE MAIN PREDATOR SPECIES WITHIN THE FISH COMMUNITY INCLUDED NOP, LMB, AND WAE, WHILE THE OTHER SPECIES CONSISTED OF TLC, PMK, BLG, BLC, AND YEP. SUCKER AND BRBS WERE SAMPLED IN PREVIOUS TEST NETTING ASSESSMENTS BUT WERE ABSENT FROM PRESENT NET CATCHES. YEP, WHICH WERE QUITE ABUNDANT IN THE 1980 ASSESSMENT (CPUE=10.2 FISH/GILL NET) WENT ALMOST UNDETECTED IN THE PRESENT NET CATCHES (1 FISH IN A TRAP NET). THERE APPEARS TO BE A SHIFT IN FISH SPECIES WITHIN THIS LAKE. GILL NET AND TRAP NET CATCHES (CPUE'S) WERE EVALUATED WITH MEDIANS AND QUARTILES CALCULATED FOR ECOLOGICAL LAKE CLASS #5 (SCHUPP). NOTE: LAKES IN THIS CLASS ARE SOFT WATER (ALKALINITIES LESS THAN 40 PPM) BASINS WITH ABOUT 300 SURFACE ACRES OF WHICH 25% ARE WITHIN THE LITTORAL ZONE, MAXIMUM DEPTHS ARE AROUND 68 FEET, AND WATER IS RELATIVELY CLEAR AS INDICATED BY A MEAN SECCHI DISK VALUE OF 14 FEET. THE NOP POPULATION APPEARS TO HAVE INCREASED SLIGHTLY FROM ANY PREVIOUS TEST NETTING RESULTS AND MAY BE ABOVE NORMAL FOR LAKES IN THE SAME LAKE CLASS. THE CURRENT NOP GILL NET CPUE (5.4 FISH/NET) WAS THE HIGHEST VALUE DETERMINED FOR ANY TEST NETTING SURVEY SINCE 1950. THE CURRENT CATCH RATE IS ALSO SLIGHTLY ABOVE THE THIRD QUARTILE INDEX (4.2 FISH/NET) FOR LAKE CLASS #5. ALTHOUGH NOP ABUNDANCE MAY HAVE INCREASED FROM PREVIOUS SURVEYS, FURTHER ANALYSIS OF MEAN LENGTHS OF NET CATCHES FROM THE 1980, 1985, AND 1991 ASSESSMENTS INDICATE THE SIZE STRUCTURE HAS NOT CHANGED MEANINGFULLY. VARIABILITY OF THE MEAN LENGTHS (INCHES) WITH A 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL FOR EACH ASSESSMENT WAS DETERMINED AS FOLLOWS: 1980 (N=25 FISH): 23.5 25.8); 1985 (N=27 FISH): 21.2 1.0 (20.2-22.2): 1991 (N=27 FISH) : 21.1 (19.9-22.3). THE PRESENT TLC ABUNDANCE APPEARS TO HAVE INCREASED AS THERE WAS A 6 TO 7 FOLD INCREASE IN THE PRESENT GILL NET CPUE FROM PREVIOUS STUDIES (SEE HISTORICAL NETTING SUMMARY). THIS INCREASE COINCIDES WITH THE CLOSURE OF FALL TLC NETTING BEGINNING IN 1984. TLC HABITAT APPEARS TO BE RESTRICTED DUE TO SUMMER TEMPERATURE STRATIFICATION, SMALL SIZE OF LAKE, AND LIMITED ZOOPLANKTON PRODUCTIVITY; THEREFORE, THE POTENTIAL WAS HIGH FOR OVER HARVEST OF SPAWNING TLC WITH GILL NETS. NOTE: PAST FIELD CREW SPOT CHECKS OF FALL TLC NETTING WERE INCONCLUSIVE TO EVALUATE HARVEST. THE PRESENT WAE POPULATION APPEARS TO BE LOW AND CONSISTS OF MOSTLY LARGE, OLD FISH. THE CPUE OF 1.2 FISH/GILL NET WAS BELOW THE FIRST QUARTILE VALUE (2.0). THE WAE SAMPLE CONTAINED SIX FISH WHICH WERE ALL GREATER THAN 21 INCHES IN LENGTH, AND AGE 7 OR OLDER. THIS AGE STRUCTURE CORRESPONDS TO THE WAE…
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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