Lime Lake (Murray County)
Murray County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 51002400
DNR records show 6 stocking entries at Lime Lake (Murray County) since 2016, most recently northern pike fingerlings in 2025 (592 fish).
- Lime Lake (Murray County) has 6 DNR stocking records across 6 years (2016-2025): northern pike (6).
- The most-stocked species by count is northern pike: 2,907 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 7 ft; surface area 326 acres, 326 littoral acres, 4.1 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 0.7 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, largemouth bass, northern pike, quillback, walleye, white sucker, yellow bullhead, and 1 more.
- 2 public accesses on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (targeted survey).
- Murray County, nearest town Avoca; DNR lake number (DOW) 51002400.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 592 | 148.0 |
| 2024 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 657 | 98.1 |
| 2023 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 280 | 40.0 |
| 2021 | Northern Pike | adults | 250 | 192.3 |
| 2017 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 380 | 20.0 |
| 2016 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 748 | 8.7 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| concrete ramp | Minnesota DNR | STATE OWNED ACCESS ON NE CORNER OF LAKE |
| concrete ramp | county | County Park on South side of Lake. |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black bullhead | Standard trap nets | 76.18 | 838 | 0.05 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 6.09 | 67 | 2.70 |
| Common carp | Standard trap nets | 4.45 | 49 | 4.11 |
| QBS | Standard trap nets | 2.27 | 25 | 1.40 |
| White sucker | Standard trap nets | 2.00 | 22 | 1.64 |
| Bigmouth buffalo | Standard trap nets | 1.36 | 15 | 7.06 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 0.82 | 9 | 0.56 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 0.36 | 4 | 0.24 |
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.
Lime Lake is a shallow 316-acre lake adjacent to the City of Avoca in Murray County. Due to its shallowness (maximum depth of 5.0 ft.), Lime Lake has been highly vulnerable to winterkill. Historically, Lime Lake has been managed as a Northern Pike and Yellow Perch fishery because of the extensive network of wetlands that were connected upstream of the lake (Big Slough), which provided ideal spawning areas for Northern Pike, and because these species tend to have a higher tolerance of hypoxic conditions during winter. Primary management species include Northern Pike and secondary management species include Yellow Perch. A targeted survey was conducted during the week of May 27, 2025 to monitor fish populations using 11 trap nets. Northern Pike catch rates have averaged 2.1 per trap net since 1987. Prior to 2025, the highest Northern Pike catch rate was 3.1 per trap net in 2007. In 2025, the catch rate of Northern Pike was 6.1 per trap net, greatly exceeding historical catch rates in Lime Lake. Lengths of Northern Pike ranged from 15.3 to 32.8 inches and averaged 22.3 inches (PSD=57, PSD-P=14). Condition of Northern Pike was high (Wr=96), indicating that forage is available. From 2023-2025, DNR has stocked close to 5 Fall fingerlings Northern Pike per acre which is likely a driving reason behind the high catch rate in trap nets. It is possible that the Big Slough/Badger lakes wetland complex could provide additional fish through natural reproduction and emigration as well. Either way we suspect the increase in catch rate is a byproduct of increased recruitment to the population. Historically, brood fish collection has been done by the dam at Big Slough, however this depends on the amount of precipitation there is to maintain flow into Lime Lake. The management goal was met because the catch rate exceeded 1.5 per trap net. The Yellow Perch catch rate increased from 0.2 per trap net in 2019 to 0.8 per trap net in 2025, within the expected range of catch rates for class 43 lakes (0.3 to 3.8 per trap net). Yellow Perch lengths ranged from 7.6 to 12.6 inches and averaged 10.0 inches. The management goal was met. Other species sampled included Bigmouth Buffalo (1.4 per trap net), Black Bullhead (76.2 per trap net), Black Crappie (0.3 per trap net), Bluegill ( 0.4 per trap net), Common Carp (4.5 per trap net), Largemouth Bass ( 0.1 per trap net), Quillback (2.3 per trap net), Tadpole Madtom (0.1 per trap net), Walleye (0.1 per trap net), Yellow Bullhead (N=0.1 per trap net),and White Sucker (1.3 per trap net).
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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