Little Spirit Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 32002400

DNR records show 2 stocking entries at Little Spirit Lake since 2017, most recently walleye fry in 2025 (320,000 fish).

• Little Spirit Lake has 2 DNR stocking records across 2 years (2017-2025): walleye (2).
• The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 640,000 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 8 ft; surface area 624 acres, 419 littoral acres, 10.6 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 2.5 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum, gizzard shad, green sunfish, largemouth bass, muskellunge, and 11 more.
• 2 public accesses on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: October 9, 2024 (targeted survey).
• Jackson County, nearest town Jackson; DNR lake number (DOW) 32002400.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey; depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

Stocking history

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2024

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.

Little Spirit Lake is a 643-acre, class 42 lake located on the Minnesota-Iowa border in Jackson County. Little Spirit Lake has a history of experiencing varying levels of partial winterkill and summer kill conditions due to low dissolved oxygen in the winter and severe algae blooms in the summer. Thus, Little Spirit Lake is aerated by the Jackson County Conservation League to reduce winterkill frequency and/or severity. In terms of invasive species, Little Spirit Lake is on the frontline, as Bighead and Silver Carp were sampled in Big Spirit Lake, which is hydrologically connected to Little Spirit Lake. Additionally, Zebra Mussels are established in East and West Lake Okoboji, which are connected downstream to Big and Little Spirit Lakes. Little Spirit Lake is managed primarily for Walleye and secondarily for Black Crappie and Yellow Perch. Night electrofishing was conducted on October 9, 2024 to determine if stocking by Iowa DNR in Big Spirit Lake is adequate to maintain Walleye numbers in Little Spirit Lake. Young-of-the year Walleye were captured at a rate of 47.9 per hour electrofishing, which indicates that stocking in Big Spirit Lake by Iowa DNR does create a presence of Walleye in Little Spirit Lake. The age-0 Walleyes ranged in length from 6.1 to 7.6 inches and averaged 6.8 inches in the sample. Little Spirit Lake is connected to Big Spirit Lake in Iowa, which allows passage by small fish, so Walleye fry or fingerlings did migrate from Big Spirit Lake. However, there may be some need to stock additional Walleye fry directly into Little Spirit Lake from the Lake Sarah Egg take operation (Lower Mississippi Strain Walleye) because the management goal of 10.0 Walleye per gill net was not met during gill netting in 2024. Future monitoring of the Walleye population with fall night electrofishing and summer gillnetting will be continued.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, October 9, 2024.

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