Little Watab Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 73010900

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

• Little Watab Lake shows no stocking records in Minnesota DNR LakeFinder as of September 2, 2026.
• Maximum depth 22 ft, mean depth 9 ft; surface area 57 acres, 41 littoral acres, 1.8 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 4.0 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, northern pike, pumpkinseed, white sucker, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: September 11, 2006 (targeted survey).
• Stearns County, nearest town Jacobs Prairie; DNR lake number (DOW) 73010900.

Depth map

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

DNR fish survey, 2006

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 Watab is a 57 acre lake located six miles north of the City of Cold Spring in Stearns County. It is relatively shallow, with a maximum depth of 22 feet. No public access exists; however, access for the survey was obtained with permission from private property. On September 11, 2006 six trap nets were used to sample fish populations. The last assessment on Little Watab was conducted in 1984. The purpose of the assessment was to update information on the fishery, and survey aquatic vegetation. The 1984 assessment was conducted in early June and included one gillnet, making any kind of comparisons to the 2006 data difficult. Fish species composition in 2006 was very similar to those seen in 1984. A total of six northern pike were sampled in trap nets. Northern pike sampled were small, ranging in length from 18.4 - 22.0 inches. Based on the abundance of emergent vegetation and wetland areas associated with the South Fork Watab River, pike reproduction would be expected to be good. Bluegills were sampled at a rate of 16.5/ trap net. Bluegills ranged in size from 3.5 - 9.1 inches in length with an average length of 6.0 inches. The length frequency data suggests that many year classes of bluegills are present. The catch rate of black crappie was 2.8/ trap net. Black crappie ranged in length from 6.2 - 12.8 inches in length. Other species observed in low abundance were yellow perch, white sucker, green sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, hybrid sunfish, and black, yellow, and brown bullheads. Although no largemouth bass were sampled in this assessment, the landowner reported that he has caught largemouth bass up to four pounds in Little Watab Lake. Little Watab Lake has experienced partial winterkills in the past. Low dissolved oxygen levels were observed in February 1992. The landowner also observed fish showing symptoms of stress in the winter of 2001 and dead panfish the following spring. Shoreline vegetation on Little Watab is for the most part unaltered, with no development present. Significant stands of wild rice are located throughout the lake and a cattail fringe is present around the entire perimeter. Twenty-one species of aquatic plants were identified from the survey. Species that were given an abundance rating of common include: northern water milfoil, lesser duckweed, white and yellow waterlily, wild rice, chara, flatstem pondweed, and common bladderwort.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, September 11, 2006.

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