Middle Spunk Lake
Stearns County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 73012800
DNR records show 10 stocking entries at Middle Spunk Lake since 2016, most recently walleye fingerlings in 2025 (457 fish).
- Middle Spunk Lake has 10 DNR stocking records across 6 years (2016-2025): walleye (10).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 9,796 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 81 ft, mean depth 28 ft; surface area 236 acres, 81 littoral acres, 4.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 12.5 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, common carp, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass, smallmouth bass, and 5 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Stearns County, nearest town Avon; DNR lake number (DOW) 73012800.
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 | Walleye | fingerlings | 457 | 26.5 |
| 2025 | Walleye | yearlings | 172 | 81.5 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fingerlings | 1,991 | 86.0 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fingerlings | 647 | 196.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fingerlings | 780 | 20.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 3,825 | 153.0 |
| 2018 | Walleye | adults | 176 | 252.0 |
| 2018 | Walleye | yearlings | 64 | 16.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye | fingerlings | 1,628 | 64.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye | yearlings | 56 | 33.0 |
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 | city |
DNR fish survey, 2023
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth bass | Standard electrofishing | 45.83 | 83 | 0.79 |
| Tullibee (cisco) | Standard gill nets | 36.00 | 216 | 0.48 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 10.83 | 65 | 1.95 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 1.33 | 8 | 2.05 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 1.00 | 6 | 3.68 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard gill nets | 0.67 | 4 | 0.75 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 0.33 | 2 | 0.16 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard gill nets | 0.17 | 1 | 2.84 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 7.67 | 69 | 0.10 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 2.89 | 26 | 0.23 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 1.78 | 16 | 0.14 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 0.78 | 7 | 0.70 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.44 | 4 | 0.67 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard trap nets | 0.33 | 3 | 0.96 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 0.33 | 3 | 0.70 |
| Green sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.11 | 1 | 0.04 |
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.
Middle Spunk Lake is a 236-acre lake located within the city limits of Avon in central Stearns County. It has a maximum depth of 81 feet and a large watershed dominated by row crops, forest, and pasture. A city owned public access is located on the northeast corner of the lake. A standard summer survey was conducted in 2023 to monitor changes in the fishery since the last survey in 2016. Anglers can expect good fishing for Northern Pike and Largemouth Bass. Emergent and floating leaf vegetation was mapped in August 2016 and found to cover more than half of the shoreline. Dominant species mapped were cattail, waterlily, and bulrush. Submerged vegetation was not surveyed in 2023, but chara and coontail were the dominant species found in 2016. Water clarity was good; Secchi depth was 18 feet in late June and MPCA data shows the average summer water clarity to be 13 feet over the last ten years. Dissolved oxygen was adequate to support fish down to 35 feet in late June. Northern Pike numbers were lower than 2016 but remained above the expected range of values for similar lakes. Lengths ranged from 13 to 34 inches with an average length and weight of 20 inches and 2 pounds. The Northern Pike size structure is relatively poor as only 9% of the pike sampled were 26 inches or longer in 2023, similar to 2016 (8%). With the high catch rate of pike, anglers could expect a fair bit of action from the abundant small pike. Walleye catches have historically been low in Middle Spunk Lake despite regular fingerling stocking. Only six Walleye were captured during the 2023 survey; this is below the expected range of values for lakes like Middle Spunk and similar to results in 2016. Walleye ranged in length from 12 to 29 inches with an average length and weight of 20 inches and 3.7 pounds. While numbers are low, anglers still have a chance to catch a few walleye in Middle Spunk Lake. Largemouth Bass were sampled by daytime electrofishing on June 1st. The catch rate of 46/hour was lower than the Sauk Rapids average daytime catch of 52/hour and lower than the 2016 survey when sampling was conducted at night. Largemouth Bass lengths ranged from six to 19 inches with an average length of 10 inches. Of catchable size fish (>8 inches), 20% were longer than 15 inches. No Smallmouth Bass were sampled in the 2023 but smallmouth were sampled in 2016 (16.2/hour). Middle Spunk Lake is one of the few lakes in the Sauk Rapids Area to support a Tullibee population. The Tullibee catch was much higher than 2016 and the second highest on record. Tullibee lengths ranged from seven to 16…
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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