Mine Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 16059700

DNR records show 5 stocking entries at Mine Lake since 2016, most recently brook trout fingerlings in 2024 (2,000 fish).

• Mine Lake has 5 DNR stocking records across 5 years (2016-2024): brook trout (5).
• The most-stocked species by count is brook trout: 9,203 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 30 ft; surface area 34 acres, 2.2 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 11.8 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: brook trout, green sunfish, white sucker.
• 1 public access on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: September 22, 2009 (standard survey).
• Cook County, nearest town Grand Marais; DNR lake number (DOW) 16059700.

Stocking history

⁸ fish cooperatively purchased, raised, and/or stocked by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2009

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.

This was the first assessment of Mine Lake since brook trout stocking began in 2005. Two and four-year-old fish from the 2005 and 2007 fingerling stockings should have been present in 2009, although four-year-old fish would have been scarce. Brook trout stocking in 2009 was done after this assessment was completed. The brook trout catch was well below the normal range (1.5 - 14.0 fish/set) for catches in fall assessments of stream trout lakes in this area, and fell well short of the goal in the 2003 lake management plan (6.0 fish/set). The single brook trout taken was a fin-clipped two-year-old fish from the 2007 stocking. Brook trout gill net catches have been known to be quite variable in lakes in this area, particularly when the number of net sets used has been low. It is too soon to say with any certainty whether stocking of Mine Lake has been successful, or whether the 2009 catch was representative of actual brook trout abundance in this lake. We can only say that some stocked fish have survived. The white sucker gill net catch was higher than normal for a stream trout lake in this area. Many of the white sucker taken were small enough to have provided some forage for large brook trout. Green sunfish were also present in fairly high numbers, and were probably competing with brook trout for invertebrate forage. White sucker and green sunfish were both present when the lake was first (and last) assessed in 1981, and were taken in numbers similar to those seen in 2009.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, September 22, 2009.

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