Pleasant Lake (Stearns County)

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 73005100

Pleasant Lake (Stearns County) has no DNR stocking rows in LakeFinder; this page carries its DNR depth, access and survey data.

• Pleasant Lake (Stearns County) shows no stocking records in Minnesota DNR LakeFinder as of September 2, 2026.
• Maximum depth 33 ft, mean depth 13 ft; surface area 218 acres, 113 littoral acres, 3.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 10.4 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: black crappie, bluegill, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
• 1 public access on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: May 28, 2024 (targeted survey).
• Stearns County, nearest town Pleasant Lake; DNR lake number (DOW) 73005100.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 6/6/1957 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

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.

Pleasant Lake is located three miles southwest of St. Cloud in Stearns County and has one public access located on the northeast side of the lake. The lake is 219 acres and has a maximum depth of 33 feet. Over the years, Pleasant Lake has had different experimental regulations in place, restricting the harvest of sunfish. In 1996, the sunfish bag limit was reduced from the statewide 30/day to 10/day. This regulation remained in place until 2007, when the bag limit was further reduced to five sunfish per day. The goal of the reduced bag limit regulation is to reduce harvest and improve the average size of sunfish. To evaluate the effectiveness of the reduced five-bag daily limit regulation, a targeted Bluegill assessment was conducted on Pleasant Lake from May 28 to May 31, 2024. A total of 444 Bluegills were sampled during the 2024 survey and ranged in length from two to eight inches with an average length of 5 ½ inches. The average size of Bluegill has remained relatively unchanged since 2007, averaging 5.7 inches over the past four surveys. To further evaluate the size structure of the population, fisheries biologists describe the size structure by looking at the percentage of fish over a certain length. From the 2024 survey, Bluegill longer than six inches composed 34% of the total catch while less than 1% were longer than eight inches. Results from this analysis indicate that anglers looking to target large Bluegills should not expect to catch many in Pleasant Lake, but rather catch large quantities of smaller fish. Bluegill grow very slow in Pleasant Lake, only reaching 6.8 inches in length by age 9. In addition to Bluegill, Hybrid Sunfish were also collected during the survey. A total of 215 Hybrid Sunfish were sampled with an average length of 6.4 inches and a maximum length of 9.5 inches. Recent surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 resulted in similar catches and sizes of Hybrid Sunfish; however, surveys conducted in 2007 and 2011 resulted in catches that were significantly lower (2007 - 43 fish, 2011- 12 fish). On average, it takes between 5 and 8 years for an eight-inch Bluegill to replace itself within a population. By removing large, adult males from the population, this makes it easier for smaller Bluegill, with less desire to grow large, sneak in and fertilize eggs on the Bluegill beds which ultimately influences the size structure of the population. Although large male Bluegill are colorful and easy to target during the springtime due to spawning behaviors, they are also very easily exploited by anglers. Therefore, anglers are encouraged…

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, May 28, 2024.

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