School Grove Lake
Lyon County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 42000200
DNR records show 14 stocking entries at School Grove Lake since 2016, most recently walleye fry in 2025 (124,769 fish).
- School Grove Lake has 14 DNR stocking records across 9 years (2016-2025): walleye (13), yellow perch (1).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 1,650,464 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 11 ft; surface area 349 acres, 349 littoral acres, 5.0 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 2.1 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, common carp, green sunfish, orangespotted sunfish, walleye, white sucker, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (targeted survey).
- Lyon County, nearest town Cottonwood; DNR lake number (DOW) 42000200.
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 | fry | 124,769 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | Walleye | fry | 101,934 | 1.0 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fry | 175,828 | 1.7 |
| 2022 | Walleye | fry | 174,371 | 1.7 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fry | 175,898 | 1.6 |
| 2020 | Walleye | yearlings | 264 | 132.0 |
| 2020 | Walleye | adults | 33 | 65.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fry | 200,000 | 1.7 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fingerlings | 1,820 | 61.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye | adults | 670 | 756.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye | adults | 156 | 37.0 |
| 2019 | Yellow Perch | adults | 1,110 | 180.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | fry | 343,634 | 3.4 |
| 2016 | Walleye | fry | 351,087 | 3.6 |
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 | Minnesota DNR | Access on the northwest side of the lake. - Single ramp and dock. Limited parking. Picnic tables. Popular shore fishing spot. |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walleye | Fall electrofishing | 58.00 | 29 | 0.06 |
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.
A targeted fall night electrofishing survey was conducted on School Grove during September 8, 2025 to evaluate young of year "YOY" (fingerling sized) Walleye numbers due to a fry stocking. Three stations were sampled for a total of 30 minutes at night. Water temperature was 74.8 F. Water clarity was 6 inches. We saw abundant numbers of Black Bullhead (5 inches). Moderate numbers of adult Common Carp and Bigmouth Buffalo were also observed in the 2025 fall electrofishing survey. A targeted survey is generally used for sampling a specific kind of fish or time of year (i.e. spawning season, fall season, etc.) unlike a standard survey which samples a wider range of fish species during the summer months using standard methodology (i.e. standard time of year, set sampling stations, taking water clarity readings and oxygen/temperature profiles, etc.) and gears (i.e. lake survey gillnets, trapnets, and spring electrofishing for Largemouth Bass). School Grove is a small (318 acres), shallow (11 feet maximum), aerated, and productive lake located in Lyon County. School Grove can potentially connect to Lady Slipper Lake via a north shore wetland during extreme high-water events. Intense blue-green algal blooms are common during the mid-summer and into the fall just prior to ice formation. A winterkill of Black Crappie, Walleye, Common Carp, Black Bullhead and Channel Catfish occurred during February of 2010. The winterkill was not complete, but numbers of all fish species were significantly reduced. Low numbers of Black Bullhead, Common Carp, Yellow Perch and White Sucker were captured in the 2010 ice out trapnets. A significant winterkill occurred on nearby Cottonwood Lake during January of 2013, but not on School Grove or Lady Slipper. A significant winterkill of Common Carp occurred during the 2018-19 winter on School Grove. An intense blue-green algae bloom was present during the late fall just prior to ice up. Gamefish often become susceptible to winterkill when oxygen levels are less than 1 ppm for an extended period. Dissolved oxygen levels decreased rapidly to less than 1 ppm even though open water was present at the aeration site (not running) in early December of 2018. The aeration system was unable to be used due to open water at the site for signage during early December of 2018. The aeration system was on by January 3, 2019. There were low numbers of distressed and dying fish of all species near an inlet southwest of the nearby access on January 3, 2019. We observed numerous dead floating Common Carp during early May 2019 netting, but no Walleye or…
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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