Sewell Lake
Otter Tail County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 56040800
DNR records show 8 stocking entries at Sewell Lake since 2017, most recently walleye fry in 2025 (168,000 fish).
- Sewell Lake has 8 DNR stocking records across 6 years (2017-2025): walleye (8).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 822,979 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 52 ft; surface area 369 acres, 168 littoral acres, 5.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 6.3 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, common carp, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, yellow bullhead, and 1 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (targeted survey).
- Otter Tail County, nearest town Dalton; DNR lake number (DOW) 56040800.
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 | 168,000 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | Walleye1 | fry | 100,000 | 0.8 |
| 2024 | Walleye1 | fry | 50,000 | 0.4 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fry | 168,000 | 1.4 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fry | 168,000 | 1.5 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fry | 168,000 | 1.4 |
| 2017 | Walleye | adults | 343 | 267.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | yearlings | 636 | 318.0 |
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 | Minnesota DNR |
DNR fish survey, 2024
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegill | 50-ft beach seine | 86.86 | 608 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | 50-ft beach seine | 15.57 | 109 | 0.00 |
| BKF | 50-ft beach seine | 10.57 | 74 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | 50-ft beach seine | 5.00 | 35 | 0.00 |
| Blacknose shiner | 50-ft beach seine | 2.71 | 19 | 0.00 |
| Largemouth bass | 50-ft beach seine | 1.57 | 11 | 0.00 |
| Hybrid sunfish | 50-ft beach seine | 1.43 | 10 | 0.00 |
| BCS | 50-ft beach seine | 1.29 | 9 | 0.00 |
| Fathead minnow | Backpack electrofishing | 33.78 | 38 | 0.00 |
| Iowa darter | Backpack electrofishing | 26.67 | 30 | 0.00 |
| BKF | Backpack electrofishing | 7.11 | 8 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Backpack electrofishing | 6.22 | 7 | 0.00 |
| Green sunfish | Backpack electrofishing | 4.44 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Tadpole madtom | Backpack electrofishing | 3.56 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Yellow bullhead | Backpack electrofishing | 1.78 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Yellow perch | Backpack electrofishing | 1.78 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 25.00 | 225 | 0.20 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 2.56 | 23 | 0.98 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 1.22 | 11 | 0.17 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 1.00 | 9 | 0.62 |
| Common carp | Standard trap nets | 0.89 | 8 | 7.93 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard trap nets | 0.89 | 8 | 1.99 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.67 | 6 | 0.14 |
| Walleye | Standard trap nets | 0.56 | 5 | 3.22 |
| Bluegill | 15-ft beach seine | 8.00 | 8 | 0.00 |
| Northern pike | 15-ft beach seine | 2.00 | 2 | 0.00 |
| BKF | 15-ft beach seine | 1.00 | 1 | 0.00 |
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 survey of nearshore fish species in Sewell Lake was conducted on June 24th-25th, 2024, by Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) Program. Sampling sites were evenly spaced around the lake, and each was sampled by backpack electrofishing and seining with a 50-foot or 15-foot seine, where possible. Backpack electrofishing was completed at all ten sampling stations. A 50-foot seine was used to sample seven stations, and a 15-foot seine was used at one station. Two stations were not seined due to thick vegetation and soft sediments. Nearshore sampling captured eighteen species of fish including five species that are intolerant of disturbance (i.e., Banded Killifish, Blackchin Shiner, Blacknose Shiner, Iowa Darter, and Pugnose Shiner) and four that are tolerant of disturbance (i.e., Black Bullhead, Common Carp, Fathead Minnow, and Green Sunfish). A concurrent summer trap net survey was also conducted by IBI Program staff. Nine trap nets were set along the shoreline in locations that encompassed multiple habitat types. Trap net sampling captured ten species of fish, and no species captured were intolerant of disturbance. Bluegill comprised a majority of the catch by number, whereas Common Carp and Bluegill comprised a majority by biomass. The nearshore and trap net were combined with gill net data from August 2023 survey to describe the fish community and provide a fish-based IBI (FIBI) score. The FIBI uses fish community data to measure a lake's health, and the types of fish species present can help identify any stressors that may be negatively affecting the lake environment. In Minnesota lakes, certain fish species cannot survive without clean water and a healthy habitat (e.g., Blackchin Shiner, Iowa Darter, and Rock Bass), while other species are tolerant of degraded conditions (e.g., Green Sunfish and Common Carp). The FIBI score, composed of several fish community diversity and composition metrics, indicates the overall health of a lake by comparing it to what is expected for a healthy lake. For additional information on the FIBI, search for "lake index of biological integrity" on the mndnr.gov website. Results from this survey provide evidence that the fish community in Sewell Lake is adversely impacted by stressors, as indicated by an FIBI score below the impairment threshold for aquatic life use determined for similar lakes. These results are similar to previous findings which indicated that Sewell Lake was vulnerable to biological impairment. The survey results will be considered when the biological health of the lake is assessed during the…
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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