St. Olaf Lake
Waseca County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 81000300
DNR records show 9 stocking entries at St. Olaf Lake since 2016, most recently northern pike in 2025 (2,500 fish).
- St. Olaf Lake has 9 DNR stocking records across 9 years (2016-2025): northern pike (9).
- The most-stocked species by count is northern pike: 193,780 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 33 ft; surface area 91 acres, 51 littoral acres, 1.6 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 5.3 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black crappie, bluegill, common carp, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, white crappie, white sucker, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Waseca County, nearest town Mankato; DNR lake number (DOW) 81000300.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 6/2/1954 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Northern Pike | - | 2,500 | 6.9 |
| 2024 | Northern Pike | - | 1,275 | 2.5 |
| 2023 | Northern Pike | fry | 26,676 | 0.9 |
| 2022 | Northern Pike | fry | 25,000 | 0.8 |
| 2021 | Northern Pike | fry | 27,616 | 0.9 |
| 2019 | Northern Pike | fry | 25,000 | 0.9 |
| 2018 | Northern Pike | fry | 32,895 | 1.1 |
| 2017 | Northern Pike | fry | 25,000 | 0.7 |
| 2016 | Northern Pike | fry | 27,818 | 0.4 |
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 | county | Access at Park on N. shore of lake. |
DNR fish survey, 2022
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 165.62 | 1,325 | 0.03 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 2.62 | 21 | 0.23 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 2.50 | 20 | 0.17 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 2.38 | 19 | 0.59 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 1.75 | 14 | 0.50 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 1.12 | 9 | 0.09 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard trap nets | 0.12 | 1 | 3.41 |
| White crappie | Standard trap nets | 0.12 | 1 | 0.39 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard electrofishing | 153.39 | 145 | 0.89 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 24.67 | 74 | 0.17 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard gill nets | 10.33 | 31 | 0.64 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 8.00 | 24 | 0.22 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 5.67 | 17 | 3.87 |
| White crappie | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 6 | 0.42 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 6 | 0.71 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 1.00 | 3 | 0.04 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 0.33 | 1 | 0.51 |
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.
St Olaf Lake is a 91-acre lake located approximately 3.5 miles east of the town of New Richland in Waseca County. The county-owned public access is located on the north shore off County Highway 8. St Olaf Lake has a maximum depth of 33 feet, with approximately 55% of the lake less than 15 feet. St Olaf Lake is primarily managed for Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, and Northern Pike and secondarily for Black and White Crappie. The management plan calls for stocking 25,000 Northern Pike fry annually into the connected wetland near the public access. A special regulation protecting Northern Pike under 30 inches from harvest has been in place since 1998. St Olaf Lake is one of 23 lakes statewide included in the Sentinel Lakes program which aims to capture long term changes in biological, physical, and chemical characteristics. A standard survey was conducted the week of June 21, 2022, as part of a regular monitoring program conducted by the Minnesota DNR. A standard survey is used for sampling a wide range of fish species during the summer months using standard methods (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, trap nets, and spring electrofishing for Largemouth Bass). This survey was intended to assess the fish community by deploying 3 gill nets and 8 trap nets, as well as recording water quality parameters. A total of 1,325 Bluegills were sampled with trap nets for a catch rate of 165.6/net. Catch rates since 1984 have varied from 33.3/net in 1996 to 213.3/net in 1998 with a mean of 101.9/net. Bluegill lengths ranged from 4.0 to 8.2 inches with an average of 6.3 inches. Fish from both gears ranged from age-3 to age-10 with 8 year-classes present. On average, fish did not exceed quality length (6.0 inches) until age-5, indicating slow growth relative to other area lakes. Bluegills continued to be an important part of the St Olaf fishery in 2022, with many quality-size fish available to anglers. A total of 145 Largemouth Bass were sampled with boat electrofishing for a catch rate of 153.4/hour. This represented the highest catch rate ever recorded with boat electrofishing on St Olaf Lake. Catch rates since 2000 have varied from 22.0/hour in 2000 to 153.4/hour in 2022 with a mean of 70.1/hour. Largemouth Bass lengths ranged from 3.9 to 20.2 inches with an average of 10.5 inches. Scales were collected to age Largemouth Bass. Largemouth Bass ranged from age-1 to age-13 with 11 age classes included. On average Largemouth Bass reached quality size…
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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