Timber Lake
Jackson County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 32005800
DNR records show 12 stocking entries at Timber Lake since 2016, most recently northern pike fingerlings in 2025 (584 fish).
- Timber Lake has 12 DNR stocking records across 9 years (2016-2025): northern pike (6), walleye (5), black crappie (1).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 4,638,161 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 8 ft; surface area 191 acres, 191 littoral acres, 3.2 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 1.4 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, common carp, green sunfish, northern pike, orangespotted sunfish, walleye, white crappie, white sucker, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Jackson County, nearest town Windom; DNR lake number (DOW) 32005800.
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 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 584 | 146.0 |
| 2025 | Walleye | fry | 598,161 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 1,280 | 191.0 |
| 2023 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 525 | 75.0 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fry | 960,000 | 8.3 |
| 2022 | Walleye | fry | 960,000 | 8.9 |
| 2021 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 1,370 | 984.0 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fry | 1,120,000 | 10.6 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fry | 1,000,000 | 8.1 |
| 2018 | Northern Pike | adults | 353 | 619.3 |
| 2017 | Black Crappie | adults | 665 | 215.0 |
| 2016 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 1,320 | 16.5 |
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 ACCESS ON EAST END OF LAKE. PURCHASED AND DEVELOPED BY TRAILS AND WATERWAYS IN 1993. |
DNR fish survey, 2022
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black bullhead | Standard gill nets | 91.00 | 91 | 0.12 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 8.00 | 8 | 2.79 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 5.00 | 5 | 1.55 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 4.00 | 4 | 0.10 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 1.00 | 1 | 1.90 |
| Black bullhead | Standard trap nets | 52.25 | 418 | 0.05 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 1.88 | 15 | 0.09 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 0.88 | 7 | 0.61 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.38 | 3 | 2.00 |
| Bigmouth buffalo | Standard trap nets | 0.38 | 3 | 6.76 |
| Common carp | Standard trap nets | 0.25 | 2 | 5.92 |
| Green sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.12 | 1 | 0.03 |
| Orangespotted sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.12 | 1 | 0.04 |
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.
Timber Lake is a 192-acre lake, located in northern Jackson County, near the City of Wilder. The lake has a maximum depth of eight feet. Timber Lake is managed primarily for Northern Pike and Yellow Perch and secondarily for Walleye and Black Crappie. Despite frequent winterkills, the Northern Pike and Yellow Perch populations have been consistently maintained over the last couple of decades. Walleye were first stocked in 2019 to control the highly abundant Yellow Perch and Black Bullhead populations. Northern Pike have been stocked sporadically over the last decade, mostly limited by availability. During the late 1980's and early 1990's, Timber Lake had a decent Black Crappie population, which all but disappeared in the 2004 survey. In an effort to reestablish the Black Crappie population in Timber Lake, it was stocked with adults in 2017. Yellow Perch have not been stocked recently because they sustain themselves through natural reproduction. A survey was conducted the week of July 5, 2022 to monitor the fish population using one gill net and eight trap nets. Northern Pike catch rates have varied from 0.0 per gill net in 2016 to 11.7 per gill net in 1994, and have averaged 3.4 per gill net since 1985. The 2022 Northern Pike catch rate was 5.0 per gill net which is within the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (1.1 to 8.0 per gill net). Overall, Northern Pike size structure was small, with lengths ranging from 18.3 to 24.4 inches and averaging 20.4 inches. The Northern Pike that were sampled were likely the result of fingerling stocking in the fall of 2021, when 1,370 fingerlings were stocked, equaling a little over seven Pike per acre. Northern Pike were plump, likely signaling that Pike foraged heavily on the highly abundant Yellow Perch population. Timber Lake should be a great place to target Northern Pike in the near future. Timber Lake is within the "southern zone" of the Northern Pike zone regulations, so two Pike longer than 24 inches can be harvested. Northern Pike under 24 inches must be released. Yellow Perch have historically been highly abundant in Timber Lake with catch rates up to 245.0 per gill net in 2016. In 2022, the catch rate decreased dramatically to 4.0 per gill net, which is the lowest catch rate observed in survey history. The dramatic decrease could be the result of predation on Yellow Perch by the 2019 Walleye year class and the Northern Pike that were stocked as adults in 2018 and fingerlings in 2021. A second possibility is that Yellow Perch movement was limited during the survey, thus not getting entangled in…
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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