Vermont Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 21007300

DNR records show 8 stocking entries at Vermont Lake since 2017, most recently black crappie adults in 2025 (620 fish).

• Vermont Lake has 8 DNR stocking records across 7 years (2017-2025): walleye (7), black crappie (1).
• The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 10,414 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 59 ft, mean depth 12 ft; surface area 342 acres, 218 littoral acres, 6.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 14.5 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, yellow bullhead, yellow perch.
• 1 public access on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: May 12, 2022 (targeted survey).
• Douglas County, nearest town Leaf Valley; DNR lake number (DOW) 21007300.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey; depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.

Stocking history

¹ fish purchased and stocked by private citizens and sporting groups.

Public accesses

DNR fish survey, 2022

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 was conducted in spring 2022 to assess the Bluegill and Black Crappie populations. This was the first targeted spring panfish survey on Lake Vermont and will be used as a baseline to evaluate the effects of the new Quality Sunfish Initiative (QSI) regulation. On March 1, 2022, a special regulation was implemented that reduced the daily limit of sunfish from 20 to 10. The goal of the new regulation is to maintain or increase the average size of Bluegill. This survey also offered the opportunity to sample larger Black Crappie, which can be difficult to sample in standard summer surveys. Lake Vermont supports a quality Bluegill and Black Crappie fishery. Survey results suggest both populations exhibited moderate abundance and good size structure. Almost 55% of Bluegill sampled exceeded 8 inches and almost 29% of Black Crappie sampled exceeded 10 inches. The largest fish measured was just over 10 inches for Bluegill and almost 12 inches for Black Crappie. Panfish anglers fishing Lake Vermont are encouraged to practice selective harvest to help sustain the quality of this fishery. Selective harvest encourages the release of larger fish while promoting harvest of more abundant smaller fish. Releasing medium to large fish will help maintain fish community balance as well as increase opportunities to catch large fish in the future.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, May 12, 2022.

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