Villard Lake
Pope County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 61006700
DNR records show 5 stocking entries at Villard Lake since 2016, most recently walleye fry in 2024 (271,000 fish).
- Villard Lake has 5 DNR stocking records across 5 years (2016-2024): walleye (5).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 2,503,000 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 16 ft, mean depth 10 ft; surface area 544 acres, 541 littoral acres, 3.6 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 5.1 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, common carp, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass, walleye, white sucker, and 2 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Pope County, nearest town Villard; DNR lake number (DOW) 61006700.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey (get source); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Walleye | fry | 271,000 | 2.3 |
| 2022 | Walleye | fry | 541,000 | 4.9 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fry | 541,000 | 5.0 |
| 2018 | Walleye | fry | 550,000 | 5.5 |
| 2016 | Walleye | fry | 600,000 | 5.8 |
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 | city |
DNR fish survey, 2025
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth bass | Standard electrofishing | 39.00 | 39 | 1.74 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 17.33 | 156 | 0.21 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 11.22 | 101 | 1.80 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard gill nets | 8.33 | 75 | 0.77 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard gill nets | 4.89 | 44 | 0.20 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 3.33 | 30 | 0.64 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 3.22 | 29 | 2.47 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 18 | 1.62 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard gill nets | 1.56 | 14 | 0.19 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 12.78 | 115 | 0.30 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 1.00 | 9 | 0.78 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 0.78 | 7 | 0.38 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.22 | 2 | 0.56 |
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.
Villard Lake is a shallow, 544-acre lake located west of the city of Villard in northeast Pope County. A concrete access is located off County Highway 28 on the northeast corner of the lake. The lake is the middle basin within a chain of three lakes (Leven, Villard, and Amelia). Villard Lake averages 10 feet, with a maximum depth of 16 feet. Due to the shallowness of the basin, strong winds and waves can re-suspend nutrients and trigger temporary algal blooms. Wind mixing and shallowness often prevents Villard Lake from becoming thermally stratified during summer months. This lack of a cool water refuge during the heat of the summer can be stressful for cool water species such Walleye and Northern Pike. Spring trap netting was conducted April 30 to May 2 when panfish were up shallow and vulnerable to capture, and only comparable to other spring targeted panfish surveys. The Bluegill catch (12.8/trap net) was similar to the 2022 targeted survey (10.8/trap net). Average and maximum length were 7.1 and 9.1 inches, respectively. Growth was below average when compared to other lakes with reduced sunfish bag limits. Sunfish anglers are reminded that a special regulation was implemented in 2022 that reduced the daily bag limit of sunfish from 20 to 10 to help protect and improve sunfish quality on this lake. For more information regarding the Quality Sunfish Initiative, see the following: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/sunfish/index.html. Few Black Crappie (1.0/ trap net) were sampled during the targeted spring trap netting. Average and maximum length were 11.0 and 13.0 inches, respectively. The catch rate was higher during summer gill nets (3.3/gill net), with mean and maximum lengths of 10.3 and 11.8 inches, respectively. Northern Pike relative abundance (11.2/gill net) was lower than recent surveys. The number of large pike has improved, with a maximum length of 32 inches. However, small fish are still abundant (77% under 22 inches), leading to a mean length of only 19.5 inches. New Northern Pike regulations were implemented in 2018 to increase size structure. Villard Lake is in the North-Central Zone, where all pike from 22 to 26 inches must be released. Anglers can keep 10 pike, but not more than two can be longer than 26 inches. Northern Pike taken by spearing follow the same rules, except one pike may be between 22 and 26 inches, or two larger than 26 inches. For more information see: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/pike/index.html. Walleye numbers (3.2/gill net) were low, but growth is fast. Average length was 18.5 inches, and maximum length was 26.0…
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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