Wellner-Hageman Reservoir
Brown County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 08012900
DNR records show 11 stocking entries at Wellner-Hageman Reservoir since 2016, most recently walleye adults in 2025 (98 fish).
- Wellner-Hageman Reservoir has 11 DNR stocking records across 7 years (2016-2025): walleye (10), northern pike (1).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 2,141 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 24 ft; surface area 75 acres, 3.5 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 4.2 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, common carp, green sunfish, largemouth bass, walleye, white sucker, yellow perch.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Brown County, nearest town Dotson; DNR lake number (DOW) 08012900.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Walleye | adults | 98 | 49.0 |
| 2025 | Walleye | adults | 197 | 123.1 |
| 2024 | Walleye | yearlings | 376 | 188.0 |
| 2022 | Northern Pike | fingerlings | 124 | 69.0 |
| 2021 | Walleye | adults | 193 | 252.6 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fingerlings | 120 | 8.0 |
| 2020 | Walleye | adults | 130 | 216.7 |
| 2017 | Walleye | adults | 441 | 441.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye | adults | 2 | 2.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye | fingerlings | 228 | 91.0 |
| 2016 | Walleye | yearlings | 356 | 79.0 |
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 | - SW Shore; in Mound Creek County Park |
DNR fish survey, 2022
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 50.00 | 50 | 0.15 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 18.00 | 18 | 0.11 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 7.00 | 7 | 1.78 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 3.00 | 3 | 4.50 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 2.00 | 2 | 0.10 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 31.12 | 249 | 0.11 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 20.62 | 165 | 0.16 |
| White sucker | Standard trap nets | 6.50 | 52 | 2.23 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 3.88 | 31 | 0.07 |
| Walleye | Standard trap nets | 0.25 | 2 | 3.18 |
| Green sunfish | Standard trap nets | 0.12 | 1 | 0.28 |
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.
Wellner-Hageman Reservoir (aka Mound Creek Reservoir), near Sanborn, is a man-made 70-acre lake located in Brown County. The class 33 reservoir was created in the spring of 1993 for flood and erosion control for Mound Creek and lower portions of the Cottonwood River. Wellner-Hageman Reservoir is within a large watershed (8,600 acres) and has a watershed-to-lake ratio of 123 to 1, a very high ratio. Managing populations of fish in a reservoir within a large watershed typically means the water is being replaced in the basin quite often. When you have that much water moving through a reservoir, the fish populations tend to be variable and therefore difficult to maintain for the long term. The health of a lake is directly related to the health of the land practices in its watershed. Poor land practices will equate to poor water quality and poor aquatic life sustainability, and vice versa. The Wellner-Hageman fish population is a reflection of its watershed; low species richness, highly variable, and in need of constant monitoring or maintenance (in this case fish assessment and stocking). Bluegill, Black Crappie, Channel Catfish, Walleye, and Northern Pike have been stocked at various times since 1993. Currently, the reservoir is managed primarily for Black Crappie and Bluegill and secondarily for Northern Pike, Walleye, and Yellow Perch. A population assessment was conducted the week of July 25, 2022 with 1 gill net and 8 trap nets to assess the fish community. Six species were caught during sampling with White Sucker being the most abundant by percent total biomass (54.9%), followed by Bluegill (18.2%), Black Crappie (16.9%), Walleye (7.9%), Yellow Perch (2.1%), and Green Sunfish (0.1%). Wellner-Hageman is a simple fish community that is made up of species that are stocked (Black Crappie, Bluegill, and Walleye) or that reside upstream of the dam (White Sucker, Green Sunfish, and Yellow Perch). From 2013 to 2021 only Walleye have been stocked. However, Black Crappie and Bluegill were stocked historically with the last stocking occurring in 2005 for Black Crappie and 1994 for Bluegill. After the 2022 survey, during the fall of 2022, Northern Pike were stocked as an additional predator in the lake. The following paragraphs outline the status of Walleye, Black Crappie, and Bluegill in Wellner-Hageman Reservoir. Relative abundance of Walleye has remained stable in Wellner-Hageman Reservoir from 2016 to 2022 with 3.0 Walleye per gillnet captured during each survey. Walleye in the gill net sample (n=3) ranged from 20.9 inches to 26.8 inches with a mean length…
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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