West Graham Lake

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

Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 53002100

DNR records show 6 stocking entries at West Graham Lake since 2017, most recently yellow perch adults in 2025 (2,000 fish).

• West Graham Lake has 6 DNR stocking records across 6 years (2017-2025): walleye (5), yellow perch (1).
• The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 1,303,162 fish on record.
• Maximum depth 8 ft; surface area 519 acres, 519 littoral acres, 3.6 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
• Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 1.8 ft.
• Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, northern pike, orangespotted sunfish, quillback, and 5 more.
• 2 public accesses on the DNR list.
• Most recent DNR fish survey: September 12, 2025 (targeted survey).
• Nobles County, nearest town Kinbrae; DNR lake number (DOW) 53002100.

Depth map

Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 7/15/1980 (orig map); 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, 2025

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.

West Graham is a 515-acre lake located approximately 8 miles southeast of the city of Fulda in Murray County. West Graham Lake is a class 43 lake that has a maximum depth of 8.0 feet. The substrate is characterized as having a sand and gravel border with muck and detritus in the deeper water areas. The watershed-to-lake ratio (watershed acres-to-lake acres) is 21-to-1 indicating medium to large watershed draining into the lake. The lake is connected to several lakes including Fulda and East Graham and fish movement can take place among the lakes. West Graham is managed primarily for Walleye while Black Crappie and Yellow Perch are managed secondarily. West Graham Lake was stocked with Lower Mississippi strain Walleye (LMS) fry in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, and 2024 to expand this strain of Walleye locally. Prior to 2015, the Lower Mississippi strain was last stocked decades ago, but has persisted in several area lakes despite extensive stocking of Mississippi strain Walleye. A daytime electrofishing survey was conducted on September 12, 2025 to determine if natural reproduction occurred. Age-0 Walleye were captured at a rate of 2.7 per hour in 2025, indicating that natural reproduction did occur but it was limited. Age-0 Walleye ranged in length from 5.5 to 6.0 inches and averaged 5.7 inches. Age-1 Walleye were captured at a rate 4.0 per hour. Age-1 Walleye ranged in length from 8.1 to 9.2 inches and averaged 8.1 inches. It is unlikely that a year class was produced in 2025.

Minnesota DNR survey narrative, September 12, 2025.

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