Whiskey Lake
Douglas County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 21021600
DNR records show 11 stocking entries at Whiskey Lake since 2017, most recently walleye fingerlings in 2025 (4,380 fish).
- Whiskey Lake has 11 DNR stocking records across 8 years (2017-2025): walleye (11).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 20,525 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 46 ft, mean depth 12 ft; surface area 160 acres, 73 littoral acres, 2.4 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 8.1 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, white sucker, yellow bullhead, and 1 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Douglas County, nearest town Brandon; DNR lake number (DOW) 21021600.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 6/26/1974 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 4,380 | 146.0 |
| 2024 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 2,190 | 73.0 |
| 2024 | Walleye | fingerlings | 65 | 13.0 |
| 2023 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 2,970 | 99.0 |
| 2022 | Walleye | fingerlings | 500 | 50.0 |
| 2022 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,095 | 73.0 |
| 2020 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,650 | 110.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fingerlings | 2,482 | 73.0 |
| 2018 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,095 | 73.0 |
| 2018 | Walleye | fingerlings | 3,003 | 78.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye1 | fingerlings | 1,095 | 73.0 |
1 fish purchased and stocked by private citizens and sporting groups.
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 | Located on north east side off County Road # 58 |
DNR fish survey, 2021
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth bass | Standard electrofishing | 82.68 | 113 | 1.15 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 22.67 | 204 | 0.32 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 9.33 | 84 | 0.81 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard gill nets | 11.17 | 67 | 0.97 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 9.00 | 54 | 0.16 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 8.33 | 50 | 1.49 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard gill nets | 8.33 | 50 | 1.49 |
| Hybrid sunfish | Standard gill nets | 3.83 | 23 | 0.37 |
| Black crappie | Standard gill nets | 3.00 | 18 | 0.32 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 2.17 | 13 | 0.20 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 1.17 | 7 | 1.38 |
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.
Whiskey Lake is a relatively small (158 acres), lightly developed basin located two miles northeast of Brandon in Douglas County. The lake has a maximum depth of 46 feet. Nearly half of the lake area is less than 15 feet deep. Water quality in Whiskey Lake has improved over the past two decades. The lake received discharges from the Brandon wastewater treatment plant until 1988. Excessive nutrient loading resulted in degradation of water quality and fish habitat. Dense algal blooms used to be frequent throughout summer months. Algal blooms can still occur, but with less frequency and severity. Whiskey Lake now supports a diverse and abundant aquatic plant community, which provides key spawning and nursery habitat for quality game fish populations. The fish community in Whiskey Lake has changed dramatically over the past several decades. Increased water quality and improved habitat conditions have led to a shift in fish species composition. Current fish community attributes more closely reflect that of small, heavily vegetated, bass-panfish lakes of west-central Minnesota. Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, Black Crappie, and Northern Pike are now abundant. These species were practically non-existent throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. A fish survey was completed during spring and summer 2021 to provide updated information on the fish community of Whiskey Lake. Survey components included spring electrofishing to assess Largemouth Bass, spring trap nets to assess panfish and gill nets were utilized during July. This was the first survey on Whiskey Lake that included a spring panfish survey and results will be used as a baseline to evaluate the effects of the new sunfish regulation. Starting in the spring of 2021, a special regulation was implemented that reduced the daily limit of sunfish from 20 to 5. Whiskey Lake supports a quality sunfish population and a number of Bluegill over 9 inches were observed in the survey. Growth rates are fast and Bluegill up to age 11 were sampled in the survey. Large bluegill can be over exploited, especially in such a small system. The reduced bag limit will help maintain and possibly further enhance this quality fishery. Spring surveys also offer the opportunity to sample larger Black Crappie (>8"), which can be difficult to sample in mid-summer surveys. The size structure of Black Crappie sampled in this survey was very high. Almost 43% of the sample was made up of Black Crappie ranging from 12 to 14 inches in length. Growth rates are only moderate, thus these larger crappies were very old compared to other populations, as…
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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