East Lake

How big is East Lake?

How deep is East Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in East Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near East Lake?

East Lake is a fairly remote, undeveloped lake located within the USFS Superior National Forest. It is a designated trout lake and is stocked annually with brook trout. Its surface area is 82 acres with a maximum depth of 18.0 feet. Eighty percent of the lake is less than 15 feet. There are three access routes to East Lake; however, two are little used and are becoming difficult to locate. The preferred route is from Lake County Road #7, take U.S. Forest Service Road #1849 northeast 0.8 mile to old logging road, follow logging road 0.8 mile northwest and east to the lake. Portions of this route are suitable only for hiking or use of a small all-terrain vehicle (ATV).

Much of the shoal-water substrate is hard bottom (boulder, rubble, gravel and sand) with some emergent vegetation. Whitestem and variableleaf pondweeds are the most common submerged aquatic plants in East Lake. The undeveloped shoreline is a mixed coniferous deciduous forest on a gradually sloped shore.

Brook trout fingerlings are stocked annually in East Lake. The population assessment performed in the fall of 2012 found brook trout numbers below average compared to similar stocked brook trout lakes in the Finland area. The average weight of brook trout was 0.7 pound (12 inches).

Brown trout numbers were low in 2012 with a total of five sampled in the population assessment. The low catch was not surprising since brown trout yearling stocking was discontinued after 2009 after it was determined that few anglers were targeting brown trout. The average weight was 1.8 pounds (16.8 inches). Several of the brown trout had young-of-the-year yellow perch in the stomach contents. All brown trout sampled were age-4, stocked as yearlings in 2008.

Yellow perch were present in above average numbers. The average weight was about 0.1 pound (6.6 inches) for the yellow perch catch. Yellow perch are not a desirable species for stream trout lake management and no steps have been taken to enhance the yellow perch population.

White sucker represented 89% of the total biomass sampled in the population assessment. The white sucker population was high, compared to other lakes in the lake class. The average weight of white suckers was 0.7 pound (11.8 inches). Large populations of small white suckers are not unusual when present in managed stream trout lakes, but competition for forage with suckers negatively impacts the ability to produce high quality stream trout populations when present. Creek chubs and common shiners were also collected in sampling gear.

What is the average air temp for East Lake?

Are there any state parks near East Lake?