Stewart Lake

How big is Stewart Lake?

How deep is Stewart Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Stewart Lake?

Are there boat launches on Stewart Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Stewart Lake?

Stewart is a 248 acre lake with 247 (99%) acres of littoral area and a maximum depth of 24 feet. The lake is located 10 miles north of Two Harbors, MN off County #131 and has a county administered, concrete, back-in access. Stewart was last assessed in 2008. Stewart was surveyed during the summer of 2014 to update information about fish populations and to evaluate natural walleye recruitment after the discontinuation of walleye stocking (2002).

Walleye abundance of 2.0 per gillnet lift was down from 2008 (2.2) but was still average compared to other Minnesota lakes of similar type. However, this catch is the lowest documented on Stewart in eight investigations dating back to 1950. Walleye average length was 15.8 inches and growth was slow when compared to other Duluth Area lakes. A total of nine year-classes were represented. Recruitment appears relatively stable, with only two missing year-classes from 2002 through 2012. All year-classes beyond 2002 are exclusively from natural reproduction. However, all year-classes appear fairly weak, with no more than three specimens captured in any given year-class.

Northern Pike abundance of 8.2 per gillnet lift was down from 2008 (9.2) and was average compared to other Minnesota lakes of similar type. Average length was 21.1 inches and growth was fast when compared to other Duluth Area lakes. Fourteen percent of the captured fish were greater than 30 inches in length, with fish up to 37.6 inches sampled. Recruitment was consistent with all year-classes from 2007 through 2013 represented. The 2011 year-class was strong, contributing to 46% of the overall catch.

Yellow Perch abundance of 32.0 per gillnet lift was up from 2008 (25.2) and was above average compared to other Minnesota lakes of similar type. Average length of Perch was 8.2 inches and growth was average when compared to other Duluth Area lakes. Recruitment was consistent with all year-classes from 2006 through 2012 represented.

Bluegill abundance of 10.3 per trapnet lift was down from 2008 (17.5) but still above average when compared to other Minnesota lakes of similar type. Average length was 6.3 inches and specimens were sampled up to 10.0 inches.

Black Crappie abundance of 1.7 per trapnet lift was up from 2008 (1.0) and was average when compared to other Minnesota lakes of similar type. Black Crappie average length was 9.5 inches. Although Black Crappie were not aged for this assessment, some smaller fish were captured in the gillnets, suggesting that fairly consistent recruitment is occurring.

No prior Largemouth Bass electrofishing assessments have been conducted on Stewart Lake, but Largemouth Bass were sampled with regular assessment gear from 1946 to 1957. Zero Largemouth Bass were sampled, for a catch rate of 0.0 fish per hour of electrofishing on-time.

Other fish species sampled include Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish and White Sucker.

Information was also collected on aquatic vegetation. Twenty-five aquatic plant species or species groups were identified along 176 sampling points. Bushy pondweed was the most frequently found plant (25% of stations sampled) followed by Robbins' pondweed (16%) and flat-stem pondweed (13%). Several other additional plants were documented but did not fall within the designated sampling stations including; blue flag iris, broad-leaved cattail, broad-leaved arrowhead, jewelweed, reed canary grass, skullcap group, Joe-pye weed, St. John's-wort, swamp candles group, swamp five-finger, water horehound and variable-leaf pondweed. These data can be compared to future aquatic plant surveys of Stewart Lake to estimate how the plant community may be changing.

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Are there any state parks near Stewart Lake?