Miner's Pit

How big is Miner's Pit?

How deep is Miner's Pit?

What kind of fish can you catch in Miner's Pit?

Are there places to eat and drink near Miner's Pit?

Miner's Pit is a designated stream trout lake located within the city limits of Ely. It has a surface area of 140 acres and a maximum depth of 140 feet.

Miner's Pit is an abandoned iron mine pit from 1967 that filled with ground water and storm sewer runoff from the city. Water levels were stabilized in the mid 1980's by the installation of an outlet culvert to Shagawa Lake. This culvert has an internal drop that prevents movement of fish from Shagawa Lake to Miner's Pit.

Miner's has classic mine pit features with steep sides and flooded trees, particularly in the east end. There is a concrete boat ramp and fishing pier located on the north shore for public access.

Miner's Pit water is quite hard due to dissolved minerals which include sulfates, calcium, magnesium, iron, and sodium. The sodium likely came from salt used for snow removal in the City of Ely. Below 100 ft there is little mixing of water with shallower water because of a density gradient caused by high salt and hydrogen sulfide concentrations. In the summer there is adequate oxygen for trout (more than 5 ppm) to a depth of about 30 ft, and adequate oxygen for other fish species (more than 2 ppm) to 35-40 ft.

Rainbow and brook trout yearlings are stocked annually into Miner's Pit in the spring. Several other fish species are present including bluegill, hybrid and green sunfish, rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and white sucker.

Brook trout and rainbow trout are stocked at similar numbers but more brook trout were sampled: 1.4 versus 0.4/trap net. Brook trout are more vulnerable to trap nets at certain times of year, so they are not necessarily much more abundant than the rainbow trout. Brook trout averaged 8.4 inches long and the largest sampled was 11.7 inches. Rainbow trout fell into two general size groups: 9 to 11 inches and and 16 to 18 inches long. The largest sampled was 18.4 inches long.

Rock bass were very abundant at 21/trap net. Bluegill and sunfish hybrids were common at 18/trap net combined. Bluegill lengths averaged 6.5 inches. The hybrid sunfish were slightly larger on average. Two hybrids were sampled that were just over 10 inches long. Largemouth bass (5.1/trap net) were sampled up to 19 inches long. Smallmouth bass were sampled in low numbers up to 12 inches long.

A northern pike were sampled for the first time in 2012. It is illegal to transport live fish and introduce them into public waters. Northern pike predation can negatively impact stream trout in lakes.

What is the average air temp for Miner's Pit?