Stuart Lake

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Stuart Lake is in Ecological Lake Class 7, which consists of 41 lakes in northeast Minnesota that are very large, have irregular shoreline shapes, and have very soft (unmineralized) water. Stuart Lake is smaller, more bowl-shaped, and has less biologically productive shallow area along the shoreline than is typical of lakes in this lake class. Stuart Lake was thermally stratified on 09/05/2006 with a surface temperature of 72 F and a bottom temperature of 52 F. Adequate oxygen for fish (more than 2 ppm) was retained to a depth of 21 feet, where the temperature was 66 F. The Stuart River flows through this lake with normal midsummer flows of 150-300 cubic feet per second, but there was no flow at the time of the 2006 investigation following an extremely dry summer. The inlet and outlet to Stuart Lake both have barriers to upstream fish movement (rapids and falls). Lake bottom substrates along the shoreline of Stuart Lake are mostly boulder and ledgerock, with small amounts of sand, rubble, and muck. Aquatic plants are sparse. Fish were sampled in 2006 with 12 gillnets. Five previous investigations on Stuart Lake, dating back to 1974, used 5-12 gillnets. Fish populations in 2006 were dominated by walleye, white sucker, northern pike, and yellow perch. Walleye were absent in the initial investigation on Stuart Lake in 1974. Walleye fry were stocked in 1982-83, and then every third year through 2005. Walleye numbers were fairly high in 1985 (9.8/gillnet), but then stabilized with a median walleye catch of 4.0/gillnet in subsequent investigations. The 2006 walleye catch of 4.2/gillnet was somewhat lower than normal (in the second quartile) for this lake class, but was similar to recent catches on Stuart Lake. Walleye sizes in 2006 averaged 14.1 inches (1.0 lb), which was somewhat larger than normal (in the third quartile) for this lake class and was similar to the average walleye size of 13.6 inches in all investigations on this lake. The largest walleye in 2006 was 25.2 inches. Although there has been some natural reproduction of walleye occurring in Stuart Lake in recent years, half of the walleye captured in 2006 (27 of 51) were from the fry-stocked years of 1999 and 2002. Walleye growth was very slow (in the first quartile) by area standards, and walleye from the fry-stocked year-class of 2005 would have been too small to catch in the gillnets in 2006. Sucker numbers in 2006 (4.7/gillnet) were somewhat higher than normal (in the third quartile) for this lake class, but were lower than the median sucker catch of 8.7/gillnet in all investigations on this lake. Sucker sizes in 2006 averaged 16.3 inches. Northern pike numbers were fairly high (3.5/gillnet) in the initial investigation on Stuart Lake. Following the introduction of walleye, pike numbers declined to a median catch of 0.8/gillnet in investigations from 1985 through 2006. The 2006 pike catch of 1.2/gillnet was lower than normal (near the first quartile) for this lake class, but was higher than in recent investigations on this lake. Pike sizes in 2006 averaged 23.9 inches (3.4 lb), which was somewhat larger than normal (in the third quartile) for this lake class, and was larger than the average pike size of 22.4 inches in all investigations on this lake. The largest pike in 2006 was 33.3 inches. Most of the pike captured in 2006 were ages three and five. Pike growth was somewhat slower than normal (in the second quartile) by area standards. Perch numbers in 2006 (2.0/gillnet) were somewhat lower than normal (in the second quartile) for this lake class, but were similar to the median perch catch of 2.7/gillnet in all investigations on this lake. Perch sizes in 2006 averaged 9.8 inches (0.5 lb), which was larger than normal (in the fourth quartile) for this lake class, but was similar to the average perch size of 9.5 inches in all investigations on this lake. The largest perch in 2006 was 14.1 inches. Perch growth was faster than normal (in the fourth quartile) by area standards.

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