Tilde Lake

How big is Tilde Lake?

How deep is Tilde Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Tilde Lake?

What are the closest cities to Tilde Lake?

Are there boat launches on Tilde Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Tilde Lake?

What aquatic invasive species are found in Tilde Lake?

Tilde Lake is a 259-acre, class 43 lake in northeastern Clay County, approximately five miles northeast of Hitterdal. The maximum depth is 13 feet and the lake experiences occasional winterkill. The lake's shoreline is undeveloped except for a single farmstead near the southeast shore. The surrounding watershed is primarily agricultural (small grain croplands) although there is a fringe of hardwoods and wild grasslands around much of the lake. While the vegetative fringe probably helps to buffer the lake from field runoff, there are at least three intermittently flowing ditches draining surrounding farmland into the lake. Based on a total phosphorus concentration of 179 ppb in 2005, Tilde Lake could be considered hyper-eutrophic. However, two other indicators of trophic state (water clarity and chlorophyll-a) were more indicative of late mesotrophy or early eutrophy. Algal blooms are common during summer and Walleyes in this lake are reported by some to have an undesirable flavor when the water warms.

Tilde Lake experienced a significant winterkill during the winter of 2012-2013. The highest dissolved oxygen reading found on April 3rd of that year was 0.3 ppm. No test netting was done to confirm the extent of the winterkill, but a near total kill was assumed due to the low amount of oxygen and prolonged ice cover. Walleye fry were stocked the following spring with the intentions of not only restoring the Walleye fishery, but also provide a unique opportunity to harvest Walleye fingerlings to transferring to other local fishing lakes. This strategy proved successful as 858 pounds, or 25,740 fish, of Walleye fingerlings were harvested from Tilde Lake in the fall of 2013. Walleye fry were again stocked in 2014, but this time the stocking did not result in an abundance of young fish that could be utilized for harvest. Walleye fry stocking resumed to the normal every other year stocking rotation in 2016. Despite the lakes history of winterkill and questionable water quality, Tilde Lake does appear to contain some good walleye-spawning habitat as the most abundant year class found in the 2005 population assessment was attributed to a non-stocking year (2003).

The scheduled standard survey of Tilde Lake was abbreviated due extreme catches of young of year Walleye. Only two gill nets and six trap nets were fished during the survey in 2016. The gill net catch rate for Walleye was an astonishing 199.5 fish per net. The historical average Walleye gill net catch rate prior to this survey was 19.6 fish per net. As mentioned, the vast majority of sampled Walleyes were from the spring fry stocking just a few months prior. These young of year fish grew fast despite their abundance, averaging 7.6 inches in length. The dominance of these fish also skew any further value in size-based indices for the Walleye population as a whole. The remaining sampled Walleye originated from the previous two fry stocking events following the winterkill in 2013. These two- and three-year-old Walleyes were 14 to 18 inches long.

Other species sampled in low numbers included Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Rock Bass and Yellow Perch. In most of these instances it appeared only a single year class of adults were captured of each specie. This would suggest a private stocking event had occurred following the winterkill.

Black Bullhead were historically common and a recent presence of Common Carp had become established in Tilde Lake. However, since none of these species were sampled in Tilde Lake in 2016 it can be assumed the winterkill experienced in 2013 was sever enough to even eliminate these tolerant species.

What is the average air temp for Tilde Lake?

Are there any state parks near Tilde Lake?