Goose Lake

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What kind of fish can you catch in Goose Lake?

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Are there boat launches on Goose Lake?

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Goose Lake is a 139-acre lake located in Lyon County, six miles northwest of the Town of Russell. Goose is a typical prairie pothole basin with minimal shoreline development and a maximum depth of 9 feet. Like most pothole prairie lakes, Goose Lake's fish community is very simplistic and not diverse but it has very nice growth rates of fish. Goose Lake is managed primarily for Walleye and secondarily for Yellow Perch. Walleye fry are stocked 3 of 4 years at 300 per littoral acre (2024, 2026, 2027, and 2028 etc.). Goose Lake was surveyed the week of July 17, 2023 to monitor fish populations using two gill nets and nine trap nets.

Since 1986, catch rates of Walleye have ranged from 2.3 per gill net in 2015 to 57.3 per gill net in 1999 and have averaged 19.7 per gill net. The 2023 catch rate was 10.0 per gill net, a slight decrease from the 2019 catch rate of 13.5 per gill net, but within the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (2.3 to 18.1 per gill net). Walleye ranged in length from 7.4 to 26.5 inches and averaged 14.6 inches. Growth of Walleye was fast as indicated by an average length at capture at age-2 of 13.5 inches. Five year classes of Walleye were sampled (2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022) of which three years corresponded to fry stocking. Two year classes (2020 and 2021) were unstocked and are likely from natural reproduction, comprising 63 percent of the aged Walleye. Since 2015, the Lower Mississippi Strain of Walleye (LMS) have been stocked in Goose Lake. This strain originated in the Cannon River system, was stocked in area lakes in the 1980's and early 1990's and has persisted in some area Walleye populations despite extensive stocking of northern Minnesota strains of Walleye. LMS Walleye are present in Murray County's Lake Sarah, a lake that hasn't been stocked since 1991 because the Walleye population is sustained at high levels through natural reproduction. Sporadic natural reproduction occurs in Goose Lake (like several other Windom area lakes), thus LMS Walleye have been stocked because anecdotal evidence suggests that they may have a survival and persistent advantages and natural reproduction potential in southern Minnesota lakes. Despite a moderate gill net catch rate there were reports of excellent fishing in the spring of 2023. Walleye fry will be stocked in the spring of 2024and then an "off" year will happen in 2025 to assess natural reproduction in Goose Lake.

The 2023 Yellow Perch catch rate was 5.0 per gill net, a slight decrease from 8.0 per gill net in 2019 and below the long-term average of 19.7 per gill net since 1986. Despite being the third lowest catch since 1986, the catch rate is within the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (2.7 to 25.0 per gill net). Prior to 2003, catch rates from four surveys averaged 41.0 per gill net. Post 2003, Yellow Perch catch rates have averaged 6.0 per gill net across six surveys. The decrease in average gill net catch rate appears to correspond with a large increase in Black Crappie trap net catch rates. Prior to 2003 Black Crappie were not sampled in lake surveys. Post 2003, the average Black Crappie catch rate was 31.6 per trap net, suggesting that Black Crappie are outcompeting Yellow Perch. The 2023 Black Crappie catch rate decreased to 5.0 per trap net, perhaps allowing the Yellow Perch population to recover. Yellow Perch lengths ranged from 5.7 to 12.4 inches and averaged 7.0 inches.

The Black Crappie catch rate decreased from 116.5 per gill net in 2019 to 16.0 per gill net in 2023, but still exceeds the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (1.4 to 13.8 per gill net). Black Crappie were rare in Goose Lake until 2007, and have had cyclical abundance since, with peak catches occurring about every 10 or 11 years. Lengths of Black Crappie ranged from 5.2 to 13.0 inches and averaged 9.9 inches. Although Black Crappie are not managed in Goose Lake, they do maintain a robust population. Goose Lake could be a destination for "slab anglers" as sixty seven percent of the Black Crappie sampled were 10.7 inches or longer.

Black Bullhead abundance continued to be low with catch rates of 1.3 per trap net and 0.5 per gill net. The majority of the Black Bullhead sampled were 12.2 inches or larger. Common Carp abundance in Goose Lake decreased considerably from 25.5 per gill net in 2019 to 6.0 per gill net in 2023, and from 8.3 per trap net in 2019 to 0.6 per trap net in 2023. Other species sampled included Hybrid Sunfish and Orangespotted Sunfish.

Are there any state parks near Goose Lake?