Bloody Lake

How big is Bloody Lake?

How deep is Bloody Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Bloody Lake?

What are the closest cities to Bloody Lake?

Are there boat launches on Bloody Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Bloody Lake?

What aquatic invasive species are found in Bloody Lake?

Bloody Lake is a shallow basin (maximum depth of 9 feet) that is 248 acres and is located in Murray County. Bloody Lake is connected to Lake Shetek by a channel large enough for watercraft to pass through, thus its fishery is influenced heavily by management activities and the existing fish community on Lake Shetek. Bloody Lake is managed primarily for Walleye, and secondarily for Yellow Perch, Black Crappie, and Northern Pike.

Bloody Lake experienced a major fish kill during the winter of 2022-2023. Prior to the fish kill, stocking had not occurred since 2010 with fish maintained successfully via migration from Lake Shetek. After the winterkill, Bloody Lake was restocked with 248,000 Lower Mississippi Strain (LMS) Walleye fry from the Lake Sarah egg take operation. Lake Shetek was restocked with 1.7 million LMS Walleye fry as well. Black Crappie were reared in ponds at Lake Shetek State Park with age-0 fish produced in the ponds drained into Lake Shetek. Yellow Perch were not restocked because they were observed in good numbers (5.5 per gill net) during a netting survey in May. Two Northern Pike were also caught in nets during the Lake Shetek survey and a private rearing pond connected to Bloody Lake (Malone's Pond) was stocked and operated to boost the population in Bloody and Shetek Lakes. Bloody Lake was surveyed using one gill net and three trap nets the week of August 10, 2023 to determine the recovery of Bloody Lake after the winterkill and restocking efforts.

Eleven species of fish were captured during sampling (see GN and TN results). Four species (Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Green Sunfish, and Orangespotted Sunfish) were not sampled in 2023 but were present before the winterkill event in 2022-2023. One species, White Sucker, was captured in 2023 but not prior to the winterkill. When looking at the management species, Walleye (2 per GN, 7 per TN), Black Crappie (6 per GN, 11 per TN), Northern Pike (2 per GN, 6.33 per TN), and Yellow Perch (9 per GN, 5.67 per TN) all showed large reductions in adult fish present. In fact, only age-0 Walleye, age-0 Black Crappie, and age-0 Northern Pike were sampled with no adult members of each of those species. Similar to Lake Shetek winterkill, Yellow Perch adults seemed to fair best of all management species. Encouragingly, Walleye, Black Crappie, and Northern Pike restocking and/or natural recruitment seem adequate to quickly repopulate the lake. Harvest oriented angling will be tough with many small fish caught over the next year or two, however, when these fish reach harvestable size the angling success could be very good.

While Bloody Lake did experience a major fish kill during the winter of 2022-2023, there is much to be encouraged about. Walleye, Black Crappie, and Northern Pike restocking or natural recruitment all seem adequate to quickly repopulation the lake. In addition, Lake Shetek is poised to have a very strong year-class of stocked age-0 Walleye that should move in and out of Bloody Lake as well. Also, Yellow Perch adults faired very well in Bloody and Shetek Lakes and should add some angling attention over the next year or two as the rest of the fish community continues to recover and grow to larger harvestable sizes. Walleye should reach harvestable size (13-14 inches) by the winter of 2024-2025. Black Crappie should reach harvestable size (9 inches) by the spring of 2025. Northern Pike should reach the southern zone minimum length limit of 24 inches (2 Northern Pike 24 inches or greater daily bag limit) by spring of 2025. Another lake survey will be conducted on Lake Shetek during August 2024 with the ability to evaluate the fish community of Bloody Lake as well.

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Are there any state parks near Bloody Lake?