Clear Lake

How big is Clear Lake?

How deep is Clear Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Clear Lake?

What are the closest cities to Clear Lake?

Are there boat launches on Clear Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Clear Lake?

Clear Lake is a 130-acre lake located six miles northwest of Cold Spring in central Stearns County. Clear Lake has a maximum depth of 40 feet and water clarity is about 10 feet in the summer on average. Oxygen was adequate to support sport fish to a depth of 11 feet. Clear lake has a moderate diversity of aquatic plants to a depth of nine feet, and its entire shoreline is undeveloped and surrounded by cattails. The Clear Lake watershed is 29,768 acres with land use consisting of 32% agriculture, 23% forest, 23% hay/pasture, 12% open water, 7% wetland, and 3% residential. There is one public access on the southwest shore of the lake, and it is managed in cooperation with the Farming Sportsmen's Club.

Largemouth bass were sampled using daytime electrofishing in 2023 and the catch was two times the catch in 2015, but still lower than the Sauk Rapids Area average. Largemouth Bass lengths ranged from 7.0 to 21.4 inches with an average length of 12.6 inches. Of the catchable size Largemouth Bass, 60% were larger than 12 inches and 28% were longer than 15 inches.

The catch rate of Northern Pike for 2023 was one-third of the catch in 2015, but is still within the range of expected values for lakes similar to Clear Lake. The catch rates have varied between surveys; 2006 catch rates were similar to 2023, but 1996 and 2015 both had more than three times the catch rates of 2006 and 2023. Northern Pike ranged in length from 13.7 to 33.0 inches with an average length and weight of 27.8 inches and 2.6 pounds. Sixty-two percent of Northern Pike were longer than 21 inches, 24% were longer than 26 inches, and only 3% were longer than 30 inches.

Clear Lake was first stocked with Walleye fingerlings in 1965 and was stocked every 2-4 years until 2006, when the stocking strategy was changed to every other year stocking. Because of poor return from previous Walleye stocking, Walleye stocking was discontinued after 2016. The Walleye catch in 2023 remains low, decreasing since the last survey in 2015. The Walleye sampled were all larger fish, ranging in length from 21.7 to 23.0 inches.

Yellow Perch were not captured in the 2023 survey and their catch has been low dating back to 1996. Yellow Perch can be an important prey species for Northern Pike, and their low numbers may explain part of the reason why the Northern Pike numbers are in decline.

Bluegill trap net catch decreased slightly from 2015, but is still within the range of expected values for lakes similar to Clear Lake and is similar to the long-term average of Clear Lake. The size structure of Bluegill was also similar to 2015, with lengths ranging from 3.4 to 9.0 inches and an average length of 6.7 inches. Seventy-eight percent of Bluegill sampled were longer than 6 inches and 11% were longer than eight inches, the size structure for Bluegill is excellent for a central Minnesota lake. The average replacement time for an eight-inch Bluegill in central Minnesota is 5-8 years, so anglers are encouraged to limit their harvest of larger Bluegill. This is especially important for larger adult males, which are more susceptible to angling pressure during the spawning season. These larger male Bluegills are important to maintaining a healthy, balanced size structure as their numbers can limit the potential that the rest of the population can achieve. Anglers can help maintain the Bluegill fishery of Clear Lake by selectively harvesting medium sized females and releasing the larger males.

The catch rate for Black Crappie was lower than 2015, but still higher than the expected values for lakes similar to Clear Lake. Lengths ranged from 3.4 to 11.2 inches and the average length was 8.6 inches, which is similar to 2015 and shows a healthy size structure. Eighty-three percent of Black Crappie were longer than eight inches, so anglers can expect good fishing for Black Crappie in the next couple of years.

No Common Carp were sampled during this survey, and Black Bullhead numbers decreased since the last survey. Other species sampled during the survey include Bowfin, Brown and Yellow Bullhead, Hybrid Sunfish, and Pumpkinseed.

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Are there any state parks near Clear Lake?