Fairy Lake

How big is Fairy Lake?

How deep is Fairy Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Fairy Lake?

What are the closest cities to Fairy Lake?

Are there boat launches on Fairy Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Fairy Lake?

This standard survey report is the latest for Fairy Lake and is a summary of data collected the week of July 6, 2021. Survey gear used included gill nets and electrofishing with locations and times replicated from the ?Targeted Survey' last completed in 2015 and found in ?LakeFinder dated 2015-07-13'.

Fairy Lake can be considered mainly a Northern Pike lake, with good Largemouth Bass and Bluegill fishing as well. Black Crappies are also present but are not as abundant as Bluegills. There are very few Walleyes in the lake despite efforts to establish a fishery through stocking.

Gill nets sampled a total of 60 pike ranging from 12-34 inches. Close to 20% of the sample was 24 inches or greater, which doesn't sound too impressive but compared to other lakes in the area it's decent. We consistently find a few pike in Fairy Lake exceeding 30 inches. Because large pike are relatively rare, it's important for anglers and spearers to refrain from harvesting them. Pike fisheries where large fish are protected (either voluntarily or through special harvest regulations) can shift to higher numbers of large fish which can be beneficial to the entire fish community. The opposite is true for lakes that have no large pike and many small ones.

Largemouth Bass up to 20 inches and Bluegill up to nine inches were sampled during this survey. Fairy Lake supports good Largemouth Bass and Bluegill fisheries mainly because there is still good remaining habitat around the lake's shallow-water areas. It's important for lakeshore property owners to recognize this and help to maintain native vegetation and resist the impulse to convert natural shoreline features into artificially engineered blights of riprap, lawns and retaining walls.

One of the more noteworthy findings in this survey was the capture of a Cisco, which is an indication that Fairy Lake still holds sufficient cold-water habitat during the summer to support this species. As an indicator species of good water quality, Cisco are in decline across central Minnesota. It's likely that they're declining in Fairy Lake as well. A lone Cisco could serve as a call-out for better land stewardship along the shoreline and in the immediate watershed. As the climate warms, such cold-water habitat may disappear altogether unless immediate steps are taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

What is the average air temp for Fairy Lake?

Are there any state parks near Fairy Lake?