Long Lake

How big is Long Lake?

How deep is Long Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Long Lake?

What are the closest cities to Long Lake?

Are there boat launches on Long Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Long Lake?

Long Lake is a 264-acre, class 43 lake, located in Watonwan County, approximately 5.5 miles south of the City of St. James. The lake has a maximum depth of 13.0 feet and has a watershed-to-lake-ratio of 6 to 1. The lakes watershed is highly agricultural and much of Long Lake's shoreline has been altered by residential development. In addition to the highly agricultural use surrounding the lake, the association also has a diversion that is used to augment water levels in the lake by pumping water from the Watonwan River to Long Lake on the east end of the lake. Long Lake is managed primarily for walleye and secondarily for black crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, and yellow perch.

Long Lake has a troubling recent stretch of history involving serval fish kills. A standard survey was conducted during the week of July 18, 2022 with gill nets and trap nets. Following the survey, there was a fish kill event in September that caused a large amount of Black Crappie to die. While the amount of fish dead was unknown, the estimated number was easily in the thousands. A follow-up survey was done in October with 1 gill net and 3 trap nets in an attempt to determine the extent of the fish kill. Results of that survey indicate that all species are still present, but likely a large percentage of Black Crappie greater than 8 inches likely experienced mortality. Finally, and unfortunately, the winter of 2022-2023 was long and harsh and resulted in many shallow southern Minnesota lakes experiencing winterkill. Long Lake was included in those lakes experiencing winterkill. Another survey was conducted in May 2023 to determine the extent of the winterkill. The survey indicated a partial winterkill that left many undesirable fish species and a lake that needed to be restocked with gamefish.

In May 2023, 128,000 Walleye fry (Lower Mississippi Strain from Lake Sarah egg-take) were stocked. An October daytime electrofishing survey confirmed that the Walleye stocking was very successful with 226 6.1 inch age-0 Walleye caught in 30 minutes of electrofishing (452 per hour extrapolation). This is very encouraging as it is the most age-0 Walleye ever documented (stocked or natural) in a single year class for Long Lake. Contingent upon survivability of the fish in Long Lake over the next year or two, Long Lake is well suited for a big bounce back recovery. Minnesota Walleye research shows that age-0 Walleye over 5-6 inches have a very good chance of survival to older ages. Additional Walleye stocking will occur as well as additional fish sampling conducted to verify the recovery of the Walleye in Long Lake.

What is the average air temp for Long Lake?

Are there any state parks near Long Lake?