OK, Lake Access can't tell you where the fish are, but we can give
you a good idea of where they're not (that's half the battle). Many
of the metro lakes become depleted in oxygen over the course of the
summer. The figure above shows a year of oxygen data for Halsteds
Bay. The zone of depleted oxygen (less than 2 ppm) in shown in black,
and zones with adequate oxygen in shown in green. |
RUSS can give
you daily updates on the thermocline!
For a color graph showing
where the thermocline is pick a lake below then click on Color Mapper.
These graphs are updated daily.
Lake Minnetonka:
Halsteds Bay
West Upper Bay
Medicine
Lake
|
|
Clearly, for most of the summer (including the present time), trolling
around below 25 feet (8 meters) in Halsteds Bay is not likely to
land you any fish! Notice also that during the fall and through
the winter, lake turnover restores oxygen through the water column.
You can call up the oxygen profiles of West Upper Lake in Lake Minnetonka
and Lake Independence through our Lake
Data page. You can also find information on lake temperature
there (including the location of the thermocline - the depth that
marks the transition between the warm surface waters and the cold
waters below), as well as information on lake turbidity. Will these
help you catch fish? Let us know!
You
can learn a lot more about fishing in the Metro area and the Year
2000 Fishing Regulations from the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources Fishing
Page.
|
You may be able to
use othe RUSS data in other ways to help find those fish. Here are some
preferred conditions for the most popular game fish found in Lakes Independence
and Minnetonka. Again, we offer no guarantee you'll find 'em.
For an on-line fish
key try Fishes of Wisconsin.
|
FISH
WATER QUALITY NEEDS
|
|
|
|
|
|
| spawning |
March/April,
42 to 50 F
|
March/April,
39 to 52 F
|
March/April,
39 to 52 F
|
May/June,
63 to 68 F
|
| prefererred
light conditions |
low
light
|
sight
feeders, prefer clearer water
|
sight
feeders, prefer clearer water
|
sight
feeders, prefer clearer water
|
| minimum
DO for adults |
2
to 4 mg/L
|
NA
|
optimal
> 6.0 mg/L
|
optimal
> 8 mg/L
|
| peak
feeding secchi (m) |
1
to 2 m
|
NA
|
>
1 m
|
NA
|
| pH
range |
6-9
|
5.0-9.5
|
NA
|
6.5-8.5
|
| temperature
range (adults) |
68
to 75 F
|
NA
|
73
to 78 F
|
NA
|
|
maximum
epilimnion temperature
|
75
to 90 F
|
81
to 86 F
|
86
to 91 F
|
86
to 97 F
|
Fish Consumption Advisories-
There are advisories for Lake
Minnetonka. If you'd like to search for advisories on another Minnesota
lake go to the MN
DNR
| Of
course, there are many more fish in a lake than what you catch on
your hook and line. Take Lake Independence for example. Lake Independence
fish were sampled by the DNR
in 1998. The most sought after large game fish, such as walleye,
muskellunge, and northern pike were found, of course, but so were
many additional species of fish. Other fish included black crappie,
largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, white crappie, bowfin
(dogfish), common carp, golden shiner, hybrid sunfish, white sucker,
and yellow perch. The fish were sampled using techniques that would
not necessarily catch small species that occur near shore such as
small minnows. Take a look at the following table and you will see
that the large fish we most like to catch are certainly not the ones
in greatest supply. In fact, the large game fish rely on a large and
diverse community of fish species occupying many different habitats
in a lake and consuming many different sources of food. Taking good
care of the "game" species in a lake is much easier if you take the
time to learn about the "nongame" species as well. |
|
Lake
Independence Fish Survey Results Minnesota DNR, 7/27/1998
|
| Fish
Species |
Total
Caught |
| Black
crappie |
1,007
|
| Yellow
perch |
659
|
| Bluegill |
380
|
| Pumpkinseed
sunfish |
116
|
| Walleye |
104
|
| Northern
pike |
32
|
| Hybrid
sunfish |
15
|
| Yellow
bullhead |
13
|
| Largemouth
bass |
7
|
| Muskellunge |
1
|
| Black
bullhead |
1
|
| White
crappie |
1
|
Links:
Fishing
Downtown
Fish Base 99
Fishes
of Iowa
Native Fish Conservancy
The Bell
Museum
|
