Lake Zumbro Surprise

[Bubbadust]

Last weekend I finally got down to the cabin for the first time this year with a couple of friends (due to several variables). We were sitting on shore bobber fishing with nightcrawlers when one of my friends surprised all of us by pulling in a walleye. Then a couple minutes later I caught one also. Both of these were only about 8". I caught another one about 9.5" the next day as well.

In the 10 or so years since we've had the cabin, I've never heard of anybody catching walleyes in Lake Zumbro. I found out later from a local bait shop that they started stocking them last year. Has anybody else caught any of these out there???

[JIvers]

I know people catch walleye on occasion below the dam, but these are the first walleye reports out of Lake Zumbro itself that I have heard. Since the first crop of stocked walleye last fall were fingerlings, 8-10" in size now sounds about right. Good to hear they may be taking hold.

Does anyone know if the Cascade Lake project is going ahead, including the plans to stock walleye in there?

[Bubbadust]

I was definitely surprised when we caught them because I didn't even know that they had stocked them.

I talked to my stepfather today and he said that he caught an 8-9 incher on the lake 2 weeks ago too.

[JBMasterAngler]

What are the chances they'll be able to reproduce on their own? Suitable habitat upstream?

[JIvers]

The DNR press release announing the switch from muskie stocking to walleye stocking in Lake Zumbro said they do not expect successful natural reproduction by walleye to occur in there. That is why they are stocking more expensive walleye fingerlings instead of cheaper walleye fry--the necessary water quality and habitat just aren't there.

[Bubbadust]

Here is a picture taken with a Blackberry:

[mtreno]

The DNR press release announing the switch from muskie stocking to walleye stocking in Lake Zumbro

so it sounds like they will not be stocking musky anymore?

[JIvers]

The last muskie stockings went in to Lake Zumbro in 2007. For the time being, no more muskie will be stocked in Lake Zumbro. Even though the program seemed successful, the DNR did not like the fact that many of those muskie wound up in the river below the dam. At least, that seemed to be their main complaint.

The DNR did suggest they may consider stocking the lake, or the river below it, with muskie again at some point in the future. Maybe some private group will step up and pay to keep stocking muskie in the Zumbro. But, walleye in the lake aren't a bad alternative either, IMO.

[JBMasterAngler]

I caught a 15 inch muskie in the hammond area, that was quite a nice surprise...seems like I catch everything in that river EXCEPT smallies

[JIvers]

Here is the PB story on ending muskie stocking in Lake Zumbro...

9/20/2008 8:45:01 AM

By John Weiss

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

ORONOCO -- Muskies are out for Lake Zumbro, but walleye will be in.

The Department of Natural Resources study of how well muskies have taken in the reservoir east of Oronoco found the fish don't really like the lake and head down the Zumbro River as soon as they can make it over the dam, said Kevin Stauffer, area DNR fisheries supervisor in Lake City.

That will mean the department will stop stocking muskies in the lake, something it started in 1994 as a way to add another sport fish to the lake. The research study found they didn't hang around. "We gave it a good run," he said.

Instead, the fish are being found in the river and some of the fish are very big. They have been found as far down the river as Millville, which is 25 miles from the dam

It's possible that the DNR could stock muskies in the river in the future, he said.

Thought it's giving up on muskies in the lake, it will begin stocking walleye there. It will start with about 12,000 fingerlings this fall and will stock them on alternating years. DNR tests have never found a walleye or sauger in the lake, though they are found in the river below the dam that created the lake.

The next step in getting more walleye fishing close to Rochester will be to put them in Cascade Lake in Rochester when the dredging ends and the city makes it into a park.

[mskyfshntchr]

Really? No smallies?

What are you using? Shore fishing or from boat or canoe?

Man...we have had some fabulous days out there with over 30-40 fish!

[JBMasterAngler]

I've caught smallies, just not alot...shorefishing at various access points. In all honesty, I've probably caught more brown trout out of there than smallies.

[Paul_Kramer]

I've already caught two little walleyes right here in town, near the Silver Lake dam. They seem to be doing pretty good so far.

[mskyfshntchr]

Trout? Don't tell anyone that...I bet they were suckers you mistook for trout

Ahh...shore fishing...Yeah...We catch a lot of smallies when floating...Most of them are up near shore...Them suckers are hanging out in the middle of the current a lot of times...

[JBMasterAngler]

Ya know, now that I think about it more, they might have been suckers after all. Trout! Silly me. I should make it down there and see if I can catch anymore of those tro....suckers

[soldoncass]

Heres another surprise for you.....in the early/mid 60's they stocked walleyes in lake Zumbro. Wonder if any of them are still around?

That was in my "younger" days, before I knew what they really were....we fished carp/ bullheads/channel cats, back then. Always seemed rocky enough for them, but if they didn't survive then.....not sure they will now either.

[Muskiefool]

Future Muskie stocking will be done in the river, for whatever reason they just don't like the lake; I believe this fall I may have to take a run up there soon and see what those eye look like .

[JIvers]

Heres another surprise for you.....in the early/mid 60's they stocked walleyes in lake Zumbro. Wonder if any of them are still around?

Always seemed rocky enough for them, but if they didn't survive then.....not sure they will now either.

Until recently many states preferred to stock only newly-hatched walleye fry, which are basically sand grain-sized blobs with eyes, instead of stocking 4-6" walleye fingerlings in the fall. This was done to cut costs, as it is more expensive to raise walleye through the summer and feed them to get them to fingerling size.

Problem was, in waters with poor water quality and/or habitat, the survival rate of stocked walleye fry was very low. I don't know about Minnesota, but Iowa only switched to stocking walleye fingerlings in many of its rivers and reservoirs in the late '90s. While more expensive, fingerlings are better able to survive and establish adult populations. This was the case in the Upper Iowa river just south of where I grew up in Fillmore County.

If you look at the Minnesota DNR's Lake Finder stocking reports, you will notice that lakes in the southern half of the state are usually stocked with walleye fingerlings. This is because water quality and habitat in the south is generally too poor to support natural walleye reproduction.

In the northern half of Minnesota, where water quality and habitat is better, lakes are generally stocked with walleye fry. (In many cases up north no walleye stocking is needed, but for reasons not relevant here the DNR is essentially forced to stock them.)

What I'm getting at is that in the early '60s Lake Zumbro may have been stocked with walleye fry. The DNR believes the lake is not suited to natural reproduction by walleye, so the survival rate of stocked fry would probably have been quite low.

Another possible reason those earlier walleye stockings failed to take hold may be due to another recent discovery: while they all look identical, there are different genetic strains of walleye in Minnesota. Some are better suited to life in rivers, and others to life in lakes. The '60s walleye stocked in Lake Zumbro may not have been suited to life in a small reservoir.

I was also told, or read somewhere, that the DNR in the past also tried to stock sauger and/or saugeye in Lake Zumbro, but this also failed--I don't know if it's true, though.