Minnesota DNR News

DNR Lake Survey 2024 for West Battle Lake

Click HERE to View DNR Lake Survey (PDF Format)

The DNR walleye stocking recently changed from walleye fry (ending in 2019) to walleye fingerlings beginning in 2021.  Walleye stocking from 2021 through 2024 is shown in the table below. We had limited supply of walleye fingerlings in 2021 so adult walleye were stocked in West Battle in addition to getting some larger fish in the lake.

Walleye sampled in the 2024 survey from the 2022 and 2023 fingerling stockings, from both DNR and the WBLLA, were two (2022) and one (2023) year old walleye.  Generally speaking, our gill nets rarely sample one year old walleye.  The mesh sizes are geared toward sampling walleye ages 2-6.

We are aging all the walleye for West Battle Lake now so soon will have an age class distribution for all of the walleye sampled in the 2024 survey.  Bottom line is of all the walleye fingerling stocked recently, we really only have a handle on the two year old walleye.  The next survey in 2027 should give us a better idea of the success of the fingerling stocking done recently.