Double Lake

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What kind of fish can you catch in Double Lake?

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Are there boat launches on Double Lake?

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Double Lake is a 246-acre lake located near Storden in Cottonwood County. The lake consists of two separate basins connected by a six-foot diameter culvert. This culvert is the only boat access for the general public available to enter the South basin. The South basin does provide a handicapped accessible fishing pier located along county highway 53. Water levels were low in 2023, which allowed the survey crew to pass through the culvert into the south basin of Double Lake to set nets. Double Lake has a maximum depth of nine feet, a shoreline length of 3.8 miles. While winter aeration is operated by Red Rock Sportsmen's Club in both basins, partial winterkills have still occurred during some winters. These partial winterkills haven't affected the highly diverse fish community. Species diversity is usually high likely due to a direct connection to the Cottonwood River via Highwater Creek. Double Lake is managed primarily for Walleye and secondarily for crappie, Yellow Perch, and Northern Pike. A population assessment was conducted during the week of June 26, 2023, using 3 gill nets and 9 trap nets in North and South Double Lakes.

The 2023 Walleye catch rate at Double Lake was 7.7 per gill net, which is within the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes but down from the 2019 catch of 13.0 per gill net. Historically, the catch rate has averaged 9.9 per gill net since 1986. Several year classes of Walleye were present (2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022), with age-4 (2019) being the most common, comprising 33 percent of the aged Walleye. Lengths of Walleye ranged from 8.0 to 27.7 inches and averaged 18.6 inches. Despite the "lower than normal" catch rate good Walleye bites have been reported on Double Lake by anglers.

Since 1986, Yellow Perch catch rates at Double Lake have averaged 7.0 per gill net and have ranged from 0.3 per gill net in 2007 to 25.0 per gill net in 2015. In 2023, the gill net catch rate was 0.7 per gill net, below the long-term average and lower than the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (2.7 to 25.0 per gill net). Yellow perch lengths were 5.4 and 9.5 inches.

Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, Double Lake consistently had abundant Black Crappie populations; however, since 2011, catches have been below 4.2 per trap net. The trend continued in 2023 with a Black Crappie catch rate of 0.6 per trap net. Lengths of Black Crappie ranged from 4.4 to 13.5 inches and averaged 9.3 inches. While it appears that there are at least four year-classes present, abundance of Black Crappie remained low.

Northern Pike abundance in Double Lake has been highly variable, ranging from 0.0 per gill net in multiple years to 6.7 per gill net in 2003. The catch rate in 2023 was 1.0 per gill net which is near the long-term average of 1.1 per gill net since 1986 but is not in the expected range of catches for similar lakes (1.1 to 8.0 per gill net). Lengths of Northern Pike ranged from 19.5 to 30.3 inches and averaged 25.3 inches. Double Lake is within the "southern zone" of the Northern Pike zone regulations, so two Pike longer than 24 inches can be harvested. Northern Pike under 24 inches must be released.

The 2023 Black Bullhead catch rate was 50.0 per gill net, slightly above the long-term average of 29.6 per gill net and within the expected range of catch rates for similar lakes (30.3 to 150.6 per gill net). Lengths of Black Bullhead ranged from 6.6 to 12.4 inches and averaged 8.5 inches. Other species sampled included Bigmouth Buffalo, Bluegill, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, River Redhorse, Yellow Bullhead, and White Sucker.

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