Waterville area fisheries staff perform management, habitat and oversight work for 120 fishing lakes and 107 rivers and streams in Le Sueur, Rice, Steele, Blue Earth, Dodge, Freeborn, Mower, Faribault and Waseca counties.
Popular area waters are the Cannon River Chain of Lakes, Madison Lake and Washington Lake. Each is popular for abundant panfish, largemouth bass, walleye and northern pike.
- News & notices
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FISHn meets March 5
Take a look at what's on tap in Mankato for our winter Fisheries Information SHaring network (FISHn) meeting. Join us in person, online or by phone.
What can I catch?
Wondering what fish you can catch and when you can catch them? Seasons vary for different fish so use our fishing season listing to find out. - Fishing opportunities
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Outlooks
- Waterville area
(New!) - Regional preview
Learn to fish
Fishing piers & boat ramps by county
Public lands
- Waterville area
- Area newsletter
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2024
2021
- Lake management planning
Lakes scheduled for 2024
People who want to discuss the individual fisheries listed below must call or email this area fisheries office during February. Your observations and comments will be considered as updates begin on these fisheries lake management plans. Comments from people interested in the health and quality of Minnesota’s fisheries are a critical part of the DNR’s fisheries lake management planning process. These plans establish fisheries management goals and objectives for each lake and guide the work fisheries biologists do each year. Clicking lake links below take you to LakeFinder, where you can find various lake specific information, including past fisheries surveys. To submit input or learn more about each lake’s management plan, please contact this area office.Lake (nearest city) County Cedar (Faribault) Rice Crystal (Lake Crystal) Blue Earth Gorman (Cordova) LeSueur Loon (Lake Crystal) Blue Earth Reeds (Elysian) Waseca Roemhildts (Elysian) LeSueur St. Olaf (New Richland) Waseca Volney (Le Center) LeSueur How you can help
Comments about preferred experiences, observations or general concerns about the fishery – rather than suggestions on how DNR might accomplish a specific goal or objective – are the most helpful kinds of input. Some questions to consider when formulating input could include:- What kind of fishing experience are you looking for?
- Are there fish habitat concerns you’d like to share?
- What species of fish are most important to you?
- Do you like catching fewer big fish or a lot of smaller fish?
- Fish hatchery
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The Waterville hatchery was established in 1954 major updates of facility occurred in 1989, 1998, and 2012. The hatchery plays a major role in northern pike fry reintroduction in some area lakes after winterkill and reclamation as well as raising channel catfish for distribution to areas with fingerling requests and for St. Paul hatchery yearling production for stocking.
- Resources
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Fishing outlook
Check out our Waterville area fishing outlook.Information
- Education
- Fisheries long-term monitoring program
- Experimental & special regulations in the Waterville area
- Visit LakeFinder for stocking and survey information
- Waterville state fish hatchery history and fish management
- Where to fish
- Winterkill and dissolved oxygen monitoring
- Minnesota's new northern pike zones
- Talk with us
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Waterville staff
Slide text left for phones & emails
Name
Position
Phone
Email
Craig Soupir Area supervisor 507-497-1821 [email protected] Brandon Eder Assistant area supervisor 507-497-1823 [email protected] Andrew Scholten Fisheries specialist - hatchery 507-497-1824 [email protected] Nik Myhra-Edwards Hatchery specialist 507-497-1825 [email protected] Tyler Fellows Fisheries specialist 507-497-1826 [email protected] Peter Muggli Fisheries technician 507-497-1827 [email protected] Tanya Hankins Office administrative specialist 507-497-1822 [email protected] Steve Shroyer Fisheries research scientist 507-497-1833 [email protected] Dale Logsdon Fisheries research biologist 507-497-1832 [email protected]