Fish & fishing

Minnesota is first nationally in the sales of fishing licenses per capita.

Fish species: 158

Fishing waters: 3,800,000 acres

Fishable lakes: 5,493

Fishable streams (cold and warm water): 15,000 miles

Trout streams: 1,900 miles

Trout stream improvements: 410 miles

Trout lakes rehabilitated: 134

Warm water lakes rehabilitated: 79

Average number of fish stocked per year:

  • Walleye Fry - 250 million
  • Walley Fingerlings - 2.5 million
  • Walleye Yearlings - 50 thousand
  • Walleye Adults - 30 thousand
  • Northern Pike (fry,fingerlings & adults) - 1.2 million
  • Muskellunge (fingerlings) - 30,000
  • Largemouth Bass - 7,500 (fingerlings and adults)
  • Channel Catfish - 100,000 (fingerlings and yearlings)
  • Bluegill - 40,000 adults
  • Tiger Muskellunge (fingerlings) - 2,000
  • Trout - 2.3 million (fingerlings and yearlings)

Fish hatcheries:

  • 5 coldwater ( trout and salmon)
  • 12 cool and warm water (walleye, muskie, catfish, etc.)

Walleye rearing ponds used annually (on average): 325

Northern pike spawning areas used annually (on average): 10

Harvest

Sport Fish Harvested:

  • Walleye - 4.6 million pounds
  • Northern Pike - 4.6 million pounds
  • Panfish - 9.7 million pounds

The most caught fish:

  • 1st: Panfish
  • 2nd: Walleye
  • 3rd: Northern

Record fish: See check the current state record fish list.

Sport fishing expenditures in Minnesota: $1.58 billion

Commercial fish harvested: 3.5 million pounds

Minnow industry:

  • Minnow dealers: 283
  • Minnow retailers: 832

Major Angling Licenses Sales (2012)

  • Conservation individual angling: 19,291
  • Conservation combination angling: 4,813
  • Annual special angling: 21,288
  • Permanent angling: 922
  • 24-hour angling: 67,343
  • Resident individual angling: 480,621
  • Resident combination angling: 196,092
  • Nonresident individual angling: 60,050
  • Nonresident family angling: 29,990
  • Nonresident 14-day couple angling: 21,189
  • Nonresident 7-day angling: 70,886
  • Nonresident 72-hour angling 41,904
  • Youth angling: 744
  • Resident individual sports: 91,093
  • Resident combination sports: 77,643
  • Spearing (renewal): 15
  • Angling and spearing (renewal) 18
  • Sports with spearing (renewal): 56
  • Lifetime angling: 5,801
  • Lifetime sports: 6,004
  • Nonres lifetime angling: 54
  • Total: 1,195,817

Stamps sales (2012)

  • Trout validation: 82,723
  • Trout validation and stamp: 4,796
  • Sturgeon tag: 3.096
  • Walleye stamp validation: 21,194
  • Walleye stamp pictorial: 6,888
  • Spouse trout stamp pictorial: 8.084
  • Spouse trout stamp validation: 279

 

Updated March 28, 2013