Name: East

Nearest Town: Schroeder Primary County: Lake

Survey Date: 09/18/2012 Inventory Number: 38002000

Public Access Information

Ownership	Type	Description
US Forest Service	Carry-In	From Lake County Rd #7
US Forest Service	Portage	A 0.25 mile foot path from Houghtaling Creek leads to the lake
US Forest Service	Carry-In	A 0.4 mile foot path from the end of USFS Rd. #1849 leads to the south corner of the lake. This is an old railroad grade and difficult to follow.

Lake Characteristics

Lake Area (acres): 81.68 Littoral Area (acres): 65.3 Maximum Depth (ft): 18 Water Clarity (ft): 8.0 (7.5-8.5)

Dominant Bottom Substrate: N/A Abundance of Aquatic Plants: N/A Maximum Depth of Plant Growth (ft): N/A

Fish Sampled for the 2012 Survey Year

Species	Gear Used	Number of fish per net		Average Fish Weight (lbs)	Normal Range (lbs)
		Caught	Normal Range
Brook Trout	Trap net	0.56	N/A	0.71	N/A
	Gill net	0.67	N/A	0.73	N/A
Brown Trout	Trap net	0.22	N/A	1.60	N/A
	Gill net	1.00	N/A	2.01	N/A
Common Shiner	Trap net	1.22	N/A	0.12	N/A
Creek Chub	Trap net	10.11	N/A	0.17	N/A
	Gill net	1.00	N/A	0.32	N/A
White Sucker	Trap net	16.22	0.4 - 2.0	0.73	1.6 - 2.6
	Gill net	55.00	1.6 - 7.6	0.71	1.2 - 2.1
Yellow Perch	Trap net	5.22	0.5 - 2.1	0.11	0.1 - 0.2
	Gill net	13.67	2.0 - 16.5	0.14	0.1 - 0.2

Length of Selected Species (Trapnet, Gillnet) Sampled for the 2012 Survey Year

Species	Number of fish caught in each category (inches)
	0-5	6-8	9-11	12-14	15-19	20-24	25-29	30+	Total
brook trout	0	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	7
brown trout	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	5
common shiner	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	11
creek chub	0	88	3	0	0	0	0	0	94
white sucker	0	24	135	137	12	0	0	0	311
yellow perch	12	75	1	0	0	0	0	0	88

Fish Stocking Activity

Fish Stocked by Species for the Last Ten Years

Stocking Fish Sizes
Fry - Newly hatched fish that are ready to be stocked usually called "swim-ups". Walleye fry are 1/3 of an inch or around 8 mm.
Fingerling - Fingerlings are one to six months old and can range from a size of one to twelve inches depending on the species. Walleye fingerlings range from three to eight inches each fall.
Yearling - Yearling fish are at least one year old. A one-year-old fish can range from three to twenty inches depending on the species. Walleye yearlings average from six to twelve inches.
Adult - Adult fish are fish that have reached maturity. Depending on the species, maturity can be reached at two years of age. Walleye reach maturity between the ages of four and six years.

Fish Consumption Guidelines

These fish consumption guidelines help people make choices about which fish to eat and how often. Following the guidelin es enables people to reduce their exposure to contaminants while still enjoying the many benefits from fish.

Pregnant Women, Women who may become pregnant and Children under age 15

General Population

DOWID - MN DNR, Divion of Waters' lake ID number.

Contaminants listed were measured at levels that trigger advice to limit consumption.

Listing of consumption guidelines do not imply the fish are legal to keep, MN DNR fishing regulations should be consulted.

Dioxin
Mercury
PCBS - Polychlorinated biphenyls
PFOS - Perfluorooctane sulfanate

Status of the Fishery (as of 09/18/2012)

East Lake is a fairly remote, undeveloped lake located within the USFS Superior National Forest. It is a designated trout lake and is stocked annually with brook trout. Its surface area is 82 acres with a maximum depth of 18.0 feet. Eighty percent of the lake is less than 15 feet. There are three access routes to East Lake; however, two are little used and are becoming difficult to locate. The preferred route is from Lake County Road #7, take U.S. Forest Service Road #1849 northeast 0.8 mile to old logging road, follow logging road 0.8 mile northwest and east to the lake. Portions of this route are suitable only for hiking or use of a small all-terrain vehicle (ATV).

Much of the shoal-water substrate is hard bottom (boulder, rubble, gravel and sand) with some emergent vegetation. Whitestem and variableleaf pondweeds are the most common submerged aquatic plants in East Lake. The undeveloped shoreline is a mixed coniferous deciduous forest on a gradually sloped shore.

Brook trout fingerlings are stocked annually in East Lake. The population assessment performed in the fall of 2012 found brook trout numbers below average compared to similar stocked brook trout lakes in the Finland area. The average weight of brook trout was 0.7 pound (12 inches).

Brown trout numbers were low in 2012 with a total of five sampled in the population assessment. The low catch was not surprising since brown trout yearling stocking was discontinued after 2009 after it was determined that few anglers were targeting brown trout. The average weight was 1.8 pounds (16.8 inches). Several of the brown trout had young-of-the-year yellow perch in the stomach contents. All brown trout sampled were age-4, stocked as yearlings in 2008.

Yellow perch were present in above average numbers. The average weight was about 0.1 pound (6.6 inches) for the yellow perch catch. Yellow perch are not a desirable species for stream trout lake management and no steps have been taken to enhance the yellow perch population.

White sucker represented 89% of the total biomass sampled in the population assessment. The white sucker population was high, compared to other lakes in the lake class. The average weight of white suckers was 0.7 pound (11.8 inches). Large populations of small white suckers are not unusual when present in managed stream trout lakes, but competition for forage with suckers negatively impacts the ability to produce high quality stream trout populations when present. Creek chubs and common shiners were also collected in sampling gear.

For more information on this lake, contact: Area Fisheries Supervisor PO Box 546 6686 Hwy 1 Finland, MN 55603 Phone: (218) 353-7591 E-Mail: Finland.Fisheries@state.mn.us	Lake maps can be obtained from: Minnesota Bookstore 660 Olive Street St. Paul, MN 55155 (651) 297-3000 or (800) 657-3757 To order, use C2733 for the map-id.
For general DNR Information, contact: DNR Information Center 500 Lafayette Road St. Paul, MN 55155-4040 TDD: (651) 296-6157 or (888) MINNDNR Internet: www.dnr.state.mn.us E-Mail: info.dnr@state.mn.us	Turn in Poachers (TIP):     Toll-free: (800) 652-9093