Hinckley, MN 55037
320-384-7721
[email protected]
Anglers who fish in Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec and Pine county areas benefit from the management, habitat and oversight work of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Hinckley area fisheries staff.
Area Fisheries Supervisor Leslie George and a staff of five full-time and one part-time employee manage 160 fishing lakes and 261 miles of rivers and streams. These waters include popular fishing destinations such as Grindstone Lake, the Chisago area lakes as well as four popular rivers – the St. Croix, Kettle, Rum and Snake.
- Information
Hinckley fisheries has not yet stocked rainbow and brown trout in Grindstone Lake and Crooked Creek east of Hinckley. Stocking will occur after the April 18 trout opener.
Grindstone Dam
Information on the dam, including background materials from the September 2017 public meeting, can be found on our Grindstone Dam page.
Links
- Our work
- Manage the fisheries of 160 lakes, 76 miles of St. Croix River, 55 miles of the Rum River, 65 miles of the Kettle River and 65 miles of the Snake River. The long-term data set collected enables us to make the best management decisions possible.
- Provide fishing opportunities in waters in which they otherwise might not exist by annually stocking 24 lakes with walleye and four lakes with muskellunge. One stream is stocked with trout as is Grindstone Lake, which allows that lake's anglers to catch cold-water trout along with with warm-water fish such as crappie, pike and sunfish.
- Produce and stock up to 3,500 pounds of walleye fingerlings as well as produce up to 8,000 muskellunge fingerlings for statewide distribution each year.
- Monitor approximately 25 fishing tournaments per year to ensure legal compliance, proper fish handling and minimize use conflicts on popular lakes.
- Collect fish for contaminant testing to assist the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in determining safe consumption advisories.
- Conduct fish research including a lake sturgeon tagging study on the St. Croix, Kettle and Snake rivers, population estimates for muskellunge, and stocked lake trout escapement from Grindstone Lake.
- Research into effectiveness of stream trout stocking in Grindstone Lake
- Study of rainbow smelt population in Grindstone Lake
- Contacts
Hinckley staff
Slide text left for phones & emails
We will have someone in the office to take phone calls and messages whenever possible during business hours but calls may not be returned immediately. Email is checked throughout the day Monday through Friday during business hours and is the best way to contact staff.
Name
Position
Phone
Email
Leslie George Area supervisor 320-384-7721 [email protected] Deb Vermeersch Assistant area supervisor 320-384-7721 [email protected] Shelly O'Donovan Office administrative specialist 320-384-7721 [email protected] Heath Weaver Fisheries specialist 320-384-7721 [email protected] John Frank Fisheries specialist 320-384-7721 [email protected] Nate Painovich Fisheries specialist 320-384-7721 [email protected]