The fish stocking program on Turtle Lake dates back to 1927, and has been ongoing with some regularity over the past 80 years.  Two species have been the focus of the stocking program in an effort to bolster their populations – walleye and lake whitefish.

 

 Walleye

 

From 1932 – 1962, over 14 million walleye fry (newly hatched) were stocked in the lake.  The fisheries survey of 1964-65 indicated poor stocking success, so the stocking program was terminated.  But due to high angler demand for walleye in the late 1960s, the walleye stocking program was re-introduced.  From 1969 – 2004, another 22 million walleye fry as well as 461,300 walleye fingerlings (about 5 cm long) were stocked.  Turtle Lake was stocked with approximately 500,000 walleye fry each spring. The stocking of Walleye was halted after 2010 to see if the Walleye population was breeding.  The fish population testing of 2017 suggests that the Walleye population of Turtle Lake is self sustaining.

 

Whitefish

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Whitefish stocking started in 1927 and was discontinued in 1984.  During this period, tens of millions of whitefish fry were stocked. The most extensive stocking occurred from 1969 – 1980 when 13 million fry were stocked in the lake.