Little Boy Lake

Little Boy Fishery Information

Little Boy Lake (DOW# 11-0167; Lake Class 22) is a 1,452 acre lake located near Longville, MN. There is a DNR owned public access on the southwest shore. Little Boy Lake is connected to Wabedo Lake (DOW# 11-0171; Lake Class 22) via a short navigable channel. Little Boy Lake has 10.02 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 74 feet. The lake was mapped in July, 1953.

Protected Slot Limit for Northern Pike with 24" to 36" three in possession with one over 36" allowed in possession special regulation for Northern Pike, was implemented in 2003.

Protected Slot Limit for Walleye is 18” to 26’, possession limit four with one over 26" allowed in possession was implemented in 2018.

Little Boy Lake is a great multi-species lake with the potential to produce trophy size fish.

Muskellunge up to 49 inches were sampled in the spring of 2015, with several fish captured from 36 to 44 inches long.
Walleye are abundant and ranged from 11 to 25 inches long. A high number of two year old Walleye that ranged in length from 13 to nearly 14 inches long were present and will be of acceptable size for harvest starting in 2019.
Smallmouth Bass are common with fish up to 21 inches sampled.
Northern Pike are abundant and the majority of Northern Pike sampled were 18 to 23 inches long with fish up to 34 inches long present.
Largemouth Bass are not very abundant but fish over 18 inches long were sampled in the spring.
Bluegill were moderately abundant but fish over 8 inches long were not common.
Black Crappie are scarce.
Other fish species that anglers can expect to encounter include Bowfin (Dogfish), Brown Bullhead, Hybrid Sunfish Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Rock Bass, Tullibee (Cisco), White Sucker, Yellow Bullhead, and Yellow Perch.

2020 Update

Beginning in 2020 the DNR will stock 1,000 fry per littoral acre (466,000) on even numbered years. This is a decrease from the 2,000 fry per littoral acre that were stocked in 2014, 2016 and 2018. The DNR expects natural production to increase as a result of the 18"-26" protected slot. If stocking were continued at the previous high level, the forage base may be overwhelmed, leading to reduced recruitment and slower growth rates.

The DNR cancelled its walleye egg harvest statewide in 2020 and therefore will not be stocking any walleye in 2020. The DNR indicates that it will stock walleye fry in 2021 to make up for the missed year, and then stock on even years per the current 10 year management plan.
The DNR will be conducting a Creel survey on Little Boy and Wabedo lake the summer of 2020. The creel survey consists of face-to-face interviews of anglers to determine: what species are being targeted, fishing pressure, basic demographic information (age, number of people per party, where anglers reside, etc.).
The DNR will be conducting a fall electrofishing study targeting Young of Year (YOY) walleye in September 2020. The purpose is to help assess walleye fry stocking, natural reproduction and the effect of the 18”-26” walleye slot limit on reproduction.
Watercraft inspectors are scheduled at the public access on both Little Boy and Wabedo lakes this summer, and will be following social distancing guidelines.
The Lake Association is coordinating water quality testing of Little Boy, Wabedo and tributaries again this summer, as we’ve been doing for many years.
Lake Association board members have trained to become Aquatic Invasive Species Detectors and will be sampling our lakes several times this summer.

Little Boy Lake Fisheries Management Plans

The most recent DNR fisheries lake survey was completed in July, 2018 (previously surveyed in 2015 and 2012 and various other prior years as shown below).

Little Boy - DNR Fisheries Management Plans

Little Boy Stocking History

(photo by Ron Stokesbary)

2014 Update

We agreed to another new stocking plan. This one goes back to every other year stocking so the DNR can assess natural reproduction. This new plan will stock 932,000 fry (2,000 fry/littoral acre) in the even numbered years. We will continue the fall electro-fishing to monitor how the Young of the Year (YOY) have fared. If the electro-fishing reports 1-15 YOY/hour, we will stock fingerlings at 2 lbs/acre, 15-29 YOY/hour = 1 lbs/acre and over 30 YOY/hour = no additional fingerling stocking needed. We would need to have reduced YOY counts for 2 years in a row for the additional stocking to occur. Gill net assessments will be on a 3 year basis starting in 2015 and the lake management fisheries plan will updated in 2021.

2012 Update

Prior to 2006, walleye stocking was scheduled for fry stocking every three years (this schedule was not always followed). When the gill netting was completed in 2005 it was determined the walleye fishery was in trouble (CPUE counts were at historic lows). With the assistance of the Walker Area Walleye Coalition in 2006, we improved the walleye stocking on Little Boy from stocking fry every three years to every two years. Gill netting was performed again in 2006 to see if the walleye fishery problems still continued (final results of that survey were not available until spring of 2007). The fishery was still not where it should be so in 2008, we again improved the stocking program to include annual fry stocking and "contingency stocking" of fingerlings - see the DNR Fisheries Management Plans for full information on the new stocking program. In 2011, we reviewed stocking results and because it appears the fry stocking is working well, the DNR agreed to extend our current stocking plan through 2015.

Little Boy - Counts per Net, Length, Weight

In the chart below, the blue line represents walleye counts per net. You can see the 2005 and 2006 counts were some of the lowest since 1955. This is the reason we asked the DNR to go to a every other year fry stocking program in 2006. In 2007-2008, we asked the DNR to further alter the Little Boy stocking program and in 2014 updated the plan again (see the DNR Lake Plans tab for full information).

The CPUE (Catch Per Unit of Effort- which in this case is number of fish per net for each type of fish) is shown in the graph below.

The PSD and RSD-P measure the size structure of a fishery and the relative weights also indicate fishery size structure.

The mean length and weight are shown below for the walleye fishery:

2008 Update

The DNR completed gill netting the week of July 21, 2008. The graph shows a couple of interesting points.

Most of the larger walleyes are gone.
Fry were stocked in 1999 and had grown to about 10-13 inch fish in 2002. Fry were stocked in 2003 and had grown to about 10-13 inch fish in 2006. Fry were stocked in 2006 and had grown to about 10-13 inch fish in 2009. Please note the 2005 data (non-stocked year) shows very few 10-13 inch fish. It appears that stocking fry works well in Little Boy Lake.

Prior to 2006, walleye stocking was scheduled for fry stocking every three years (this schedule was not always followed). When the gill netting was completed in 2005 it was determined the walleye fishery was in trouble (CPUE counts were at historic lows). With the assistance of the Walker Area Walleye Coalition in 2006, we improved the walleye stocking on Little Boy from stocking fry every three years to every two years. Gill netting was performed again in 2006 to see if the walleye fishery problems still continued (final results of that survey were not available until spring of 2007). The fishery was still not where it should be so in 2008, we again improved the stocking program to include annual fry stocking and "contingency stocking" of fingerlings - see the DNR Fisheries Management Plans for full information on the new stocking program. In 2011, we reviewed stocking results and because it appears the fry stocking is working well, the DNR agreed to extend our current stocking plan through 2015.

This chart show the length frequency of Northern Pike. Please note in 2002, there were no northern greater than 25 inches. The Protected Slot Limit (PSL) of 24-36" was implemented in 2003 and in 2005, 2006 and 2008, northern are being caught in the PSL range with 2008 showing marked improvement in northern fishery size. It appears the northern Protected Slot Limit is working well.

Little Boy CPUE and Length Distributions

This chart shows the length frequency of walleye taken in the last several gill nettings.

2006 Update

The data for 2006 shows a high number of 12-14 inch fish, but not many other size fish. In the age frequency data (which is not shown here) it was found that 66% of the netted walleyes were from one year class - the 2003 year class (which was a stocked year). This is part of the reason we asked for the "contingency stocking" program.