Muskies are out, but walleye will be in at Lake Zumbro
9/20/2008 8:45:01 AM 
By John Weiss
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
ORONOCO — Muskies are out for Lake Zumbro, but walleye will be in.
The Department of Natural Resources study of how well muskies have taken in the reservoir east of Oronoco found the fish don’t really like the lake and head down the Zumbro River as soon as they can make it over the dam, said Kevin Stauffer, area DNR fisheries supervisor in Lake City.
That will mean the department will stop stocking muskies in the lake, something it started in 1994 as a way to add another sport fish to the lake. The research study found they didn’t hang around. “We gave it a good run,” he said.
Instead, the fish are being found in the river and some of the fish are very big. They have been found as far down the river as Millville, which is 25 miles from the dam
It’s possible that the DNR could stock muskies in the river in the future, he said.
Thought it’s giving up on muskies in the lake, it will begin stocking walleye there. It will start with about 12,000 fingerlings this fall and will stock them on alternating years. DNR tests have never found a walleye or sauger in the lake, though they are found in the river below the dam that created the lake.
The next step in getting more walleye fishing close to Rochester will be to put them in Cascade Lake in Rochester when the dredging ends and the city makes it into a park.