ABOVE: Ron Rademacher of Rademacher Farms releases some Yellow Perch into Budd Lake in Fairmont. The Fairmont Lakes Foundation Inc., recently paid for thousands of fish in order to stock the lakes. Photo courtesy of Mari Myren.

FAIRMONT–The Fairmont Lakes Foundation, Inc. (FLF) has had a busy spring pursuing its mission of enhancing the lakes, creating awareness of them and preserving the quality of them. Recently, the Foundation was able to stock the lakes with thousands of Yellow Perch.

Jon Omvig is the current chairman of the Lakes Foundation and said that this was the first time in several years that the Foundation was able to stock the chain of lakes.

“If you remember the winter of 2022 to 2023, we had a lot of snow which meant we had a fish kill. The fish hatchery that we order fish from had no fish available to stock,” Omvig explained.

Since then the Foundation has been waiting for Yellow Perch to come available as that is the type that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recommended the local lakes be stocked with.

A staggering amount of 6,000 Yellow Perch, ranging from 3 to 6 inches long were put in the lakes on April 25.

“The DNR said that, especially with the flow we’e had this year, they’ll follow the current and be through all of the lakes in short order,” Omvig said.

The fish were paid for with several different funds which included a $2,500 grant from the Martin County Conservation Club and $5,000 from the Lakes Foundation. Money from the Foundation’s bi-annual fundraiser fishing tournaments were also used.

Omvig said that stocking the lakes was something that the Foundation has identified as important because it aligns with its overall mission of water quality and enjoyment of the lakes.

“Fishing is a huge activity on the Fairmont lakes,” Omvig said. “we work with the DNR and they do annual monitoring of fish in the lakes and had identified Yellow Perch as a specie that needed additional stocking.”

About six years ago, the Foundation stocked the lakes with Blue Gill, which eat carp eggs and were put in the lakes for that purpose in order to reduce the amount of carp in the lakes.

Omvig provided some additional information and shared that the DNR has recently had a boat in the Fairmont lakes which is doing electroshocking where they throw a light current in the water which stuns the fish so that they can be netted, measured and weighed.

“They netted 12 Muskie. All of them were very healthy and ranged in size from 28 inches to 41 inches. I think that’s pretty amazing,” Omvig said.

It’s trophy fish like these that tend to bring out people not only from Fairmont and Martin County to enjoy the lakes, but people from all over Southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa. In fact, the Foundation’s annual Spring fishing Tournament is coming up on Saturday, May 18. Weigh in will take place at 1 p.m. at Gomsrud Park where a number of prizes will be given out to the most fish caught and the biggest fish caught. More details on registration can be found online at fairmontlakesfoundation.com.

In addition to stocking the lakes and preparing for the tournament, members of the Foundation, in partnership with Grace Lutheran Church and the city of Fairmont took part in a lake clean up on Sunday, May 5.

“They also participated in painting stencils near many of the storm sewers reminding people not to throw trash, leaves and cut grass into the storm sewers because it goes straight into the lake,” Omvig said.

He said that the Fire Department also had its diving boat on George Lake to help collect some trash. The Fairmont Park Department haul all of the trash away after it was gathered

“We’re also in the process of getting permits from the DNR to plant native aquatic vegetation for water quality as well as fish habitat,” Omvig said.

For that project the foundation received a donation from the Welcome American Legion.

Finally, the Foundation is doing what it can to combat Curley Leaf Pondweed. It’s purchased some aquatic rakes, available for member use, to help control some of the invasive weeds.

“The DNR allows limited vegetation removal without a permit. People can check the DNR website for details,” Omvig said.