Water level still low

I’m up on the NE corner this weekend. I’d say the lake is still a good 18 inches low (if not more). Side roads are dry and dusty too. Thought the lake would be higher after a pretty good snowfall in this area.

With the slow melt and dry ground, it probably all soaked into the soil. Will need some spring rains to bring the levels up.

Just drove by there, the water was pouring over the dam where the rum river starts, I can’t imagine it’s that low if the water is pouring over that fast already

I’m surprised, we’re only 45 minutes north and the lake is highest I’ve seen it.
A local was saying we received 90” of snow this past winter.
And like Norsky said – the water is pouring over the dam.

Norsky wrote:

Just drove by there, the water was pouring over the dam where the rum river starts, I can’t imagine it’s that low if the water is pouring over that fast already

There was literally NO water pouring over those rocks last fall. If there’s good flow coming through there again that’s a great sign.

Solid flow on the Snake by Pine City, levels seemed high

Just put the dock in on Saturday in Cove Bay. The water is still down over a ft from what it was a couple of years ago.

I was talking to a long-time resort owner over the weekend. He said the lake is about average currently. He said obviously last year was low due to drought, but that previous 2-3 years before that were high.

I’d still like to see the lake come up a bit.

Actually a little higher than the 19 year average.

http://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/mille-lacs-lake-levels-5-4-22/article_d79f87f8-caf9-11ec-9eeb-6f898b9d697f.html

-J.

Thanks Jon

That confirms what the resort owner was saying. Lower than previous several years, but basically back to long-term average.

We’ve had a place on ML since 2013 and every year since then it has been above average, way above average for most of these years. We have 186′ of dock to float the boat and last year needed to pull the boat in the beginning of August. The lake is up about 4″ since last August so hopefully more rain comes. As there really is not much inflow of water, the lake fluctuation is almost entirely based on rain fall. During last summers drought, the lake was losing about 1″ per week. Here is a link to historical averages.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/monthly/?referred_module=sw&site_no=05284000&por_05284000_73156=900051,00065,73156,1963-10,2022-03&format=html_table&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD&rdb_compression=file&submitted_form=parameter_selection_list

Jon – I was informed you guys dredged your harbor.

That was the other harbor on the point.

-J.

If you guys check out the way the dam at the start of the Rum River has been reconfigured a couple years ago, there’s no way the lake is ever going to get much higher than what it’s currently at, something to do with getting more wild rice to grow for the natives on Ogechi Lake.

Norsky wrote:

If you guys check out the way the dam at the start of the Rum River has been reconfigured a couple years ago, there’s no way the lake is ever going to get much higher than what it’s currently at, something to do with getting more wild rice to grow for the natives on Ogechi Lake.

I don’t know if the lake is able to get higher than it used to after this alteration above and below Ogechie Lake either, but there’s not doubt that its changed. There used to be steel barriers in between Vineland Bay and the Rum River right by Hwy 169 there and you could get a 16 foot boat (or smaller) through those barriers, under the bridge, and then all the way out into the head of Ogechie Lake. You can’t do that anymore. Additionally, they completely removed Buckmore Dam at the base of Lake Ogechie in Kathio State Park. I am not sure what is there now, as I haven’t been there in years. I believe part of the reason was to also attract more waterfowl with the wild rice.

Norsky wrote:

If you guys check out the way the dam at the start of the Rum River has been reconfigured a couple years ago, there’s no way the lake is ever going to get much higher than what it’s currently at, something to do with getting more wild rice to grow for the natives on Ogechi Lake.

I was not aware of that. Thanks

My curiosity was sparked a little by this reconstruction, so I did a little more research on the Mille Lacs watershed, interesting article copied below. The Rum River is the only outlet but probably isn’t sufficient enough to affect the water level that much, but it does affect it. Hopefully the waterfowl are benefiting from the wild rice on Ogechie now.

Mille Lacs Lake Watershed

The watershed of Mille Lacs Lake encompasses over 116,000 acres of land and 132,520 acres of water surface. Mille Lacs Lake itself occupies 207 square miles, or about 53 percent of the watershed. The Mille Lacs Lake Watershed falls within the jurisdiction of three counties–Aitkin, Crow Wing, and Mille Lacs–and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, plus the towns of Garrison, Wahkon and Isle.

The Mille Lacs Lake Watershed has a small land area compared to its water surface area. Water enters the lake either through rainfall, inlets or groundwater. Water exits the lake through only one outlet, the Rum River. These factors result in what is called “long water residency.” This means that it may take as long as thirty years for water entering the lake to exit the lake. Pollution carried into the lake with the water, will also remain in the lake for a long period of time.

There are thirteen tributaries flowing into Mille Lacs Lake. These tributaries contain 73 percent of the surface water and flow into the lake. The remaining 27 percent comes from the shoreline adjacent to the lake. The volume of water entering the lake through runoff is not great in comparison to the volume entering the lake in the form of rain. In an average year 81 percent of the inflow into Mille Lacs Lake comes from rainfall.

Nice information there Norsky.

Very curious to see if Wealthwood Access will be deep enough to launch out of this year. Last November with my truck completely backed in I wasn’t even close to being able to get my boat off the trailer.

Pete U. wrote:

Very curious to see if Wealthwood Access will be deep enough to launch out of this year. Last November with my truck completely backed in I wasn’t even close to being able to get my boat off the trailer.

Maybe if you’re launching a kayak.

That access, along with Malmo, has been on shallow ground for years. There’s always a lot of sand there too. I quit using them many years ago. Lot better options than those accesses. Cedar Creek public access is very sandy and shallow too.

Mac’s Twin Bay with the ownership change is now private only for slip renters and fish house stored there. I have a buddy putting in at Liberty today and will report back to me as mine is going in on Friday.

Good to know about Macs! Went out of Liberty on 5/1 for a short shake down cruise with the Ranger. Still a little on the shallow side. Should be no problems as long as you don’t have the wind blowing straight out of the west.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Still a little on the shallow side. Should be no problems as long as you don’t have the wind blowing straight out of the west.

-J.

Last I looked it was a stiff West wind for this weekend.

Not looking too bad. But yea, it’s Mille Lacs. 5-10 usually means 15 – LOL !

Friday NightMostly clear, with a low around 50. West southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

SaturdaySunny, with a high near 71. Light southwest wind becoming west southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Saturday NightMostly clear, with a low around 46. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light in the evening.

Sunday A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Sunny, with a high near 68. Light west wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Sunday NightMostly clear, with a low around 44. West northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

-J.

I use wind alert on the MN webcams page for my mille lacs wind forecasts. That shows wind 15-29mph from the south on Saturday. The north end should be pretty sporty!

Water level is trending in the right direction! Really came up nice this week.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=05284000

-J.

Waves makes the fishing 100 times better on the pond.