Last week, a team from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency electro-fished Turtle Creek to get an idea of stream health. A stock of that study is now in.

The team netted 483 total fish during their 500 meter stroll down the Turtle on Aug. 22, which included 19 different species of fish.

“It was pretty good,” said Dan Fittag of the MPCA, who was among the team surveying the river. “However, there weren’t as many species as 2009.”

The study of species, along with chemical testing and Index of Biotic Integrity, give the MPCA an idea as to the health of a body of water. While results from those last two things won’t be available for quite a while, the fish count itself can give an idea as to how the stream is doing.

Even though the fish count was down from an earlier visit in 2009, Fettig is still pretty happy with what the team found.

“It seems pretty good,” he said, in reference to the health of the river, noting that, “there are some ripples and core sub straights, sand and gravel that are good to see.”

Full assessments of those sites sampled will be released in February 2021 and a watershed report of the findings from this year’s sampling will be posted at the MPCA website in July of 2022.

A closer look will be done next year when Fettig and colleagues from around the state sit down to break down all the stats that were gathered.

Fish sampled in the Turtle Creek

• Bigmouth shiner 3
• Carmine shiner  17
• Central stoneroller  8
• Sand shiner 15
• Creek chub 66
• Blacknose dace 18
• Johnny darter 20
• Black bullhead 8
• Bluntnose minnow 9
• Stonecat 8
• Fantail darter 65
• Blackside Darter 20
• Fathead minnow 20
• Rainbow darter 2
• Rock bass 7
• Common shiner 130
• Green sunfish 3
• Yellow perch  12