The Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District is currently working with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) to improve the water quality of Arctic Lake with help from a grant from the MN Board of Soil and Water Resources (BWSR). Carp management has an important role to play in water quality, as carp destroy native vegetation and stir up phosphorus submerged in bottom sediments. Resuspension of phosphorus can result in an explosion of algae and the lack of native vegetation discourages native fish and wildlife.
On March 26, licensed commercial fisherman seined the lake for common carp. A seine is a type of fishing net that hangs vertically in the water with floats on the top of the net and weights running along the bottom side. The seine the fishermen used on Arctic Lake was 1400 feet long and dropped to 25 feet deep. The seining yielded many fish including many bass and crappies, but only five adult carp along with a handful of juvenile carp were caught. The low carp numbers from the seine suggests that the carp are not living in Arctic Lake but likely migrate from Prior Lake into Arctic Lake to spawn.
A carp barrier was installed this month to prevent carp from using Arctic Lake as a spawning area.