The message of the evening was clear from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR) Tuesday, Dec. 18, at the Montgomery American Legion, aeration systems are rather ineffective at providing meaningful oxygen to most bodies of water and are a source of danger to the public.
About 100 Wheatland Twin Lakes Sportsmans Club (WTLSC) members and the general public gathered to see, hear, and ask questions about what the MnDNR had to present about Cody Lake and the possibility of reinstating an aeration system there.
History of aeration at Cody Lake
1989 - First Helixor bubbler aeration system installed
2006 - Switched to Clean-Flo diffuser aeration system
2014 - Aeration system turned off mid-winter
2017 - WTLSC held a permit to aerate up until
2025 - WTLSC raises funds for system and applies for permit
Lake Management Plan for Cody Lake
Cody Lake, with an area of 257 acres and maximum depth of 14 feet, was originally mapped as a part of a game lake survey in 1949 and remapped in 1984. It had a lake survey done by the area fishery in 1990 and 2000 with special assessments done in 1990, 1996-1998, and 2008, and population assessments done in 1991-1992, 2019, and 2015. According to the MnDNR, it was described as a bullhead lake and was commercially fishable through the 1990’s.
In 1989, the lake management plan called for aeration to create a “multi-species fishery.” The potential plan mentioned developing an integrated fish and wildlife management plan for the the County Ditch 25 watershed.
In 1995, the plan lists several species for lake management. A one-to-two foot draw down of Cody Lake is mentioned as a possible lake enhancement that would benefit Cody and Phelps Lake habitat conditions, particularly emergent vegetation.
In 2001, the plan lists several species for lake management, and developing a comprehensive multi-basin management plan in cooperation with the Division of Wildlife is mentioned in the potential plan. It mentions that “…Cody Lake fish community, which has been dominated by carp or black bullheads in spite of the past decade of habitat stabilized aeration.”
In 2013 and 2014, MnDNR meets with the WTLSC and together they decide the best plan of action is to discontinue aeration on Cody Lake.
In 2016, the most recent and current lake management plan is introduced for Cody Lake. It mentions, “Furthermore, habitat value in the lake was poor because undesirable fish such as bullhead and carp persisted through most winterkills, partially due to aeration providing refuge during the years when a complete winterkill may have occurred.
The current management plan calls...
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