Lake Minnetonka anglers rush to save thousands of game fish

With ice covering a good portion of Minnehaha Creek, thousands of game fish have moved into a small pool of open water right next to the Gray’s Bay Dam that leads to Lake Minnetonka, which is shut down every winter and prevents the fish from getting into the lake where oxygen levels are higher.

Ken Martinson is a Lake Minnetonka angler who told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he and about five other anglers have been working to save as many fish as possible over the past two days.

"We’re using nets to pull them out of the creek and then we’ve cut out holes on the other side of the dam on Lake Minnetonka where we are putting the fish into the lake," Martinson said. "We have probably pulled out 2,000 fish, including panfish, bass, northerns and even a couple big muskies."

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources told KSTP this is a natural process every year and some fish will die as oxygen levels go down with the ice cover. The DNR added that winter fish rescues are not generally done as nature takes its course.