There’s A Fish House On Sartell’s Lake Francis And I Have Questions

On Monday the weather finally warmed up to the point where we could take a family walk. Since our neighborhood's sidewalk snow removal rate is somewhere around 50%, we figured we would pack up the kids and head over to the path that surrounds Sartell's Lake Francis.

While the path wasn't fully clear (which one is this time of year in Minnesota), we enjoyed a full lap around the frozen lake.

If you aren't familiar, Lake Francis is a man-made lake with a walking path that checks in at just under 1/2 mile per loop. During the holiday season the area is the home of the Sartell Country Lights Festival that sees the entire loop lit up with Christmas lights and displays.

The weather was fine and the path passable but what stood out to me on this blustery March day was the fact that there was a fish house, complete with occupant, staked out right in the middle of the lake. Outside of the tent-like fish house appeared to be fishing implements.

This raises a few questions. First, outside of the Mississippi River, this has to be the only fishing spot in Sartell right? I can't think of any others.

Second, are there actually fish in the lake? As I mentioned, the lake is man-made and I haven't read anything about stocking the lake.

Third, if one could set up a fish house on the lake, could we someday see ice skating on Lake Francis? The city says Lake Francis is bigger than Lake George, and they have been skating on Lake George for over 100 years.

This summer we saw a group of people floating in the lake on a giant inflatable raft and now an ice fisherman was spotted. How long before the speedboats show up?!