Best Kayaking Lakes in Minnesota, Clean Water + Public Access

Kayaking-friendly rankings prefer lakes with low motor-boat congestion, interesting shoreline, decent water clarity, and public access. Hunter Lake (A) tops the Minnesota list.

Kayaking favors lakes with shoreline interest — bays, islands, undeveloped stretches — which tends to correlate with the larger, more remote Minnesota lakes rather than the small, residential ones.

Rank	Lake	County	State	Grade	Clarity	Area	Depth
1	Hunter Lake	Cass	MN	A	31 ft	182 acres	48 ft
2	Kerbs Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	27.7 ft	-	-
3	Little Mcdonald Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	26.5 ft	1,316 acres	109 ft
4	Serpent Lake	Crow Wing	MN	A	25 ft	1,116 acres	65 ft
5	Bad Medicine Lake	Becker	MN	A	25 ft	803 acres	84 ft
6	Big Sand Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	23 ft	1,639 acres	135 ft
7	Stony Lake	Cass	MN	A	23 ft	563 acres	50 ft
8	Turtle Lake	Becker	MN	A	23 ft	196 acres	73 ft
9	Belle Taine Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	22.8 ft	1,497 acres	56 ft
10	Eagle Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	22.6 ft	907 acres	46 ft
11	West Sylvia Lake	Wright	MN	A	22 ft	904 acres	97 ft
12	Long Lost Lake	Clearwater	MN	A	22 ft	539 acres	63 ft
13	Little Trout Lake	Itasca	MN	A	22 ft	86 acres	80 ft
14	Big Ole Lake	Itasca	MN	A	21.8 ft	217 acres	65 ft
15	Long Lake	Cass	MN	A	21.5 ft	1,007 acres	115 ft
16	Little Jay Gould Lake	Itasca	MN	A	21.5 ft	150 acres	56 ft
17	Bearskin Lake	Cook	MN	A	21 ft	509 acres	78 ft
18	Six Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	21 ft	197 acres	140 ft
19	Moon Lake	Douglas	MN	A	21 ft	139 acres	38 ft
20	Mayhew Lake	Cook	MN	A	20.6 ft	221 acres	84 ft
21	Long Lake	Clearwater	MN	A	20.5 ft	159 acres	80 ft
22	Ossawinnamakee Lake	Crow Wing	MN	A	20 ft	711 acres	63 ft
23	Sybil Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	20 ft	683 acres	74 ft
24	Big Fish Lake	Stearns	MN	A	20 ft	557 acres	70 ft
25	Little Sand Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	20 ft	410 acres	80 ft
26	Scalp Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	20 ft	254 acres	90 ft
27	Sylvan Lake	Cass	MN	A	19.5 ft	1,280 acres	-
28	Long Lake	Becker	MN	A	19.5 ft	415 acres	61 ft
29	Boot Lake	Becker	MN	A	19.5 ft	385 acres	109 ft
30	Big Bass Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	19.4 ft	133 acres	60 ft
31	Lone Lake	Clearwater	MN	A	19.4 ft	69 acres	70 ft
32	East Silent Lake	Otter Tail	MN	A	19.2 ft	324 acres	48 ft
33	Siseebakwet Lake	Itasca	MN	A	19 ft	1,210 acres	105 ft
34	North Star Lake	Itasca	MN	A	19 ft	832 acres	90 ft
35	Latoka Lake	Douglas	MN	A	19 ft	767 acres	108 ft
36	Ponto Lake	Cass	MN	A	19 ft	388 acres	60 ft
37	Ozawindib Lake	Clearwater	MN	A	19 ft	159 acres	80 ft
38	Crooked Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	19 ft	-	~38 ft est.
39	Lower Hay Lake	Crow Wing	MN	A	18.5 ft	700 acres	100 ft
40	Bluewater Lake	Itasca	MN	A	18.5 ft	364 acres	120 ft
41	Emma Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	18.5 ft	78 acres	50 ft
42	Green Lake	Beltrami	MN	A	18.5 ft	-	~32 ft est.
43	Trout Lake	Cook	MN	A	18.4 ft	259 acres	77 ft
44	Kimball Lake	Crow Wing	MN	A	18.4 ft	190 acres	77 ft
45	Flour Lake	Cook	MN	A	18.2 ft	330 acres	75 ft
46	Bass Lake	Itasca	MN	A	18.2 ft	122 acres	65 ft
47	Webb Lake	Cass	MN	A	18 ft	720 acres	84 ft
48	Midge Lake	Hubbard	MN	A	18 ft	546 acres	24 ft
49	Mule Lake	Cass	MN	A	18 ft	525 acres	47 ft
50	Hungry Jack Lake	Cook	MN	A	18 ft	474 acres	71 ft

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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.