What is the difference between Beltrami Lake and Turtle River Lake?

Beltrami Lake (Beltrami County) carries readings with 11.2 ft clarity and 50 ft max depth. Turtle River Lake (Beltrami County) carries readings with 8.5 ft clarity and 63 ft max depth.

Is Beltrami Lake or Turtle River Lake better for fishing?

Beltrami Lake has 16 documented fish species. Turtle River Lake has 20. The lake with more species and better water clarity (Secchi depth) generally supports more diverse and successful fishing.

Beltrami Lake vs Turtle River Lake, Water Quality Comparison

Beltrami Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Turtle River Lake. Both are in Beltrami County, Minnesota.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated Aug 26, 2026

Both Beltrami Lake and Turtle River Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. The readings are meaningfully apart: Beltrami Lake carries clearly lower phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings than Turtle River Lake. A spread that wide reflects real underlying differences, in watershed inputs, depth profiles, or monitoring rigor.

For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Beltrami Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?

Beltrami Lake

Beltrami County, Minnesota

Good clarity, visible to about 11.2 ft.

Turtle River Lake

Beltrami County, Minnesota

Moderate clarity, visible to about 8.5 ft.

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Side-by-Side Metrics

Metric	Beltrami Lake	Turtle River Lake
Water Clarity	11.2 ft Better	8.5 ft
Phosphorus	15 µg/L Better	18.5 µg/L
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)	4.3 µg/L Better	7.5 µg/L
Maximum Depth	50 ft	63 ft Better
Surface Area	726 acres	1,740 acres
Public Access	Yes	Yes
Fish Species	16	20 Better
Trophic State	mesotrophic	mesotrophic

A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.

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Compare Beltrami Lake or Turtle River Lake against a different lake.

Beltrami Lake vs Bemidji Lake Beltrami Lake vs Turtle Lake Beltrami Lake vs Movil Lake Beltrami Lake vs Three Island Lake Beltrami Lake vs Big Lake Long Lake vs Turtle River Lake

Verdict

Beltrami Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Turtle River Lake. Water clarity: 11.2 ft vs 8.5 ft. For more fish-species variety, Turtle River Lake edges ahead with 20 documented species.

Full Beltrami Lake report →Full Turtle River Lake report →All Beltrami County lakes →Cleanest lakes in Minnesota →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.