Clearwater Lake vs Gunflint Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Clearwater Lake and Gunflint Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Cook County, Minnesota.
Clearwater Lake and Gunflint Lake are both in Minnesota — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. The grades are close: Clearwater Lake (A) and Gunflint Lake (A) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.
With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.
Clearwater Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 29 ft down.
Gunflint Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16.5 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Clearwater Lake | Gunflint Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 29 ft | 16.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | 4 µg/L | 5.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.3 µg/L | 2.6 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 65 ft | 200 ft |
| Surface Area | 462 acres | 4,009 acres |
| Public Access | No | Yes |
| Fish Species | 0 | 12 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Clearwater Lake: 29 ft, Gunflint Lake: 16.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Clearwater Lake has fewer fish species than Gunflint Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.