Mule Lake vs Wabedo Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Mule Lake and Wabedo Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Cass County, Minnesota.
Mule Lake and Wabedo 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: Mule Lake (A) and Wabedo 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.
Mule Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 18 ft down.
Wabedo Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 10.5 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Mule Lake | Wabedo Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 18 ft | 10.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | 10 µg/L | 16 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 2.4 µg/L | 4.9 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 47 ft | 95 ft |
| Surface Area | 525 acres | 1,226 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 11 | 19 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | mesotrophic |
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 (Mule Lake: 18 ft, Wabedo Lake: 10.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Mule Lake has fewer fish species than Wabedo Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.