What is the difference between North Turtle Lake and Silver Lake?

North Turtle Lake (Otter Tail County) carries readings with 4 ft clarity and 19 ft max depth. Silver Lake (Otter Tail County) carries readings with 12.1 ft clarity and 43 ft max depth.

Is North Turtle Lake or Silver Lake better for fishing?

North Turtle Lake has 12 documented fish species. Silver Lake has 13. The lake with more species and better water clarity (Secchi depth) generally supports more diverse and successful fishing.

North Turtle Lake vs Silver Lake, Water Quality Comparison

Silver Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than North Turtle Lake. Both are in Otter Tail County, Minnesota.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated Aug 26, 2026

Both North Turtle Lake and Silver 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. Silver Lake reads materially cleaner than North Turtle Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.

For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Silver 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?

North Turtle Lake

Otter Tail County, Minnesota

Murky, only visible to about 4 ft.

Silver Lake

Otter Tail County, Minnesota

Good clarity, visible to about 12.1 ft.

Stay near Silver Lake →Swap a lake

Side-by-Side Metrics

Metric	North Turtle Lake	Silver Lake
Water Clarity	4 ft	12.1 ft Better
Phosphorus	54.5 µg/L	16 µg/L Better
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)	22 µg/L	4.4 µg/L Better
Maximum Depth	19 ft	43 ft Better
Surface Area	1,773 acres	529 acres
Public Access	Yes	Yes
Fish Species	12	13 Better
Trophic State	eutrophic	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 North Turtle Lake or Silver Lake against a different lake.

North Turtle Lake vs South Turtle Lake North Turtle Lake vs Pelican Lake Deer Lake vs North Turtle Lake Silver Lake vs South Turtle Lake Pelican Lake vs Silver Lake Deer Lake vs Silver Lake

Verdict

Silver Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than North Turtle Lake. Water clarity: 12.1 ft vs 4 ft. For fishing diversity, Silver Lake also leads with 13 species.

Full North Turtle Lake report →Full Silver Lake report →All Otter Tail County lakes →Cleanest lakes in Minnesota →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.