Pelican Lake vs Tamarac Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Pelican Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Tamarac Lake. Both are in Otter Tail County, Minnesota.
Pelican Lake and Tamarac 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. Pelican Lake reads materially cleaner than Tamarac 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: Pelican 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?
Pelican Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16.4 ft down.
Tamarac Lake
Murky, only visible to about 6.2 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Pelican Lake | Tamarac Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 16.4 ft Better | 6.2 ft |
| Phosphorus | 15 µg/L Better | 33 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 3 µg/L Better | 10.7 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 55 ft Better | 11 ft |
| Surface Area | 3,962 acres | 445 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 20 Better | 11 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | eutrophic |
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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Verdict
Pelican Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Tamarac Lake. Water clarity: 16.4 ft vs 6.2 ft. For fishing diversity, Pelican Lake also leads with 20 species.
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Where to stay near Pelican Lake and Tamarac Lake
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.