What is the difference between South Lindstrom Lake and Sunrise Lake?

South Lindstrom Lake (Chisago County) holds Grade A with 5.6 ft clarity and 34 ft max depth. Sunrise Lake (Chisago County) holds Grade A with 8.4 ft clarity and 21 ft max depth.

Is South Lindstrom Lake or Sunrise Lake better for fishing?

South Lindstrom Lake has 14 documented fish species. Sunrise Lake has 10. The lake with more species and better water clarity (Secchi depth) generally supports more diverse and successful fishing.

South Lindstrom Lake vs Sunrise Lake

Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.

South Lindstrom Lake and Sunrise Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Chisago County, Minnesota.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated Aug 2, 2026

South Lindstrom Lake and Sunrise 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: South Lindstrom Lake (A) and Sunrise 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.

South Lindstrom Lake

Chisago County, Minnesota

Murky, only visible to about 5.6 ft.

Sunrise Lake

Chisago County, Minnesota

Moderate clarity, visible to about 8.4 ft.

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Side-by-Side Metrics

Metric	South Lindstrom Lake	Sunrise Lake
Overall Grade	A (Excellent)	A (Excellent)
Water Clarity	5.6 ft	8.4 ft Better
Phosphorus	16 µg/L	9.4 µg/L Better
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)	6.1 µg/L	2.5 µg/L Better
Maximum Depth	34 ft Better	21 ft
Surface Area	455 acres	796 acres
Public Access	Yes	No
Fish Species	14 Better	10
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 South Lindstrom Lake or Sunrise Lake against a different lake.

Green Lake vs South Lindstrom Lake Rush Lake vs South Lindstrom Lake Chisago Lake vs South Lindstrom Lake South Center Lake vs South Lindstrom Lake North Center Lake vs South Lindstrom Lake Goose Lake vs South Lindstrom Lake

Verdict

Both lakes earn the same Grade A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (South Lindstrom Lake: 5.6 ft, Sunrise Lake: 8.4 ft) and what you want from the lake. South Lindstrom Lake supports more documented fish species.

Full South Lindstrom Lake report →Full Sunrise Lake report →All Chisago County lakes →Cleanest lakes in Minnesota →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.