Ashigan Lake

Ashigan Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. Ashigan Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 59 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. At 153 acres, Ashigan Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 3.5 miles of shoreline. Ashigan Lake ranks 47 of 142 in Lake County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Ashigan Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Ashigan Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.