Bass Lake

Bass Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Cass County. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

A TSI value of 36 puts Bass Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. Bass Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 55 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. The lake's 195 acres and 3.4 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Among the 133 graded lakes in Cass County, Bass Lake ranks 7 — in the top quartile locally.

Bass Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2022, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 12 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Bass Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.