Bear Lake
Stearns County, MinnesotaView mapDirections
Minnesota PCA publishes the water-quality measurements for Bear Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 49 ft max depth
- Limited data
Bear Lake in Stearns County, Minnesota has water-quality measurements published by Minnesota PCA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6 ft visibility.
Bear Lake is a lake in Stearns County, Minnesota with an estimated average depth of about 49 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. No public access — the lake is private or restricted.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Minnesota DNR LakeFinder, last sampled 2024-08-15. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Bear Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Ice seasonIce-out around Apr 12
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Bear Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota DNR and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Bear Lake
These are the measurements Minnesota PCA publishes for Bear Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Murky, only visible to about 6 ft. TSI 51.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 6ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 51 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Bear Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~49 ft est.
Public access
No
Listed by Minnesota PCA
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Minnesota has not published bathymetry for Bear Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
104 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,194 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Bear Lake
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Top-rated places to stay near Bear Lake
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Fishing Bear Lake
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2020–2024).
Water clarity
Improving5 years
Ice season
Typical ice-out
Apr 12
Earliest Apr 8, 2020 · Latest Apr 22, 2022
Typical ice-in
Nov 20
Earliest Oct 30, 2022 · Latest Dec 12, 2017
Most recent ice-out
Apr 22
2022
8 observations · Minnesota PCA ice records
Nearby Lakes in Stearns County
Frequently asked questions about Bear Lake
Where is Bear Lake?
- Bear Lake is a lake in Stearns County, Minnesota. Its water-quality measurements are published by Minnesota PCA and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Bear Lake?
- Bear Lake in Stearns County, Minnesota has water-quality measurements published by Minnesota PCA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6 ft visibility.
Is Bear Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Bear Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Bear Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 49 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
When does Bear Lake thaw?
- Bear Lake typically has ice-out around Apr 12. Ice typically forms around Nov 20. The open water season is approximately 222 days.
Can I fish at Bear Lake?
- Public access to Bear Lake is listed as no on the lake record, so confirm before you make the trip. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Minnesota's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
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Where this data comes from
18 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency - Ambient Surface Water
MNPCA18 samples · 2020–2024
Analytical methods
- Field measurement/observation, generic method
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)
Lake details from Minnesota DNR LakeFinder
Ice data from Minnesota DNR Climate