Bella Lake

Bella Lake grades an F: water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate poorly, placing it among the most stressed lakes monitored in Minnesota. 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 above 70 puts Bella Lake in hypereutrophic territory: visible blooms are common, and clarity rarely climbs even in early summer. A maximum depth of just 14 ft means sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the water column whenever wind stirs the bottom — a classic shallow-lake dynamic. Bella Lake covers 180 acres alongside 6.0 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Bella Lake ranks 4 of 4 in Nobles County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Bella Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Bella Lake, one of 12 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Bella 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.