Belmont Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Belmont Lake grades a B, with clarity at 13.5 ft and phosphorus readings still being added placing it above the Minnesota median.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. The lake bottoms out at 34 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 285 acres and 4.3 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within Otter Tail County's 97 graded lakes, Belmont Lake ranks 58 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

No invasive species are currently listed at Belmont Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery is bass-led, with 10 documented species across the lake's records. 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.