Boot Lake

On the scoring rubric Boot Lake grades a D: clarity at 5.5 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for St. Louis County.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. Boot Lake reaches 27 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Boot Lake covers 323 acres alongside 7.3 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within the 187 graded lakes of St. Louis County, Boot Lake sits at rank 166, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Boot Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Boot Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. No formal public access is documented at Boot Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. 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.