Boy Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Boy Lake grades a B, with clarity at 11.8 ft and phosphorus readings still being added placing it above the Minnesota median. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI near 42 places Boy Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. A maximum depth of 42 ft puts Boy Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. At 43 acres, Boy Lake sits below the Minnesota median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Boy Lake sits at rank 81 of 141 in Itasca County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Boy Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2022, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Boy Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. Ice-out has been recorded 5 times at Boy Lake, with a median around Apr 16. 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.