Caribou Lake

Caribou Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. Caribou Lake reaches 21 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Caribou Lake covers 539 acres alongside 5.6 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Caribou Lake ranks 50 of 187 in St. Louis County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Caribou Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Caribou Lake, one of 11 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Caribou Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been recorded 6 times at Caribou Lake, with a median around Apr 23. 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.