Carnelian Lake

Carnelian Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth.

A TSI near 41 places Carnelian Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. A maximum depth of 36 ft puts Carnelian Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. Carnelian Lake covers 180 acres alongside 3.0 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 55 graded lakes in Stearns County, Carnelian Lake sits at rank 14, above the county median.

Starry stonewort has been recorded at Carnelian Lake — a relatively new invasive in Minnesota that forms dense, hard-to-remove mats. The fishery includes walleye among the lake's 13 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Carnelian 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.