Chaser Lake

Chaser Lake earns an F: phosphorus readings still being added and clarity at 1.0 ft signal heavy nutrient loading from the surrounding watershed. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Hypereutrophic conditions mean the lake is operating at the upper end of the productivity scale, with all the bloom risk that implies. At 65 ft of maximum depth, Chaser Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. At 213 acres, Chaser Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 6.6 miles of shoreline. Within the 128 graded lakes of Cook County, Chaser Lake sits at rank 119, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Chaser Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery is panfish-dominated — bluegill, crappie, and sunfish among the 4 species documented for the lake. 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.