Clark Lake

Clark Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Clark Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 44 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake is compact at 73 acres, with 2.5 miles of shoreline and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Clark Lake ranks 62 of 187 in St. Louis County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Clark Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2021, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 7, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. No formal public access is documented at Clark 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.