Cox Lake

Cox Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. The lake bottoms out at 30 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 61 acres, Cox Lake sits below the Minnesota median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Cox Lake sits at rank 24 of 40 in Clearwater County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Cox Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 9 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. No formal public access is documented at Cox 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.