Crane Lake

Crane Lake pulls a D on the LakeGrade rubric — phosphorus loading and limited clarity hold it below the Minnesota average. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

At a TSI of 51, Crane Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. The lake's 80 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Minnesota — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. At 2,921 acres, Crane Lake is one of the larger lakes in St. Louis County, with 34.0 miles of shoreline supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Within the 215 graded lakes of St. Louis County, Crane Lake sits at rank 176, near the bottom of the county list.

An invasive species record — spiny waterflea — has been logged at Crane Lake; Minnesota PCA maintains the official infested-waters list. Muskie are on the species list at Crane Lake, alongside the lake's 12 other documented fish. A documented public access point at Crane Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a partial ice record — 6 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 27. 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.