Crooked Lake

Crooked Lake sits at the top of the Minnesota PCA grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Crooked Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake's 74 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Minnesota — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. Crooked Lake covers 582 acres alongside 3.7 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 133 graded lakes in Cass County, Crooked Lake sits at rank 48, above the county median.

Crooked Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Crooked Lake, one of 13 fish species on record for the lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. Multiple sampling years from Minnesota PCA volunteers and partner agencies back the grade, so the letter should hold steady absent a major watershed shift.