Deer Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Deer Lake pulls an A: clarity at 11.0 ft and 16 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. 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.

A TSI near 43 places Deer Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. The lake bottoms out at 42 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 298 acres and 3.6 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Deer Lake ranks 34 of 86 in Beltrami County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Deer Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 14 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Deer Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been recorded 16 times at Deer Lake, with a median around Apr 23. 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.