Devil Track Lake

Devil Track Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. Clarity is the limiting factor — phosphorus is reasonable but suspended particles or algal cells keep water transparency below Minnesota norms.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. Devil Track Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 50 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. Devil Track Lake covers 1,876 acres alongside 17.4 miles of shoreline, large enough that conditions can vary meaningfully between bays. Devil Track Lake ranks 42 of 128 in Cook County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

An invasive species record — spiny waterflea — has been logged at Devil Track Lake; Minnesota PCA maintains the official infested-waters list. Walleye are documented at Devil Track Lake, one of 9 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Devil Track Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been logged at Devil Track Lake more than two dozen times, putting the median around May 7 — a useful baseline for tracking climate trends. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.