Dode Lake

Dode Lake earns a C — middle-of-the-pack water quality, with one or two parameters dragging the average down from a stronger grade.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Dode Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. A maximum depth of 25 ft puts Dode Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake is compact at 88 acres, with 1.8 miles of shoreline and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Within the 141 graded lakes of Itasca County, Dode Lake sits at rank 106, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Dode Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Dode Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. No formal public access is documented at Dode 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.