Elk Lake

Elk Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. The lake bottoms out at 29 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 207 acres and 3.3 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Among the 10 graded lakes in Grant County, Elk Lake ranks 1 — in the top quartile locally.

Elk Lake is on the Minnesota infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. Walleye are documented at Elk Lake, one of 10 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Elk Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a partial ice record — 8 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 8. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.