Ensign Lake

Ensign Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Ensign Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 30 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. With 1,411 acres of surface and 27.9 miles of shoreline, Ensign Lake is a large water by Minnesota standards — recreational pressure is spread across a long shoreline. Among the 142 graded lakes in Lake County, Ensign Lake sits at rank 46, above the county median.

Ensign Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2023, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery includes walleye among the lake's 9 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. No formal public access is documented at Ensign 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.