Fox Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Fox Lake grades a B, with clarity at 12.8 ft and phosphorus readings still being added placing it above the Minnesota median. 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 40 places Fox Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Fox Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 75 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. Fox Lake covers 262 acres alongside 4.7 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Fox Lake sits at rank 76 of 141 in Itasca County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Fox Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2020, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Fox Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. 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.