Fox Lake

On the scoring rubric Fox Lake grades a D: clarity at 3.0 ft and 66 µg/L of phosphorus keep it in the lower bracket for Rice County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI in the eutrophic range signals a lake doing what nutrient-loaded waters do — supporting an active algal community at the cost of clear water. A maximum depth of 47 ft puts Fox Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake's 312 acres and 3.1 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Fox Lake ranks 6 of 12 in Rice County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Fox Lake carries an invasive watermilfoil record — boat-launch decontamination and shoreline care matter more here than at uninfested lakes. Walleye are documented at Fox Lake, one of 17 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. Ice-out has been recorded 12 times at Fox Lake, with a median around Mar 28. 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.