Gogebic Lake

Gogebic Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Cook County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Trophically, Gogebic Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. At 61 ft of maximum depth, Gogebic Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. The lake is compact at 62 acres, with 1.5 miles of shoreline and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Among the 128 graded lakes in Cook County, Gogebic Lake sits at rank 37, above the county median.

Gogebic Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2022, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The lake's fish records list 2 species — a varied community without one dominant gamefish. 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.