Homer Lake

On the scoring rubric Homer Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.0 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for Cook County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. The lake bottoms out at 22 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 434 acres and 12.6 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within the 128 graded lakes of Cook County, Homer Lake sits at rank 101, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Homer Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Homer Lake, one of 9 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Homer Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.