Little Bowstring Lake

The LakeGrade rubric puts Little Bowstring Lake at a C: clarity at 7.3 ft, phosphorus readings still being added, and a TSI of 49 signal an intermediate trophic state. 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.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Little Bowstring Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 33 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 326 acres, Little Bowstring Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 3.2 miles of shoreline. Little Bowstring Lake ranks 116 of 141 in Itasca County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Little Bowstring Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2020, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Little Bowstring Lake, one of 15 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 17 times at Little Bowstring Lake, with a median around Apr 18. 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.