Little Whitefish Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Little Whitefish Lake pulls an A: clarity at 11.5 ft and 14 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI near 42 places Little Whitefish Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Little Whitefish Lake reaches 15 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Little Whitefish Lake covers 160 acres alongside 2.3 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 141 graded lakes in Itasca County, Little Whitefish Lake sits at rank 53, above the county median.

No invasive species are currently listed at Little Whitefish Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Little Whitefish Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. 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.