Long Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Long Lake pulls an A: clarity at 10.5 ft and 13 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. The lake bottoms out at 46 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Long Lake covers 325 acres alongside 6.9 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 35 graded lakes in Kandiyohi County, Long Lake ranks 2 — in the top quartile locally.

Zebra mussel presence at Long Lake means the lake's clarity numbers carry an asterisk — filtered water is not the same as nutrient-poor water. Walleye are documented at Long Lake, one of 15 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Long Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been recorded 13 times at Long Lake, with a median around Apr 19. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.