Middle Whipple Lake

Middle Whipple Lake sits at the top of the Minnesota PCA grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. Middle Whipple Lake reaches 29 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 301 acres, Middle Whipple Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 6.7 miles of shoreline. Within Crow Wing County's 120 graded lakes, Middle Whipple Lake ranks 61 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

No invasive species are currently listed at Middle Whipple Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 11, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. 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.