Minnow Lake

Minnow 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.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Minnow Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. A maximum depth of 24 ft puts Minnow Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. At 110 acres, Minnow Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 2.6 miles of shoreline. Minnow Lake ranks 16 of 40 in Clearwater County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Minnow Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Minnow Lake, one of 7 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Minnow 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.