Ml-Ne Lake

Ml-Ne Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Ml-Ne Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. A maximum depth of 42 ft puts Ml-Ne Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. Ml-Ne Lake covers 128,250 acres alongside 105.5 miles of shoreline, large enough that conditions can vary meaningfully between bays. Among the 53 graded lakes in Aitkin County, Ml-Ne Lake ranks 13 — in the top quartile locally.

Ml-Ne Lake is on the Minnesota infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. Muskie are on the species list at Ml-Ne Lake, alongside the lake's 21 other documented fish. A documented public access point at Ml-Ne Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a long ice-out record — 105 observations on file, with a median ice-out around Apr 25. Multiple sampling years from Minnesota PCA volunteers and partner agencies back the grade, so the letter should hold steady absent a major watershed shift.