Moosehead Lake

Moosehead Lake earns a D — measurements through 2024 show persistent nutrient pressure that limits clarity through the summer. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

At a TSI of 57, Moosehead Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. The lake bottoms out at 18 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Moosehead Lake covers 279 acres alongside 3.2 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within the 33 graded lakes of Carlton County, Moosehead Lake sits at rank 29, near the bottom of the county list.

Moosehead Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Moosehead Lake, one of 14 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The lake has a long ice-out record — 32 observations on file, with a median ice-out around Apr 19. 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.