Nisswa Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Nisswa Lake pulls an A: clarity at 11.5 ft and 11 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.

A TSI near 40 places Nisswa Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Nisswa Lake reaches 23 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 219 acres, Nisswa Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 2.8 miles of shoreline. Within Crow Wing County's 120 graded lakes, Nisswa Lake ranks 67 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Zebra mussel presence at Nisswa Lake means the lake's clarity numbers carry an asterisk — filtered water is not the same as nutrient-poor water. Walleye are documented at Nisswa Lake, one of 17 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Nisswa 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.