Otter Lake
Oakland County, Michigan177 acresView mapDirections
EGLE publishes the water-quality measurements for Otter Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 70 ft max depth
- Limited data
Otter Lake in Oakland County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 10.3 ft visibility. Maximum depth: 70 ft. Surface area: 176.5 acres.
Free interactive depth-contour map of Otter Lake, reaching a maximum surveyed depth of 70 ft. Toggle Depth contours to overlay the bathymetric survey lines. Contour data from Michigan DNR.
Otter Lake is a 177-acre lake in Oakland County, Michigan with a maximum depth of 70 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. The lake supports 30 documented fish species including Bigmouth shiner, Black bullhead, and Black crappie.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, EGLE, last sampled 2021-09-18. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Otter Lake covers about 180 acres in Oakland County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Otter Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
What Otter Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water10.3 ft of visibility
- Fishing30 species recorded
- Deep water70 ft surveyed max depth
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Otter Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Otter Lake
These are the measurements EGLE publishes for Otter Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 10.3 ft. TSI 44.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 10.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 44 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Otter Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
70 ft
Surface area
177 acres
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Otter Lake
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Top-rated places to stay near Otter Lake
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Fish Species
Click a species to see every lake where it is documented.
Fishing Otter Lake
Water quality readings over time
3 seasons of samples on record (2018–2021). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening3 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+0.96 µg/L/yr3 years
Nearby Lakes in Oakland County
Frequently asked questions about Otter Lake
Where is Otter Lake?
- Otter Lake is a lake in Oakland County, Michigan. Its water-quality measurements are published by EGLE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Otter Lake?
- Otter Lake in Oakland County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 10.3 ft visibility. Maximum depth: 70 ft. Surface area: 176.5 acres.
Is Otter Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Otter Lake?
- Otter Lake has a maximum depth of 70 feet. The lake covers 176.5 acres.
What fish are in Otter Lake?
- Fish species found in Otter Lake include Bigmouth shiner, Black bullhead, Black crappie, Blacknose shiner, Bluegill, Bluntnose minnow, Brown bullhead, Burbot, Golden shiner, Iowa darter, Johnny darter, Lake herring, Lake sturgeon, Largemouth bass, Longnose sucker, Mimic shiner, Northern logperch, Northern pike, Rock bass, Sand shiner, Sauger, Shorthead redhorse, Silver lamprey, Silver redhorse, Smallmouth bass, Spottail shiner, Trout-perch, Walleye, White sucker, Yellow perch. Otter Lake is located in Oakland County, Michigan.
Explore Otter Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
46 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2018–2021. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-26.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS46 samples · 2018–2021
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.