Owasso Lake

Owasso Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. The two scored sub-grades — clarity and phosphorus — track close together, so neither one is dragging the average down.

A TSI near 50 places Owasso Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. The lake bottoms out at 37 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Owasso Lake covers 375 acres alongside 5.7 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 49 graded lakes in Ramsey County, Owasso Lake ranks 11 — in the top quartile locally.

Owasso 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 Owasso Lake, among the lake's 15 documented fish. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. Ice-out has been logged at Owasso Lake more than two dozen times, putting the median around Apr 5 — a useful baseline for tracking climate trends. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.