Perch Lake

Perch Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI value of 39 puts Perch Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake bottoms out at 38 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 48 acres, Perch Lake sits below the Minnesota median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Perch Lake ranks 46 of 93 in Becker County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Perch Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery is bass-led, with 7 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Perch 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.