Phoebe Lake

Phoebe Lake sits at a C on the grading scale — not impaired, not pristine, with summer measurements that vary year to year. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. A maximum depth of 25 ft puts Phoebe Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. Phoebe Lake covers 610 acres alongside 15.1 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within Cook County's 128 graded lakes, Phoebe Lake ranks 83 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

No invasive species are currently listed at Phoebe Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 7 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. No formal public access is documented at Phoebe Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. 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.