Pocket Lake

Pocket 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 near 48 places Pocket Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Pocket Lake reaches 40 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Pocket Lake covers 263 acres alongside 4.3 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Pocket Lake sits at rank 36 of 51 in Douglas County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Zebra mussel presence at Pocket Lake means the lake's clarity numbers carry an asterisk — filtered water is not the same as nutrient-poor water. Walleye are documented at Pocket Lake, one of 14 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. Ice-out has been recorded 11 times at Pocket Lake, with a median around Apr 15. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.