Rifle Lake

On the scoring rubric Rifle Lake grades a D: clarity at 4.8 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for Lake County.

A TSI in the eutrophic range signals a lake doing what nutrient-loaded waters do — supporting an active algal community at the cost of clear water. A maximum depth of 37 ft puts Rifle Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake's 904 acres and 19.0 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within the 142 graded lakes of Lake County, Rifle Lake sits at rank 128, near the bottom of the county list.

Rifle Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2022, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery includes walleye among the lake's 10 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. 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.