Sallie Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Sallie Lake grades a B, with clarity at 12.2 ft and 21 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Minnesota median. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Sallie Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. At 50 ft of maximum depth, Sallie Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. Sallie Lake covers 1,280 acres alongside 5.8 miles of shoreline, large enough that conditions can vary meaningfully between bays. Among the 93 graded lakes in Becker County, Sallie Lake sits at rank 39, above the county median.

Sallie 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. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 16 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The lake has a long ice-out record — 60 observations on file, with a median ice-out around Apr 18. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.