Stahl'S Lake

On the scoring rubric Stahl'S Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.0 ft and 129 µg/L of phosphorus keep it in the lower bracket for McLeod County. 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.

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. Stahl'S Lake reaches 37 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Stahl'S Lake covers 141 acres alongside 2.7 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Stahl'S Lake sits at rank 3 of 5 in McLeod County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Stahl'S Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2023, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Stahl'S 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. 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.