Stone Lake

Stone Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Stone Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 30 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 101 acres and 1.7 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Stone Lake ranks 7 of 40 in Carver County, putting it in the upper tier of locally monitored lakes.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Stone Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. Muskie are on the species list at Stone Lake, alongside the lake's 7 other documented fish. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. Ice-out has been recorded 17 times at Stone Lake, with a median around Mar 30. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.