Sucker Lake

Sucker Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Sucker Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. At 111 ft of maximum depth, Sucker Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. Sucker Lake covers 25,953 acres alongside 332.6 miles of shoreline, large enough that conditions can vary meaningfully between bays. Among the 142 graded lakes in Lake County, Sucker Lake sits at rank 43, above the county median.

An invasive species record — spiny waterflea — has been logged at Sucker Lake; Minnesota PCA maintains the official infested-waters list. Walleye are documented at Sucker Lake, one of 14 fish species on record for the lake. No formal public access is documented at Sucker Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. Ice-out has been recorded 6 times at Sucker Lake, with a median around May 5. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.