Sucker Lake

Sucker Lake earns a C — middle-of-the-pack water quality, with one or two parameters dragging the average down from a stronger grade. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

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. The lake bottoms out at 26 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Sucker Lake is small — 63 acres alongside 2.1 miles of shoreline — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Within Ramsey County's 49 graded lakes, Sucker Lake ranks 25 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Zebra mussels have been documented at Sucker Lake, which alters the filter-feeding balance and can paradoxically increase water clarity while disrupting the food web. Walleye are documented at Sucker Lake, one of 13 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. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.