Tait Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Tait Lake grades a B, with clarity at 7.1 ft and 13 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Minnesota median. The lake's weakest score is on Secchi depth — the water looks more turbid than its phosphorus number alone would predict.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Tait Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 15 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Tait Lake covers 355 acres alongside 6.6 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 128 graded lakes in Cook County, Tait Lake sits at rank 50, above the county median.

No invasive species are currently listed at Tait Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 6 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Tait Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a partial ice record — 17 observed ice-outs, centered near May 4. 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.