Virginia Lake

On the scoring rubric Virginia Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.0 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for Carver 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.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. Virginia Lake reaches 34 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 105 acres, Virginia Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 2.9 miles of shoreline. Virginia Lake ranks 19 of 40 in Carver County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Virginia Lake is on the Minnesota infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. Walleye are documented at Virginia Lake, one of 15 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Virginia Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a long ice-out record — 45 observations on file, with a median ice-out around Apr 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.