Waboose Lake

Waboose 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. At only 14 ft deep, Waboose Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. At 232 acres, Waboose Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 2.3 miles of shoreline. Waboose Lake ranks 82 of 93 in Becker County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Waboose Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2025, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Waboose Lake, one of 12 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. 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.