Whaletail Lake

On the scoring rubric Whaletail Lake grades a D: clarity at 3.3 ft and 48 µg/L of phosphorus keep it in the lower bracket for Hennepin County. Clarity is the limiting factor — phosphorus is reasonable but suspended particles or algal cells keep water transparency below Minnesota norms.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. Whaletail Lake reaches 22 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Whaletail Lake covers 510 acres alongside 6.9 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Whaletail Lake ranks 40 of 95 in Hennepin County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Eurasian watermilfoil is established at Whaletail Lake, which can dampen recreational access and pressure the native plant community. The fishery is bass-led, with 13 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Whaletail Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a partial ice record — 9 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 8. 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.