Zumbra-Sunny Lake

Zumbra-Sunny Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. 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.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Zumbra-Sunny Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. Zumbra-Sunny Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 58 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. At 271 acres, Zumbra-Sunny Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 5.8 miles of shoreline. Within Carver County's 40 graded waters, Zumbra-Sunny Lake sits at rank 5, near the top of the local distribution.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Zumbra-Sunny Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 14, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The lake has a partial ice record — 14 observed ice-outs, centered near Mar 31. 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.