Updated August 2026 · Top 25 of 156 lakes with a Secchi reading
Clearest Lake in Missouri: Top 25 by Secchi Depth
Lake Capri in St. Francois County is the clearest lake in Missouri by Secchi depth, at 16.3 ft. Mapped and ranked below: the 25 clearest of 156 Missouri lakes with a Secchi reading. Secchi depth is clarity alone: phosphorus and chlorophyll-a are separate readings, so a clear lake can carry higher nutrient readings than a murkier one.
How clear are Missouri's clearest lakes?
From 16.3 ft at Lake Capri to 7.2 ft at #25, Seetal Lake; the median of the 25 is 11.7 ft.
| # | Lake | County | Secchi depth | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Capri | St. Francois | 16.3 ft | 112 acres |
| 2 | Oasis Ranch Upper Lake | Audrain | 14.4 ft | — |
| 3 | Timberline Lakes | St. Francois | 14.3 ft | 42 acres |
| 4 | Lake Marseilles-Terre du Lac Lakes | St. Francois | 14.1 ft | 56 acres |
| 5 | Oasis Ranch Lake | Audrain | 14.1 ft | — |
| 6 | Fourche Creek Lake | Ripley | 13.6 ft | 49 acres |
| 7 | Lake Taneycomo Ab. Bee Cr. Arm | Taney | 13.3 ft | — |
| 8 | Council Bluff Lake | Iron | 13.1 ft | — |
| 9 | Lake Wauwanoka | Jefferson | 12.9 ft | — |
| 10 | Lake Taneycomo | Taney | 12.6 ft | — |
| 11 | Alpine Lake | Warren | 12.6 ft | 325 acres |
| 12 | Port Perry Lake | Perry | 12 ft | 187 acres |
| 13 | Mccormack Lake | Oregon | 11.7 ft | 10 acres |
| 14 | Lake Shayne-Terre du Lac Lakes | Washington | 11.1 ft | 51 acres |
| 15 | Goose Creek Lake | Ste. Genevieve | 9.9 ft | 379 acres |
| 16 | Little Prairie Lake | Phelps | 8.6 ft | 100 acres |
| 17 | Fox Valley Lake | Clark | 8.5 ft | 96 acres |
| 18 | Bull Shoals Lake | Taney | 8.1 ft | — |
| 19 | Lake Nehai Tonkayea | Chariton | 8 ft | 250 acres |
| 20 | Finger Lakes | Boone | 7.9 ft | 79 acres |
| 21 | Lake Marie | Mercer | 7.8 ft | 30 acres |
| 22 | Lake Konstanz | Warren | 7.7 ft | 19 acres |
| 23 | Port Perry Lake North Arm | Perry | 7.4 ft | 12 acres |
| 24 | Fellows Lake | Greene | 7.2 ft | 812 acres |
| 25 | Seetal Lake | Gasconade | 7.2 ft | 14 acres |
Sources and method
- Secchi depth: Median of each lake's EPA Water Quality Portal readings, sampled April 2020 to July 2025, in feet. For 23 of these 25 lakes the submitting agency is Univ. of Missouri, Columbia. Portal: EPA Water Quality Portal.
- Readings: clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a from the agency's own sampling, shown as reported. Clarity is a separate measurement from nutrients and algae, which is why a clear lake here can carry higher phosphorus than a murkier one.
- Area: state agency lake surveys and, for reservoirs, US Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams records, in acres at normal pool. A dash means no record carries one.
- Map pins: all 25 table rows. No other lakes are plotted.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the clearest lake in Missouri?
Lake Capri in St. Francois County is the clearest lake in Missouri by Secchi depth, at 16.3 ft. Secchi depth is measured by lowering a black-and-white disk until it disappears from view; a deeper reading means clearer water. Lake Capri’s phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings are on its page.
How clear are Missouri's 25 clearest lakes?
They span 7.2 ft to 16.3 ft of Secchi depth, with a median of 11.7 ft. Lake Capri leads by 1.9 ft. St. Francois County has 3 of the 25; the rest are spread across 17 other counties.
How is water clarity measured?
Water clarity is measured by Secchi depth, named after the 19th-century Italian astronomer Pietro Angelo Secchi who developed the method. A standardized black-and-white disk is lowered into the water on a rope; the depth (in feet or meters) at which the disk disappears from view is recorded. Greater Secchi depth means clearer water, usually a sign of low sediment, low phosphorus, and limited algae growth. The figure for each lake here is the median of its readings.
What makes a lake clear?
Lake clarity is driven by three factors: low suspended sediment (clay, silt), low nutrient load (especially phosphorus, which fuels algae), and low chlorophyll-a (active algae biomass). Deep lakes with rocky basins and forested watersheds tend to be clearest because they take in little soil runoff and few nutrients. Shallow lakes in farmed watersheds are typically less clear because they receive more sediment and fertilizer runoff.
Is the clearest lake the cleanest?
Not always. Clarity (Secchi depth) is measured and shown; nutrient and algae readings (total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a) are a separate measurement, compared against that lake’s EPA ecoregion classes. A lake can be very clear but still have elevated phosphorus that just hasn't bloomed yet. See our companion cleanest-lakes ranking for Missouri for the nutrient-and-algae list.
Where to stay near Missouri's clearest lakes
Planning a trip? Jump to live cabin, resort, and hotel availability near Missouri's clearest lakes.
- Lake Capri · St. Francois CountyCabins & hotels near Lake Capri →
- Oasis Ranch Upper Lake · Audrain CountyCabins & hotels near Oasis Ranch Upper Lake →
- Timberline Lakes · St. Francois CountyCabins & hotels near Timberline Lakes →
- Lake Marseilles-Terre du Lac Lakes · St. Francois CountyCabins & hotels near Lake Marseilles-Terre du Lac Lakes →
- Oasis Ranch Lake · Audrain CountyCabins & hotels near Oasis Ranch Lake →
More on water clarity
The clearest lakes in America, ranked by measured Secchi depth in feet from EPA monitoring data — and why the famously clear lakes are missing.
What a Secchi depth reading measures, how many feet counts as good clarity, and why clear water is not always clean — with readings from measured lakes.
County-by-county Secchi champions: the clearest measured lake in each county, the murkiest county winners, and why a county title is not a national one.
Surveyed maximum depth against nutrient and algae readings: the pattern, the shallow lakes that still read clean, and why land use beats bathymetry.