What are oligotrophic lakes in Michigan?

54 oligotrophic lakes in Michigan. Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

What does oligotrophic mean?

Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

Oligotrophic Lakes in Michigan

An oligotrophic lake is what most people picture when they think of pristine northern lake country: clarity to depth, no algal scum, cold water that holds dissolved oxygen all the way to the bottom even in August. Across Michigan, 54 lakes register as oligotrophic — 30% of them break 50 feet of depth, which is the structural condition that underwrites the trophic class. Without depth and a low-nutrient watershed, oligotrophy is hard to sustain.

Oligotrophic lakes almost always carry the lowest phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings on record, since the same low-nutrient conditions produce both the trophic class and the clear water.

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	Lake Leelanau	Leelanau	16 ft	-	35
2	Eagle Lake	Kalkaska	18 ft	20 ft	35
3	Mary Lake	Dickinson	14.5 ft	-	36
4	Diamond Lake	Cass	12.3 ft	64 ft	36
5	Ellen Lake	Iron	17.3 ft	73 ft	35
6	Long Lake	Iosco	14 ft	62 ft	37
7	Lancer Lake Southeast	Gladwin	12 ft	-	41
8	Big Blue Lake	Kalkaska	24 ft	-	34
9	Big Platte Lake	Benzie	14 ft	-	35
10	Moon Lake	Gogebic	18 ft	-	37
11	Bills Lake	Newaygo	13 ft	90 ft	37
12	Bass Lake	Dickinson	21.5 ft	58 ft	31
13	Hubbard Lake	Alcona	20 ft	80 ft	34
14	Schmidt Lake (Aka	Oceana	9 ft	-	41
15	Crystal Lake	Washtenaw	12.5 ft	-	37
16	Crystal Lake	Oceana	13.5 ft	34 ft	35
17	Big Maggie Lake	Iron	11.5 ft	-	38
18	Round Lake	Lenawee	12.3 ft	67 ft	38
19	Big Twin Lake	Kalkaska	23 ft	-	34
20	Cedar Lake	Van Buren	14 ft	84 ft	38
21	Chain Lakes	Iosco	12.5 ft	-	37
22	Margrethe Lake	Crawford	16 ft	65 ft	34
23	Sunset Lake	Iron	13.5 ft	54 ft	37
24	Fisher Lake	Leelanau	-	-	34
25	Coldwater Lake	Isabella	11 ft	-	39
26	Round Lake	Benzie	15 ft	-	34
27	Otter Lake	Benzie	12 ft	-	38
28	Upper Woodcock Lake	Benzie	11 ft	45 ft	37
29	Houghton Lake	Roscommon	5 ft	21 ft	45
30	Sugarloaf Lake	Washtenaw	9.5 ft	10 ft	40
31	Black Lake	Cheboygan	13 ft	-	38
32	Lime Lake	Benzie	17.5 ft	25 ft	32
33	Tippy Pond Manistee Arm	Manistee	-	-	35
34	Manistee North Lake	Manistee	-	-	37
35	Manistee Lake South	Manistee	-	-	35
36	Crooked Lake	Emmet	-	50 ft	39
37	Wycamp Lake	Emmet	-	7 ft	41
38	Wahbememe Lake	St. Joseph	-	-	34
39	Cordley Lake	Livingston	-	31 ft	34
40	Owasippe Lake	Muskegon	10 ft	-	39
41	Golden Lake	Iron	23 ft	100 ft	35
42	Gratiot Lake	Keweenaw	17 ft	70 ft	36
43	North Bar Lake	Leelanau	12.7 ft	-	38
44	Smoky Lake	Iron	24 ft	-	33
45	Beaver Lake	Alger	14.5 ft	39 ft	36
46	Siskiwit Lake	Keweenaw	20.5 ft	-	30
47	Ottawa Lake	Iron	19.3 ft	-	36
48	Chicagon Lake	Iron	20 ft	110 ft	35
49	Hagerman Lake	Iron	21 ft	50 ft	34
50	Second Fortune Lake	Iron	21 ft	80 ft	33
51	Town Line Lake (Aka	Otsego	18 ft	-	36
52	Papoose Lake	Kalkaska	22 ft	17 ft	35
53	Walloon Lake	Emmet	-	-	31
54	Portage Lake	St. Joseph	5.5 ft	-	47

All oligotrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Iowa version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York version →Missouri version →Indiana version →North Dakota version →South Dakota version →Florida version →Colorado version →North Carolina version →Vermont version →Texas version →Oregon version →Arkansas version →Oklahoma version →Kansas version →Nebraska version →Nevada version →Arizona version →Idaho version →Montana version →New Mexico version →Tennessee version →Alabama version →Virginia version →Kentucky version →Utah version →Washington version →Wyoming version →Georgia version →Massachusetts version →Ontario version →Québec version →Nova Scotia version →British Columbia version →Newfoundland and Labrador version →All Michigan lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.