Oligotrophic Lakes in Missouri

20 oligotrophic lakes in Missouri. Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

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 Missouri, 20 lakes register as oligotrophic — 0% 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.

On the LakeGrade rubric, oligotrophic lakes almost always pull an A or B — the same low-nutrient conditions that produce the trophic class also produce the high grade.

#	Lake	County	Grade	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	Lake Capri	St. Francois	A	16.3 ft	-	32
2	Stockton Lake	Cedar	A	-	-	32
3	Lake Shayne-Terre du Lac Lakes	Washington	A	11.1 ft	-	34
4	Lake Marseilles-Terre du Lac Lakes	St. Francois	A	14.1 ft	-	37
5	Council Bluff Lake	Iron	A	13.1 ft	-	34
6	Lake Taneycomo Nr. Roark Cr.	Taney	A	12.6 ft	-	38
7	Lake Wauwanoka Nr. Dam	Jefferson	A	12.9 ft	-	37
8	Alpine Lake	Warren	A	12.6 ft	-	36
9	Mccormack Lake	Oregon	A	11.7 ft	-	38
10	Timberline Lakes	St. Francois	A	14.3 ft	-	34
11	Lake Taneycomo Ab. Bee Cr. Arm	Taney	A	13.3 ft	-	37
12	Fourche Creek Lake	Ripley	A	13.6 ft	-	36
13	Goose Creek Lake	Ste. Genevieve	A	9.9 ft	-	39
14	Port Perry Lake	Perry	A	12 ft	-	38
15	Oasis Ranch Upper Lake	Audrain	A	14.4 ft	-	38
16	Oasis Ranch Lake	Audrain	A	14.1 ft	-	34
17	Lake Taneycomo @ Rockaway Beach	Taney	B	8.7 ft	-	40
18	Lake Konstanz	Warren	B	7.7 ft	-	38
19	Lake Nehai Tonkayea	Chariton	B	8 ft	-	39
20	Port Perry Lake South Arm	Perry	B	9.5 ft	-	39

All oligotrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Iowa version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York version →Indiana version →North Dakota version →South Dakota version →All Missouri lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.