What lakes are in the Rainy Lake Watershed?

1203 monitored lakes drain through the Rainy Lake Watershed, including Big Lake, Long Lake, Long Lake, and others. The watershed spans Minnesota.

What is the cleanest lake in the Rainy Lake Watershed?

Big Lake in St. Louis County has the most favourable nutrient and algae readings in the Rainy Lake Watershed, with about 8.2 ft of clarity.

What is a HUC8 watershed?

HUC8 (Hydrologic Unit Code, 8-digit) is the USGS classification for "subbasins" — the level at which major named river systems are usually identified. The Rainy Lake Watershed corresponds to HUC8 09030001.

Rainy Lake Watershed, Lakes & Water Quality

Rainy Lake and the Vermilion River basin draining north into Hudson Bay via the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods — the BWCA borderlands and Voyageurs National Park.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated Aug 26, 2026

Counties in this watershed

St. Louis, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Itasca

Monitored Lakes (1203)

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Area	Depth
1	Big Lake	St. Louis	8.2 ft	1,904 acres	22 ft
2	Long Lake	Itasca	16.7 ft	155 acres	72 ft
3	Long Lake	Itasca	16.9 ft	134 acres	85 ft
4	Maple Lake	Itasca	15.3 ft	255 acres	39 ft
5	Shallow Lake	Itasca	16.4 ft	539 acres	85 ft
6	Trout Lake	Itasca	18 ft	1,743 acres	157 ft
7	South Sturgeon Lake	St. Louis	2.5 ft	204 acres	43 ft
8	Deer Lake	Itasca	8.9 ft	1,855 acres	50 ft
9	Deer Lake	Itasca	13.1 ft	4,093 acres	121 ft
10	Five Island Lake	Itasca	13 ft	214 acres	33 ft
11	Clear Lake	Itasca	14.9 ft	140 acres	30 ft
12	Colby Lake	St. Louis	3 ft	518 acres	30 ft
13	Sand Lake	Itasca	13.2 ft	715 acres	60 ft
14	Bass Lake	Itasca	18.2 ft	122 acres	65 ft
15	Island Lake	St. Louis	14.5 ft	222 acres	65 ft
16	Moose Lake	Itasca	8 ft	412 acres	52 ft
17	Turtle Lake	Itasca	17.1 ft	120 acres	54 ft
18	Pokegama Lake	Itasca	16.1 ft	6,721 acres	112 ft
19	Silver Lake	St. Louis	19.3 ft	46 acres	29 ft
20	Wabana Lake	Itasca	18 ft	2,221 acres	115 ft
21	Jay Gould Lake	Itasca	13 ft	552 acres	33 ft
22	Swan Lake	Itasca	13.5 ft	2,456 acres	65 ft
23	Rush Island Lake	Itasca	10.8 ft	297 acres	32 ft
24	North Star Lake	Itasca	19 ft	832 acres	90 ft
25	Pleasant Lake	St. Louis	10 ft	335 acres	33 ft
26	Helen Lake	Itasca	8 ft	158 acres	33 ft
27	Ames Lake	Itasca	10 ft	564 acres	51 ft
28	Little Trout Lake	Itasca	22 ft	86 acres	80 ft
29	East Twin Lake	St. Louis	2.8 ft	-	-
30	Alice Lake	Itasca	8.5 ft	41 acres	65 ft
31	Bluewater Lake	Itasca	18.5 ft	364 acres	120 ft
32	Perch Lake	St. Louis	13.5 ft	344 acres	30 ft
33	Side Lake	St. Louis	11.5 ft	368 acres	32 ft
34	Pine Lake	St. Louis	7.5 ft	450 acres	14 ft
35	Trestle Lake	Itasca	14.8 ft	111 acres	35 ft
36	Cedar Island Lake	St. Louis	3.8 ft	-	-
37	Sturgeon Lake	St. Louis	13.8 ft	1,585 acres	79.8 ft
38	Rose Lake	St. Louis	-	59 acres	31 ft
39	Burntside Lake	St. Louis	16 ft	7,314 acres	126 ft
40	Mirror Lake	Itasca	18 ft	109 acres	45 ft
41	Siseebakwet Lake	Itasca	19 ft	1,210 acres	105 ft
42	Beatrice Lake	Itasca	10.5 ft	124 acres	29 ft
43	Battle Lake	Itasca	8.2 ft	243 acres	15 ft
44	Bello Lake	Itasca	13.1 ft	527 acres	58 ft
45	Dodo Lake	St. Louis	12.8 ft	92 acres	53 ft
46	St. Marys Lake	St. Louis	13.1 ft	234 acres	44 ft
47	Johnson Lake	Itasca	15.7 ft	434 acres	88 ft
48	Sabin Lake	St. Louis	2.1 ft	279 acres	52 ft
49	Busties Lake	Itasca	10.3 ft	245 acres	44 ft
50	Bear Island Lake	St. Louis	7 ft	2,362 acres	62 ft
51	Nichols Lake	St. Louis	5.1 ft	419 acres	31 ft
52	Ely Lake	St. Louis	17.1 ft	723 acres	70 ft
53	South Sugar Lake	Itasca	14.4 ft	83 acres	36 ft
54	Murphy Lake	St. Louis	6.4 ft	354 acres	24 ft
55	Little Whitefish Lake	Itasca	11.5 ft	160 acres	15 ft
56	Wynne Lake	St. Louis	7.3 ft	279 acres	52 ft
57	Cadotte Lake	St. Louis	10.2 ft	294 acres	18 ft
58	Big Ole Lake	Itasca	21.8 ft	217 acres	65 ft
59	Jack the Horse Lake	Itasca	11.6 ft	363 acres	45 ft
60	Schoolhouse Lake	Itasca	5.2 ft	-	-
61	Burns Lake	Itasca	16.1 ft	181 acres	100 ft
62	Big Island Lake	Itasca	16.4 ft	244 acres	42 ft
63	Fenske Lake	St. Louis	11.5 ft	108 acres	43 ft
64	Whitewater Lake	St. Louis	14 ft	1,212 acres	73 ft
65	Dead Horse Lake	Itasca	9.8 ft	105 acres	30 ft
66	Coon-Sandwick Lake	Itasca	10.7 ft	594 acres	36 ft
67	Bear Head Lake	St. Louis	11 ft	662 acres	46 ft
68	Sandwick Lake	Itasca	11.6 ft	594 acres	36 ft
69	Greeley Lake	Itasca	9 ft	23 acres	43 ft
70	Mead Lake	Itasca	10.7 ft	81 acres	18 ft
71	Little Jay Gould Lake	Itasca	21.5 ft	150 acres	56 ft
72	Erskine Lake	Itasca	18 ft	40 acres	56 ft
73	Ed Shave Lake	St. Louis	11.5 ft	90 acres	17 ft
74	Little Wabana Lake	Itasca	24 ft	116 acres	57 ft
75	West Twin Lake	St. Louis	6.2 ft	121 acres	18 ft
76	Peary Lake	St. Louis	6.7 ft	116 acres	15 ft
77	Eagles Nest Lake	St. Louis	15.5 ft	1,028 acres	49 ft
78	Mukooda Lake	St. Louis	16.6 ft	774 acres	78 ft
79	Sandy Lake	St. Louis	-	-	-
80	Brown Lake	St. Louis	8.5 ft	72 acres	27 ft
81	Little Trout Lake	St. Louis	20.3 ft	272 acres	95 ft
82	Elliot Lake	St. Louis	6.2 ft	373 acres	13 ft
83	Gunn Lake	Itasca	14.3 ft	-	-
84	Ryan Lake	St. Louis	9.2 ft	34 acres	13 ft
85	Shoepack Lake	St. Louis	4.6 ft	299 acres	24 ft
86	Cruiser Lake	St. Louis	25.4 ft	118 acres	91 ft
87	Locator Lake	St. Louis	8.5 ft	133 acres	52 ft
88	Larson Lake	Itasca	21 ft	208 acres	177 ft
89	Ball Club Lake	Itasca	16 ft	4,335 acres	85 ft
90	Big Rice Lake	St. Louis	-	1,917 acres	5 ft
91	Little Sandy Lake	St. Louis	-	-	-
92	Birch Lake	St. Louis	3.9 ft	7,074 acres	25 ft
93	One Pine Lake	St. Louis	4.5 ft	354 acres	13 ft
94	Island Lake	Itasca	8.9 ft	3,108 acres	35 ft
95	Pickerel Lake	Itasca	10.2 ft	241 acres	70 ft
96	Jessie Lake	Itasca	8.5 ft	1,740 acres	42 ft
97	East Twin Lake	St. Louis	4.9 ft	123 acres	22 ft
98	Everett Lake	St. Louis	7 ft	113 acres	15 ft
99	Little Sand Lake	Itasca	8.2 ft	353 acres	19 ft
100	Blueberry Lake	St. Louis	2 ft	125 acres	6 ft