Beauty

Beauty Lake is a small, 55 acre lake with a maximum depth of 53.0 feet located 19 miles north of Park Rapids in Hubbard County. There is a county-owned public boat access located on the southeast shore of the lake. The first fisheries survey of Beauty Lake was conducted in 2001, so historical information about the fish populations is limited. Water quality analysis showed Beauty Lake to be a very infertile body of water (total alkalinity of 39 ppm).The water quality characteristics of Beauty are due to its small watershed and location in lightly developed pine and mixed hardwood forest. The productivity of a small lake like Beauty is very limited making the fish population very sensitive to over harvest from fishing. It is very important that anglers practice selective harvest when fishing Beauty Lake. Selective harvest allows for the limited harvest of smaller fish for table fare, but encourages release of medium to large-size fish. Releasing these fish will help maintain the fish population in Beauty Lake and provide anglers with opportunities to catch more and larger fish in the future. Beauty Lake provides angling opportunities for northern pike, largemouth bass, and panfish. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical, chemical, and other characteristics. Beauty Lake is in lake class 20. Other area lakes in this same classification include Blacksmith and Crappie. Northern pike abundance was high (17.0 pike/gillnet), similar to the previous survey in 2001. The northern pike sample was dominated by small, "hammer handle" pike, with an average length and weight of 19.1 inches and 1.7 pounds. Northern pike up to 31.5 inches were sampled. Good numbers of largemouth bass were sampled with standard survey gear. As far as the panfish species, pumpkinseed seem to be of an acceptable size for angling, while bluegill were small in size. Pumpkinseed had an average length of 6.6 inches with fish measured up to 8.3 inches. Bluegill were small in size with an average length of 5.0 inches and few fish over 7.0 inches in length. Black crappie were sampled in low numbers with fish measured in the 3.0 to 6.0 inch range. Black crappie were not sampled in the 2001 survey. Northern pike, largemouth bass, and panfish all had very slow growth rates. Other species sampled included walleye and yellow perch. Three walleye were sampled in the gillnets (1.5 walleye/gillnet), similar to the 2001 survey. Sampled walleye ranged in length from 21.7 to 23.9 inches. The DNR has not stocked walleye into Beauty Lake. Yellow perch abundance was low (0.5 perch/gillnet), similar to the previous survey in 2001.

Beauty Lake is a small, 54 acre lake with a maximum depth of 53.0 feet located 19 miles north of Park Rapids in Hubbard County. There is a county-owned boat access located on the southeast shore of the lake. Little information is known about Beauty Lake as this was the first fisheries survey conducted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Water quality analysis showed Beauty Lake to be a very infertile body of water (total alkalinity of 44 ppm). The water quality characteristics of Beauty is due to it's small watershed, location in undeveloped pine and mixed hardwood forest, and lack of current development on the lake. The productivity of a small lake like Beauty is very limited making the fish population very sensitive to over harvest from fishing. It is very important that anglers practice selective harvest when fishing Beauty Lake. Selective harvest allows for the limited harvest of smaller fish for table fare, but encourages release of medium to large-size fish. Releasing these fish will help maintain the fish population in Beauty Lake and provide anglers with opportunities to catch more and larger fish in the future. Beauty Lake provides angling opportunities for northern pike, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed, and bluegill. The DNR has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical and chemical characteristics. Beauty Lake is in lake class 20. Other area lakes in this same classification include Blacksmith and Crappie.Northern pike were sampled in high numbers (16.5 pike/gillnet). The northern pike sample was dominated by small, "hammer handle" pike, with an average length and weight of 19.7 inches and 1.7 pounds. Good numbers of largemouth bass were sampled with standard survey gear. As far as the panfish species, pumpkinseed seem to be of an acceptable size for angling, while bluegill were small in size. Pumpkinseed had an average length of 6.3 inches with fish measured up to 8.9 inches. Bluegill were very small in size with an average length of 4.3 inches and with few fish over 6.0 inches. Northern pike, largemouth bass, and bluegill all had very slow growth rates.Other species sampled included low numbers of walleye and yellow perch. The DNR has never stocked walleye into Beauty Lake. The walleye population in Beauty is likely the result of introduction from local anglers.

Based on Minnesota DNR survey data, anglers target Walleye, Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Pumpkinseed, and Yellow Perch in Beauty. See the full species list above for catch rates, size structure, and quality scores.

Minnesota DNR records list public access for Beauty. Check the DNR LakeFinder page for the launch type and directions before you go.

Beauty has a maximum depth of 53 feet, per Minnesota DNR data.

The most recent Minnesota DNR survey data for the main sport fish in Beauty is from 2011. Surveys this old should be treated with some caution — fish populations change over time.

No invasive species are on record for Beauty in Minnesota DNR data. Always clean, drain, and dry your equipment to help keep it that way.