Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka is a lake about 16 miles west-southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It lies in Hennepin and Carver counties, and 13 incorporated municipalities surround it, including Wayzata, Excelsior, Mound, Orono, Deephaven, Spring Park and Tonka Bay. At 14,528 acres, it is Minnesota's ninth-largest lake. Its maximum depth is 113 feet and it has 125 miles of shoreline. The lake formed about 10,000 years ago as the Laurentide ice sheet retreated. It is made up of connected kettle lakes, channels and marshes, along with 18 islands and about 23 named bays and areas. Six Mile Creek is the main inflow. The lake drains into Minnehaha Creek through the Gray's Bay Headwaters Control Structure, a small adjustable dam built in 1979 by the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.

Three agencies oversee the lake: the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Public launches include the Maxwell Bay, North Arm, Spring Park Bay, Grays Bay, Carson Bay, St. Louis Bay, Phelp's, Mounds Bay Park and Regional Park accesses, plus a carry-in site at the Grays Bay Dam. A Conservation District rule in effect since 2023 limits all boats to 5 miles per hour or less within 300 feet of shore. Before the rule, that distance was 150 feet. The 150-foot slow zone around docks, anchored boats, swimmers and diver-down flags is unchanged. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Water Patrol enforces the rule.

The lake holds muskellunge, northern pike, walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass, black crappie, bluegill and yellow perch. Invasive species recorded in the lake include Eurasian watermilfoil (1987) and zebra mussels (2010).