Lake Shetek

Lake Shetek is a shallow glacial lake in Murray County, Minnesota. It is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota and the headwaters of the West Fork of the Des Moines River. The Minnesota DNR gives its area as 3,596 acres, with a maximum depth of 10 feet and nearly 32 miles of shoreline. The lake sits on the Altamont Moraine, a few miles north-northwest of Currie. It formed when sediment and slumping banks partly dammed a glacial meltwater channel. The state Game and Fish Department built a dam to stabilize the water level in the mid-1920s. The lake was raised another 18 inches in the 1930s, and the dam was improved in 1966 and 1995. Keeley, Loon and Valhalla islands are linked to shore by causeways built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Lake Shetek State Park lines the eastern shore.

Public access is split between the DNR and Murray County. DNR sites include the state park ramp (park entry fee or pass required), the Inlet and southwest ramps, and a northwest carry-in. The county runs the east, Marsh's Landing and Keeley Island ramps. Under Murray County rules, Valhalla Bay is a slow-no-wake zone. Slow-no-wake speed also applies within 150 feet of the bridge on the second dike and of the bridge to Bloody Lake. During high water (1,483.1 feet at the Currie Dam), the same rule applies within 150 feet of the whole shoreline. A 150-foot no-ski zone runs along the shore. Zebra mussels were confirmed in the lake in 2022.

The DNR manages Lake Shetek for walleye, black crappie, yellow perch and northern pike, and stocks walleye fry. The DNR's 2026 outlook reports a strong 2023 walleye year-class in the lake.