Bardon Lake vs Whitefish Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bardon Lake and Whitefish Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Douglas County, Wisconsin.
Bardon Lake and Whitefish Lake are both in Wisconsin — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. The grades are close: Bardon Lake (A) and Whitefish Lake (A) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.
With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.
Bardon Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 27 ft down.
Whitefish Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 25.3 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bardon Lake | Whitefish Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 27 ft | 25.3 ft |
| Phosphorus | 9.4 µg/L | 9.4 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 102 ft | 102 ft |
| Surface Area | 848 acres | 848 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Bardon Lake: 27 ft, Whitefish Lake: 25.3 ft) and what you want from the lake. Bardon Lake matches its peer on species count.