Big Lake vs White Sand Lake Deep
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Big Lake and White Sand Lake Deep both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Vilas County, Wisconsin.
Big Lake and White Sand Lake Deep 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: Big Lake (A) and White Sand Lake Deep (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.
Big Lake
No clarity data.
White Sand Lake Deep
Crystal clear, you can see 18 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Lake | White Sand Lake Deep |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | No data | 18 ft |
| Phosphorus | 17.4 µg/L | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 30 ft | 63 ft |
| Surface Area | 780 acres | 1.2K acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | 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 what you want from the lake. Big Lake matches its peer on species count.