Big Sand Lake vs Clam Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Big Sand Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Clam Lake. Both are in Burnett County, Wisconsin.
Big Sand Lake and Clam 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. Big Sand Lake reads materially cleaner than Clam Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Big Sand Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Big Sand Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 11 ft.
Clam Lake
Very murky, less than 3 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Sand Lake | Clam Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 11 ft Better | 3 ft |
| Phosphorus | 19.5 µg/L Better | 77.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 2.3 µg/L Better | 13 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 55 ft Better | 11 ft |
| Surface Area | 1,434 acres | 1,338 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 5 | 7 Better |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | eutrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
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Compare Big Sand Lake or Clam Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Big Sand Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Clam Lake. Water clarity: 11 ft vs 3 ft. For more fish-species variety, Clam Lake edges ahead with 7 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.