Franklin Lake vs Lake Lucerne
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Franklin Lake and Lake Lucerne both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Forest County, Wisconsin.
Franklin Lake and Lake Lucerne 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. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — Franklin Lake (A) versus Lake Lucerne (A). The deciding factors for a recreational visitor are likely physical (depth, access, fish species) rather than water-quality differences.
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.
Franklin Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16 ft down.
Lake Lucerne
Crystal clear, you can see 18.5 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Franklin Lake | Lake Lucerne |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 16 ft | 18.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | 10.8 µg/L | 9.3 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 46 ft | 73 ft |
| Surface Area | 839 acres | 1.0K 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 (Franklin Lake: 16 ft, Lake Lucerne: 18.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Franklin Lake matches its peer on species count.