Lac Courte Oreilles Lake vs Moose Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Lac Courte Oreilles Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Moose Lake. Both are in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.
Both Lac Courte Oreilles Lake and Moose Lake sit in Wisconsin. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. The readings are meaningfully apart: Lac Courte Oreilles Lake carries clearly lower phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings than Moose Lake. A spread that wide reflects real underlying differences, in watershed inputs, depth profiles, or monitoring rigor.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Lac Courte Oreilles 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?
Lac Courte Oreilles Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 12.2 ft.
Moose Lake
Very murky, less than 2 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Lac Courte Oreilles Lake | Moose Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 12.2 ft Better | 2 ft |
| Phosphorus | 15 µg/L Better | 28.9 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.7 µg/L | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 90 ft Better | 21 ft |
| Surface Area | 5,139 acres | 1,559 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 6 Better | 5 |
| 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 Lac Courte Oreilles Lake or Moose Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Lac Courte Oreilles Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Moose Lake. Water clarity: 12.2 ft vs 2 ft. For fishing diversity, Lac Courte Oreilles Lake also leads with 6 species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.