Lac Courte Oreilles Lake vs Whitefish Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Lac Courte Oreilles Lake and Whitefish Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.
Both Lac Courte Oreilles Lake and Whitefish Lake sit in Wisconsin. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any grade differences here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies grading them. The grades are close: Lac Courte Oreilles 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.
Lac Courte Oreilles Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 12.2 ft.
Whitefish Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 13.5 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Lac Courte Oreilles Lake | Whitefish Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 12.2 ft | 13.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | 16 µg/L | 13.6 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.4 µg/L | 1.8 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 90 ft | 105 ft |
| Surface Area | 5.1K acres | 800 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 (Lac Courte Oreilles Lake: 12.2 ft, Whitefish Lake: 13.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Lac Courte Oreilles Lake matches its peer on species count.