Lake Owen vs Upper Eau Claire Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Lake Owen and Upper Eau Claire Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.
Both Lake Owen and Upper Eau Claire 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: Lake Owen (A) and Upper Eau Claire 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.
Lake Owen
Crystal clear, you can see 24.6 ft down.
Upper Eau Claire Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 18.7 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Lake Owen | Upper Eau Claire Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 24.6 ft | 18.7 ft |
| Phosphorus | 12.4 µg/L | 11.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 95 ft | 92 ft |
| Surface Area | 1.3K 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 (Lake Owen: 24.6 ft, Upper Eau Claire Lake: 18.7 ft) and what you want from the lake. Lake Owen matches its peer on species count.