Middle Eau Claire Lake vs Upper Eau Claire Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Middle Eau Claire Lake and Upper Eau Claire Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of B (Good). Both are in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.
Middle Eau Claire Lake and Upper Eau Claire 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. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — Middle Eau Claire Lake (B) versus Upper Eau Claire Lake (B). 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.
Middle Eau Claire Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 18.2 ft down.
Upper Eau Claire Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 18.7 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Middle Eau Claire Lake | Upper Eau Claire Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | B (Good) | B (Good) |
| Water Clarity | 18.2 ft | 18.7 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 12.9 µg/L | 11.9 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 66 ft | 92 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 880 acres | 1,024 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 6 | 6 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
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.
Swap a lake
Compare Middle Eau Claire Lake or Upper Eau Claire Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade B. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Middle Eau Claire Lake: 18.2 ft, Upper Eau Claire Lake: 18.7 ft) and what you want from the lake. Middle Eau Claire Lake matches its peer on species count.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.