Saint Croix Flowage Lake vs Whitefish Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Saint Croix Flowage Lake and Whitefish Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of B (Good). Both are in Douglas County, Wisconsin.
Saint Croix Flowage Lake and Whitefish 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. The grades are close: Saint Croix Flowage Lake (B) and Whitefish Lake (B) 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.
Saint Croix Flowage Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 10.5 ft.
Whitefish Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 25 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Saint Croix Flowage Lake | Whitefish Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | B (Good) | B (Good) |
| Water Clarity | 10.5 ft | 25 ft |
| Phosphorus | 23.8 µg/L | 11 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | - | 102 ft |
| Surface Area | 1,913 acres | 848 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 0 | 5 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | oligotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade B. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Saint Croix Flowage Lake: 10.5 ft, Whitefish Lake: 25 ft) and what you want from the lake. Saint Croix Flowage Lake has fewer fish species than Whitefish Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.