Shell Lake vs Stone Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Shell Lake and Stone Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Washburn County, Wisconsin.
Shell Lake and Stone 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 — Shell Lake (A) versus Stone Lake (A). 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.
Shell Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16 ft down.
Stone Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 23 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Shell Lake | Stone Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 16 ft | 23 ft |
| Phosphorus | 15.2 µg/L | 10.8 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 36 ft | 49 ft |
| Surface Area | 2.5K acres | 490 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| 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 A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Shell Lake: 16 ft, Stone Lake: 23 ft) and what you want from the lake. Shell Lake matches its peer on species count.