Anderson Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Anderson Lake pulls an A: clarity at 68.9 ft and 10 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

A TSI value of 27 puts Anderson Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake's 63 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Wisconsin — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. At 35 acres, Anderson Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Anderson Lake ranks 19 of 202 in Vilas County, putting it in the upper tier of locally monitored lakes.

An invasive species record — Rusty Crayfish — has been logged at Anderson Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 2, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.