Bass Lake
Kalkaska County, MichiganView mapDirections
EGLE publishes the water-quality measurements for Bass Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 29 ft max depth
- Limited data
Bass Lake in Kalkaska County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 18.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L.
Free interactive depth-contour map of Bass Lake, reaching a maximum surveyed depth of 42 ft. Toggle Depth contours to overlay the bathymetric survey lines. Contour data from Michigan DNR.
Bass Lake is a lake in Kalkaska County, Michigan with an estimated average depth of about 29 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. The lake supports 12 documented fish species including Black bullhead, Blacknose shiner, and Bluntnose minnow.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, EGLE, last sampled 2023-09-02. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Bass Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water18.5 ft of visibility
- Fishing12 species recorded
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Bass Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Bass Lake
These are the measurements EGLE publishes for Bass Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Crystal clear, you can see 18.5 ft down. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. TSI 36.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 18.5ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 10µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 36 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Bass Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~29 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Michigan has not published bathymetry for Bass Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
35 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,198 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Bass Lake
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Fish Species
Click a species to see every lake where it is documented.
Fishing Bass Lake
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 6 years of monitoring (2016–2023).
Water clarity
Improving5 years
Phosphorus
Improving-0.36 µg/L/yr6 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-0.03 µg/L/yr6 years
Nearby Lakes in Kalkaska County
Frequently asked questions about Bass Lake
Where is Bass Lake?
- Bass Lake is a lake in Kalkaska County, Michigan. Its water-quality measurements are published by EGLE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Bass Lake?
- Bass Lake in Kalkaska County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 18.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L.
Is Bass Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Bass Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Bass Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 29 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
What fish are in Bass Lake?
- Fish species found in Bass Lake include Black bullhead, Blacknose shiner, Bluntnose minnow, Creek chub, Finescale dace, Golden shiner, Iowa darter, Largemouth bass, Northern longear sunfish, Northern pearl dace, White sucker, Yellow perch. Bass Lake is located in Kalkaska County, Michigan.
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2023. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-26.
Collected and reported by
- Michigan EGLE - MiCorps
21MICH_MICORPS8 samples · 2023
Analytical methods
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)