Bass Lake Pump Site

Bass Lake Pump Site sits at a C on the grading scale — not impaired, not pristine, with summer measurements that vary year to year. The lake's weakest score is on Secchi depth — the water looks more turbid than its phosphorus number alone would predict.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Bass Lake Pump Site: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. Bass Lake Pump Site reaches 33 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. The lake's 370 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Bass Lake Pump Site sits at rank 3 of 5 in St. Croix County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Zebra mussels have been documented at Bass Lake Pump Site, which alters the filter-feeding balance and can paradoxically increase water clarity while disrupting the food web. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 4 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. 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.