Bishop Lake

Bishop Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Forest County. 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 near 41 places Bishop Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. At only 12 ft deep, Bishop Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. At 288 acres, Bishop Lake fits the Wisconsin median for monitored lakes, with partial shoreline records. Within the 35 graded lakes of Forest County, Bishop Lake sits at rank 28, near the bottom of the county list.

An invasive species record — Banded Mystery Snail — has been logged at Bishop Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Bishop Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.