Carpenter Lake

Carpenter Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Wisconsin lake of its size and depth. 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 Carpenter Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. A maximum depth of 16 ft puts Carpenter Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. At 339 acres, Carpenter Lake fits the Wisconsin median for monitored lakes, with partial shoreline records. Among the 191 graded lakes in Vilas County, Carpenter Lake sits at rank 84, above the county median.

An invasive species record — Chinese Mystery Snail — has been logged at Carpenter Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 5 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.