Clear Lake

Clear Lake sits at a C on the grading scale — not impaired, not pristine, with summer measurements that vary year to year. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI in the eutrophic range signals a lake doing what nutrient-loaded waters do — supporting an active algal community at the cost of clear water. At only 12 ft deep, Clear Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. At 77 acres, Clear Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Clear Lake sits at rank 3 of 4 in Rock County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Clear Lake carries an invasive watermilfoil record — boat-launch decontamination and shoreline care matter more here than at uninfested lakes. The fishery is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. 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.