Clear Lake

Clear Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Sawyer 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.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. A maximum depth of 32 ft puts Clear Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. At 77 acres, Clear Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Among the 52 graded lakes in Sawyer County, Clear Lake ranks 10 — in the top quartile locally.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Clear Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. 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.