Deer Lake

Deer Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Wisconsin lakes fall. A maximum depth of 24 ft puts Deer Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. At 66 acres, Deer Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Among the 191 graded lakes in Vilas County, Deer Lake sits at rank 91, above the county median.

No invasive species are currently listed at Deer Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 2, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. 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.