Gass Lake

On the scoring rubric Gass Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.0 ft and 63 µg/L of phosphorus keep it in the lower bracket for Manitowoc County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

At a TSI of 58, Gass Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. The lake bottoms out at 24 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Gass Lake is small — 6 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Gass Lake ranks 15 of 19 in Manitowoc County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Gass Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Curly-Leaf Pondweed), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. 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.