Gass Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Gass Lake grades a B, with clarity at 19.7 ft and 63 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Wisconsin median. Phosphorus is the parameter holding the grade back — runoff from the surrounding watershed appears to keep nutrient levels elevated through the summer.

A TSI near 49 places Gass Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. 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 14 of 18 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.