Gates Lake

Gates Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Ashland County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI near 44 places Gates Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Gates Lake reaches 17 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 17 acres, Gates Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Within Ashland County's 10 graded waters, Gates Lake sits at rank 2, near the top of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Gates 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.