Hatch Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Hatch Lake grades a B, with clarity at 8.4 ft and 20 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Wisconsin median. The lake's weakest score is on Secchi depth — the water looks more turbid than its phosphorus number alone would predict.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Hatch Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. A maximum depth of just 12 ft means sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the water column whenever wind stirs the bottom — a classic shallow-lake dynamic. Hatch Lake covers 113 acres alongside partial shoreline records — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within the 25 graded lakes of Waupaca County, Hatch Lake sits at rank 19, near the bottom of the county list.

Eurasian watermilfoil is established at Hatch Lake, which can dampen recreational access and pressure the native plant community. The fishery is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Hatch Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.