Ike Walton Lake Deep

The LakeGrade rubric puts Ike Walton Lake Deep at a C: clarity at 8.5 ft, phosphorus readings still being added, and a TSI of 46 signal an intermediate trophic state. 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. At 61 ft of maximum depth, Ike Walton Lake Deep stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. At 1,417 acres, Ike Walton Lake Deep is one of the larger lakes in Vilas County, with partial shoreline records supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Within the 191 graded lakes of Vilas County, Ike Walton Lake Deep sits at rank 150, near the bottom of the county list.

Ike Walton Lake Deep has at least one documented invasive species (Spiny Waterflea), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 5 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.