Ike Walton Lake Deep

Ike Walton Lake Deep earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Vilas County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. 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. Ike Walton Lake Deep sits at rank 109 of 202 in Vilas County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

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.