Inch Lake

Inch Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season.

A TSI value of 39 puts Inch Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake bottoms out at 40 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 31 acres, Inch Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Within Bayfield County's 52 graded lakes, Inch Lake ranks 39 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Inch Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2022, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery is bass-led, with 2 documented species across the lake's records. 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.