Kasbaum Lake

Kasbaum Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Wisconsin lake of its size and depth. The two scored sub-grades — clarity and phosphorus — track close together, so neither one is dragging the average down.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Kasbaum Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. At 68 ft of maximum depth, Kasbaum Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. Kasbaum Lake is small — 6 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Within Manitowoc County's 18 graded lakes, Kasbaum Lake ranks 10 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

No invasive species are currently listed at Kasbaum Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. 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.