Kelly Lake

Kelly Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

A TSI value of 21 puts Kelly Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. Kelly Lake is small — 56 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Kelly Lake ranks 18 of 55 in Bayfield County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Kelly Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Kelly Lake, one of 3 fish species on record for the lake. 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.