Leota Lake

On the scoring rubric Leota Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.6 ft and 77 µg/L of phosphorus keep it in the lower bracket for Rock County. 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.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. A maximum depth of 15 ft puts Leota Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. Leota Lake is small — 36 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Within the 4 graded lakes of Rock County, Leota Lake sits at rank 4, near the bottom of the county list.

An invasive species record — Rusty Crayfish — has been logged at Leota Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.