Lipsett Lake

Lipsett 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 Lipsett Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 24 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 393 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Lipsett Lake sits at rank 35 of 57 in Burnett County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Lipsett Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Chinese Mystery Snail), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. The fishery includes walleye among the lake's 5 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.