Little Bass Lake

Little Bass Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Vilas County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI value of 29 puts Little Bass Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. Little Bass Lake reaches 46 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 16 acres, Little Bass Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Among the 202 graded lakes in Vilas County, Little Bass Lake sits at rank 75, above the county median.

An invasive species record — Banded Mystery Snail — has been logged at Little Bass Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. 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.