Little Pickerel Lake

Little Pickerel Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Trophically, Little Pickerel Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. The lake bottoms out at 20 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake is compact at 25 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Little Pickerel Lake ranks 22 of 66 in Oconto County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Little Pickerel Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2025, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.