Little Rice Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Little Rice Lake grades a B, with clarity readings still being added and 22 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Wisconsin median. 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.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Wisconsin lakes fall. At only 10 ft deep, Little Rice Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. With 1,201 acres of surface and partial shoreline records, Little Rice Lake is a large water by Wisconsin standards — recreational pressure is spread across a long shoreline. Within the 35 graded lakes of Forest County, Little Rice Lake sits at rank 32, near the bottom of the county list.

Little Rice 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 is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Little Rice Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.