Little Trade Lake

Little Trade Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Wisconsin lake of its size and depth. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI in the eutrophic range signals a lake doing what nutrient-loaded waters do — supporting an active algal community at the cost of clear water. Little Trade Lake reaches 19 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. The lake's 126 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. Little Trade Lake ranks 64 of 70 in Burnett County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Little Trade Lake carries an invasive watermilfoil record — boat-launch decontamination and shoreline care matter more here than at uninfested lakes. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Little Trade Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. 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.