Muskellunge Lake

On the scoring rubric Muskellunge Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.0 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for Oneida County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

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. 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. Muskellunge Lake covers 287 acres alongside partial shoreline records — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Muskellunge Lake ranks 113 of 134 in Oneida County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

An invasive species record — Chinese Mystery Snail — has been logged at Muskellunge Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 5 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.