Nelson Lake

Nelson Lake earns a C — middle-of-the-pack water quality, with one or two parameters dragging the average down from a stronger grade. The lake's weakest score is on Secchi depth — the water looks more turbid than its phosphorus number alone would predict.

At a TSI of 52, Nelson Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. At 2,503 acres, Nelson Lake is one of the larger lakes in Sawyer County, with partial shoreline records supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Within the 50 graded lakes of Sawyer County, Nelson Lake sits at rank 40, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Nelson Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Nelson 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.