North Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, North Lake pulls an A: clarity at 41.0 ft and 16 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. 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.

A TSI value of 34 puts North Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake bottoms out at 33 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. North Lake is small — 72 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Among the 27 graded lakes in Waupaca County, North Lake sits at rank 10, above the county median.

An invasive species record — Banded Mystery Snail — has been logged at North Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 4 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. A documented public access point at North 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.