Pickerel Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Pickerel Lake grades a B, with clarity at 10.0 ft and 20 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. Pickerel Lake reaches 19 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 1,272 acres, Pickerel Lake is one of the larger lakes in Forest County, with partial shoreline records supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Among the 34 graded lakes in Forest County, Pickerel Lake sits at rank 12, above the county median.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Pickerel Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. Walleye are documented at Pickerel Lake, one of 4 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Pickerel 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.