Pickerel Lake

Pickerel Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Forest County. 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's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. 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. Pickerel Lake sits at rank 25 of 35 in Forest County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

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.