Pine Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Pine Lake pulls an A: clarity at 13.0 ft and 14 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Pine Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. A maximum depth of 34 ft puts Pine Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. The lake is compact at 88 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Among the 74 graded lakes in Polk County, Pine Lake ranks 14 — in the top quartile locally.

Pine Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Chinese Mystery Snail), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. 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.