Pokegama Lake

Pokegama Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Vilas 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.

A TSI value of 28 puts Pokegama Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake's 65 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Wisconsin — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. Pokegama Lake covers 1,041 acres alongside partial shoreline records, large enough that conditions can vary meaningfully between bays. Among the 202 graded lakes in Vilas County, Pokegama Lake ranks 47 — in the top quartile locally.

Pokegama 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. Walleye are documented at Pokegama Lake, one of 6 fish species on record for the 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.