Rinehart Lake

Rinehart Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Portage 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 30 puts Rinehart Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. Rinehart Lake is small — 43 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Rinehart Lake ranks 11 of 29 in Portage County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Rinehart Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Banded Mystery Snail), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. The fishery is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Rinehart 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.