Sand Bar Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Sand Bar Lake pulls an A: clarity at 62.3 ft and 10 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI value of 27 puts Sand Bar Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. Sand Bar Lake reaches 49 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. The lake's 127 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within Bayfield County's 55 graded lakes, Sand Bar Lake ranks 38 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Sand Bar Lake carries an invasive watermilfoil record — boat-launch decontamination and shoreline care matter more here than at uninfested lakes. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. 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.