Sand Lake

Sand Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Wisconsin lake of its size and depth. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI near 46 places Sand Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. The lake's 50 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Wisconsin — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. The lake's 949 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. Sand Lake ranks 25 of 50 in Sawyer County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

An invasive species record — Banded Mystery Snail — has been logged at Sand Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery includes walleye among the lake's 6 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. Multiple sampling years from the Wisconsin DNR Citizen Lake Monitoring Network back the grade, so the letter should hold steady absent a major watershed shift.