Silver Lake

Silver Lake earns an A — every scored parameter (clarity and phosphorus) rates among the best monitored waters in Waukesha County. clarity and phosphorus rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Silver Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. Silver Lake reaches 40 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Silver Lake covers 217 acres alongside partial shoreline records — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 45 graded lakes in Waukesha County, Silver Lake ranks 10 — in the top quartile locally.

Zebra mussels have been documented at Silver Lake, which alters the filter-feeding balance and can paradoxically increase water clarity while disrupting the food web. 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.