Stella Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Stella Lake pulls an A: clarity at 16.4 ft and 27 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. 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.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Wisconsin lakes fall. Stella Lake is a shallow lake at 9 ft maximum depth, which means it warms quickly, mixes constantly, and amplifies nutrient inputs. The lake is compact at 95 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Stella Lake ranks 155 of 202 in Vilas County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Stella Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2025, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. A documented public access point at Stella 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.