Sunset Lake

Sunset Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Vilas County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. A maximum depth of 30 ft puts Sunset Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. Sunset Lake covers 207 acres alongside partial shoreline records — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Sunset Lake ranks 1 of 202 in Vilas County, putting it in the upper tier of locally monitored lakes.

No invasive species are currently listed at Sunset Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 6 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.