Tea Lake

Tea Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Tea Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake bottoms out at 48 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Tea Lake is small — 50 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Tea Lake ranks 2 of 10 in Ashland County, putting it in the upper tier of locally monitored lakes.

Tea Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2020, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Tea Lake, one of 4 fish species on record for the lake. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.