Tichigan Lake

Tichigan Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Racine County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Tichigan Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. At 63 ft of maximum depth, Tichigan Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. At 279 acres, Tichigan Lake fits the Wisconsin median for monitored lakes, with partial shoreline records. Within Racine County's 7 graded lakes, Tichigan Lake ranks 4 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Zebra mussels have been documented at Tichigan Lake, which alters the filter-feeding balance and can paradoxically increase water clarity while disrupting the food web. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 7 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.