Wishbone Lake

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

A TSI near 44 places Wishbone Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Wishbone Lake reaches 40 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Wishbone Lake is small — 17 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Within the 55 graded lakes of Bayfield County, Wishbone Lake sits at rank 47, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Wishbone Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. The fishery is bass-led, with 2 documented species across the lake's records. 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.