Vilas
No
No
No
Fish and Aquatic Life
Overview
Bass Lake, in the Eagle River Watershed, is a 271.81 acre lake that falls in Vilas County. This lake is managed for fishing and swimming and is currently not considered impaired.
Date 2011
Author Aquatic Biologist
Historical Description
Source: 1963, Surface Water Resources of Vilas County
Bass Lake T-40-N, R-11-E, Sections 20, and 29,
Area = 266 Surface Acres, Maximum Depth = 15 feet
Bass Lake is a spring-fed lake of high fertility. It has
clear water, but of low transparency. Weeds and algae are a
problem. It is a muskellunge-bass lake but is considered to have a
slow growing pan fish population.
Public use opportunities are afforded only through one of the
four resorts; at present there are no landings available to the
public but will be developed. Sixty-two dwellings line the shore.
The wildlife values are low in the lake's present state. The lake
has had a history of minor summerkills usually associated with the
algae blooms.
Date 1963
Author Surface Water Inventory Of Wisconsin
General Condition
Bass Lake (1604200) was assessed during the 2016 listing cycle; total phosphorus and chlorophyll sample data were clearly below 2016 WisCALM listing thresholds for the Recreation use and Fish and Aquatic Life use. This water is meeting these designated uses and is not considered impaired.
Date 2015
Author Ashley Beranek
Condition
Wisconsin has over 84,000 miles of streams, 15,000 lakes and milllions of acres of wetlands. Assessing the condition of this vast amount of water is challenging. The state's water monitoring program uses a media-based, cross-program approach to analyze water condition. An updated monitoring strategy (2015-2020) is now available. Compliance with Clean Water Act fishable, swimmable standards are located in the Executive Summary of Water Condition in 2018. See also the 'monitoring and projects' tab.
Reports
Recommendations
Lake Management Plan Implementation
The Town of Washington is sponsoring a project on Anvil Lake, Vilas County. The project will focus on studying water quality and developing an Anvil Lake Management Plan (LMP). Project activities include: 1) Develop water and P budget; 2) Water quality evaluation and groundwater assessment; 3) WiLMS simulation modeling; 4) Stakeholder participation; 5) Collect sediment cores for historical and future lake water quality assessment; 6) Implementation of County sewage ordinance and association shoreline restoration project; 7) Develop annual reports, a scientific investigations report and LMP.
Monitor or Propose 303(d) Listing
We would like to take Bass Lake off the 303d list so I am proposing to do a year of monitoring to determine if the trend of better trophic status indices are continuing prior to making the decision of removing the lake off the list. This will involve monitoring Bass Lake 5 times for phosphorous(surface and bottom), chlorophyll a, secchi disk and DO profile along with pH, temperature and conductivity at ice out, three times during the summer months and upon fall turnover which occurs late into November some years.
Management Goals
Wisconsin's Water Quality Standards provide qualitative and quantitative goals for waters that are protective of Fishable, Swimmable conditions [Learn more]. Waters that do not meet water quality standards are considered impaired and restoration actions are planned and carried out until the water is once again fishable and swimmable
Management goals can include creation or implementation of a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis, a Nine Key Element Plan, or other restoration work, education and outreach and more. If specific recommendations exist for this water, they will be displayed below online.
Monitoring
Monitoring the condition of a river, stream, or lake includes gathering physical, chemical, biological, and habitat data. Comprehensive studies often gather all these parameters in great detail, while lighter assessment events will involve sampling physical, chemical and biological data such as macroinvertebrates. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish communities integrate watershed or catchment condition, providing great insight into overall ecosystem health. Chemical and habitat parameters tell researchers more about human induced problems including contaminated runoff, point source dischargers, or habitat issues that foster or limit the potential of aquatic communities to thrive in a given area. Wisconsin's Water Monitoring Strategy was recenty updated.
Grants and Management Projects
Monitoring Projects
| WBIC | Official Waterbody Name | Station ID | Station Name | Earliest Fieldwork Date | Latest Fieldwork Date | View Station | View Data |
|---|
| 1604200 | Bass Lake | 643121 | Bass Lake - Deep Hole | 8/17/1973 | 10/3/2024 | Map | Data |
| 1604200 | Bass Lake | 10006175 | Bass Lake | 7/27/1999 | 5/2/2022 | Map | Data |
|
Watershed Characteristics
Bass Lake is located in the Eagle River watershed which is 181.70 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (55.60%), wetland (28%) and a mix of open (12.90%) and other uses (3.50%). This watershed has 146.13 stream miles, 15,720.03 lake acres and 32,094.84 wetland acres.
Nonpoint Source Characteristics
This watershed is ranked Not Ranked for runoff impacts on streams, High for runoff impacts on lakes and Low for runoff impacts on groundwater and therefore has an overall rank of Low. This value can be used in ranking the watershed or individual waterbodies for grant funding under state and county programs.However, all waters are affected by diffuse pollutant sources regardless of initial water quality. Applications for specific runoff projects under state or county grant programs may be pursued. For more information, go to surface water program grants.