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LakeQuality

11 Crow Wing Lake vs Lower Bottle Lake

Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.

11 Crow Wing Lake and Lower Bottle Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Hubbard County, Minnesota.

11 Crow Wing Lake and Lower Bottle Lake are both in Minnesota — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — 11 Crow Wing Lake (A) versus Lower Bottle Lake (A). The deciding factors for a recreational visitor are likely physical (depth, access, fish species) rather than water-quality differences.

With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.

A

11 Crow Wing Lake

Hubbard County, Minnesota

Crystal clear, you can see 18.4 ft down.

A

Lower Bottle Lake

Hubbard County, Minnesota

Crystal clear, you can see 15 ft down.

Side-by-Side Metrics

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Metric11 Crow Wing LakeLower Bottle Lake
Overall GradeA (Excellent)A (Excellent)
Water Clarity18.4 ft15 ft
Phosphorus11 µg/L10 µg/L
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)No dataNo data
Maximum Depth80 ft110 ft
Surface Area750.97 acres641.17 acres
Public AccessYesNo
Fish Species11
Trophic Stateoligotrophicoligotrophic

Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).

Verdict

Both lakes earn the same Grade A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (11 Crow Wing Lake: 18.4 ft, Lower Bottle Lake: 15 ft) and what you want from the lake. 11 Crow Wing Lake matches its peer on species count.