Bad Medicine Lake vs Big Sugar Bush Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bad Medicine Lake and Big Sugar Bush Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Becker County, Minnesota.
Bad Medicine Lake and Big Sugar Bush 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 — Bad Medicine Lake (A) versus Big Sugar Bush 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.
Bad Medicine Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 25 ft down.
Big Sugar Bush Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16.5 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bad Medicine Lake | Big Sugar Bush Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 25 ft | 16.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | 6 µg/L | 10 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.6 µg/L | 2.7 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 84 ft | 42 ft |
| Surface Area | 803 acres | 522 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 13 | 13 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
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 (Bad Medicine Lake: 25 ft, Big Sugar Bush Lake: 16.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Bad Medicine Lake matches its peer on species count.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.