Bad Medicine Lake vs Elbow Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bad Medicine Lake and Elbow Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Becker County, Minnesota.
Both Bad Medicine Lake and Elbow Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any grade differences here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies grading them. The grades are close: Bad Medicine Lake (A) and Elbow Lake (A) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.
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.
Elbow Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 12.1 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bad Medicine Lake | Elbow Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 25 ft | 12.1 ft |
| Phosphorus | 6 µg/L | 14 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.6 µg/L | 4.8 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 84 ft | 76 ft |
| Surface Area | 803 acres | 995 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 13 | 17 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | mesotrophic |
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, Elbow Lake: 12.1 ft) and what you want from the lake. Bad Medicine Lake has fewer fish species than Elbow Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.