Bad Medicine Lake vs Many Point Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bad Medicine Lake and Many Point Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Becker County, Minnesota.
Both Bad Medicine Lake and Many Point 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. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — Bad Medicine Lake (A) versus Many Point 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.
Many Point Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 10.7 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bad Medicine Lake | Many Point Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 25 ft | 10.7 ft |
| Phosphorus | 6 µg/L | 15.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.6 µg/L | 6.3 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 84 ft | 92 ft |
| Surface Area | 803 acres | 1,701 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 13 | 16 |
| 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, Many Point Lake: 10.7 ft) and what you want from the lake. Bad Medicine Lake has fewer fish species than Many Point Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.