Bad Medicine Lake vs Two Inlets Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bad Medicine Lake and Two Inlets Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Becker County, Minnesota.
Both Bad Medicine Lake and Two Inlets 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 Two Inlets 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.
Two Inlets Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 9 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bad Medicine Lake | Two Inlets Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 25 ft | 9 ft |
| Phosphorus | 6 µg/L | 15.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.6 µg/L | 6.3 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 84 ft | 60 ft |
| Surface Area | 803 acres | 578 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 13 | 15 |
| 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, Two Inlets Lake: 9 ft) and what you want from the lake. Bad Medicine Lake has fewer fish species than Two Inlets Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.