Bass Lake vs Roy Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bass Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Roy Lake. Both are in Mahnomen County, Minnesota.
Both Bass Lake and Roy Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. Bass Lake reads materially cleaner than Roy Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Bass Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Bass Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 13.1 ft.
Roy Lake
Murky, only visible to about 6 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bass Lake | Roy Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 13.1 ft Better | 6 ft |
| Phosphorus | 10 µg/L Better | 24 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 4.9 µg/L Better | 13.6 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 26 ft Better | 16 ft |
| Surface Area | 735 acres | 695 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 13 | 13 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | eutrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
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Verdict
Bass Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Roy Lake. Water clarity: 13.1 ft vs 6 ft. For fishing diversity, Bass Lake also leads with 13 species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.