Big Fish Lake vs Rice Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Big Fish Lake has a higher water quality grade (A, Excellent) than Rice Lake (F, Very Poor). Both are in Stearns County, Minnesota.
Big Fish Lake and Rice 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. The grades are meaningfully apart: Big Fish Lake grades a A while Rice Lake grades a F. That two-letter spread reflects real underlying differences — different watershed inputs, different depth profiles, or different monitoring rigor.
For a recreational visitor, the wider grade gap is decisive — Big Fish Lake is the better water-quality choice. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Big Fish Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 20 ft down.
Rice Lake
Very murky, less than 3 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Fish Lake | Rice Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | F (Very Poor) |
| Water Clarity | 20 ft | 3 ft |
| Phosphorus | 9 µg/L | 50 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 1.8 µg/L | 39.5 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 70 ft | 41 ft |
| Surface Area | 557 acres | 1,513 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 15 | 21 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | eutrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Big Fish Lake wins on overall water quality with a Grade A versus Rice Lake's Grade F. Water clarity: 20 ft vs 3 ft. For more fish-species variety, Rice Lake edges ahead with 21 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.