Big Hollow Lake vs Lake Darling Max Depth
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Big Hollow Lake and Lake Darling Max Depth both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Very Poor). Both are in Wisconsin.
Big Hollow Lake and Lake Darling Max Depth are both in Iowa — 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 close: Big Hollow Lake (F) and Lake Darling Max Depth (F) 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.
Big Hollow Lake
Very murky, less than 1.8 ft of visibility.
Lake Darling Max Depth
Very murky, less than 1.6 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Hollow Lake | Lake Darling Max Depth |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | F (Very Poor) | F (Very Poor) |
| Water Clarity | 1.8 ft | 1.6 ft |
| Phosphorus | No data | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 46 µg/L | 60.5 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | - | - |
| Surface Area | 178 acres | 304 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | hypereutrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade F. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Big Hollow Lake: 1.8 ft, Lake Darling Max Depth: 1.6 ft) and what you want from the lake. Big Hollow Lake matches its peer on species count.