Big Round Lake vs Bone Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bone Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Big Round Lake. Both are in Polk County, Wisconsin.
Both Big Round Lake and Bone Lake sit in Wisconsin. 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. The readings are close: Big Round Lake and Bone Lake sit within a narrow band of each other on phosphorus, chlorophyll-a and clarity. The per-parameter table below shows where the small differences actually live.
With readings 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 Round Lake
Murky, only visible to about 5 ft.
Bone Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 8 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Round Lake | Bone Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 5 ft | 8 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 27 µg/L | 19.8 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 6.9 µg/L | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 17 ft | 43 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 1,014 acres | 1,667 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 5 Better | 4 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | mesotrophic |
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
Bone Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Big Round Lake. Water clarity: 8 ft vs 5 ft. For more fish-species variety, Big Round Lake edges ahead with 5 documented species.
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.