Big Trout Lake vs Hen Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Big Trout Lake and Hen Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
Big Trout Lake and Hen 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 close: Big Trout Lake (A) and Hen 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.
Big Trout Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16.9 ft down.
Hen Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 17.1 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Trout Lake | Hen Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 16.9 ft | 17.1 ft |
| Phosphorus | 10 µg/L | 14 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 2.1 µg/L | 2.4 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 128 ft | 105 ft |
| Surface Area | 1,366 acres | 858 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | No |
| Fish Species | 20 | 21 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
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 (Big Trout Lake: 16.9 ft, Hen Lake: 17.1 ft) and what you want from the lake. Big Trout Lake has fewer fish species than Hen Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.