Big Trout Lake vs Lower Hay Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Big Trout Lake and Lower Hay Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
Both Big Trout Lake and Lower Hay Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any grade differences here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies grading them. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — Big Trout Lake (A) versus Lower Hay Lake (A). The deciding factors for a recreational visitor are likely physical (depth, access, fish species) rather than water-quality differences.
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 16.4 ft down.
Lower Hay Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 19 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Trout Lake | Lower Hay Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 16.4 ft | 19 ft |
| Phosphorus | 9 µg/L | 13 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 128 ft | 100 ft |
| Surface Area | 1.4K acres | 700.21 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 1 | 1 |
| 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: 16.4 ft, Lower Hay Lake: 19 ft) and what you want from the lake. Big Trout Lake matches its peer on species count.