Bone Lake vs Cedar Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bone Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Cedar Lake. Both are in Polk County, Wisconsin.
Both Bone Lake and Cedar 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. Bone Lake reads materially cleaner than Cedar Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Bone Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Bone Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 8 ft.
Cedar Lake
Murky, only visible to about 6.1 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bone Lake | Cedar Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 8 ft Better | 6.1 ft |
| Phosphorus | 19.8 µg/L Better | 42.3 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 43 ft Better | 32 ft |
| Surface Area | 1,667 acres | 1,120 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 4 | 5 Better |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | eutrophic |
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 Cedar Lake. Water clarity: 8 ft vs 6.1 ft. For more fish-species variety, Cedar Lake edges ahead with 5 documented species.
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.