Lower Bottle Lake vs Upper Bottle Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Lower Bottle Lake and Upper Bottle Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Hubbard County, Minnesota.
Both Lower Bottle Lake and Upper Bottle 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 — Lower Bottle Lake (A) versus Upper Bottle 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.
Lower Bottle Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 15 ft down.
Upper Bottle Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Lower Bottle Lake | Upper Bottle Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 15 ft | 16 ft |
| Phosphorus | 10 µg/L | 11 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 110 ft | 55 ft |
| Surface Area | 641.17 acres | 459.14 acres |
| Public Access | No | 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 (Lower Bottle Lake: 15 ft, Upper Bottle Lake: 16 ft) and what you want from the lake. Lower Bottle Lake matches its peer on species count.