The 33-Foot Lake
DepthScout analyzed 37,233 maximum-depth records. The median lake topped out at 33 feet, and seven in ten were no deeper than 50.
- Lake depth
- Bathymetry
- Fishing maps
DepthScout Research
Evidence beneath the map.
Original analysis of lake depth and public bathymetry: what the records show, where the gaps remain, and what those differences mean for anglers and data stewards.
Latest research
The Uneven Map Beneath the Water
What 37,672 public waters on DepthScout reveal about where measured bathymetry is easy to find, and where modeled contours still fill the gaps.
- Bathymetry
- Public data
- Lake mapping
How DepthScout research is built
Each report starts with a question that can be answered from the published water catalog or an identified public bathymetry source. We preserve the unit of analysis, document exclusions, separate measured surveys from modeled contours, and state where coverage is incomplete. That distinction is essential when comparing a surveyed depth range with an approximate contour model built from shoreline geometry. Counts are calculated from a dated catalog snapshot so a later import cannot silently rewrite an earlier result. When a report compares regions, water types or survey classes, the same definitions are applied to every group before any ranking or percentage is calculated.
The reports are intended to be inspectable, not promotional summaries. Method notes explain what the evidence can support, while limitations identify selection bias, missing source records and differences between mapped coverage and the full population of real-world waters. Editorial conclusions stay separate from raw measurements, and navigation claims are never inferred from fishing-map data. For the operating definitions used across individual lake pages, regional hubs and these analyses, read the DepthScout mapping methodology.