Carlyle Lake

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Carlyle Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir largely located in Clinton County, Illinois, with smaller portions of the lake within Bond and Fayette counties. It is the largest artificial lake in Illinois and the largest lake wholly within the state.

The lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built Carlyle Dam across the Kaskaskia River, thereby creating a reservoir filled to a mean elevation of 446 feet (136 m) above sea level. The region of Southern Illinois where Caryle Lake now stands is relatively flat, and the lake is relatively shallow. Construction of the dam began on October 18, 1958 and it was dedicated on June 3, 1967.

Grouped around the lake are Eldon Hazlet State Recreation Area, South Shore State Park, and the Carlyle Lake Wildlife Management Area.

Carlyle Lake is managed for flood control purposes, which means that the lake level fluctuates sharply with the seasons. Creeks that flow into the lake sometimes alternate between being three-mile-long estuaries and being mud flats. For this reason, it is not an ideal lake for some forms of shoreline recreation, such as swimming.