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.

Grouped around the lake are Eldon Hazlet State Park, 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.

Carlyle Lake is used by many for boating and fishing. Many use the lake to try to catch channel catfish, flatheads, largemouth bass, white bass, crappie, and bluegill. The bass scene is particularly lively, with several tagged-bass and catch-and-release championships annually.

The lake is separated into two unequal halves by a 3.5-mile-long (6 km) railroad embankment carrying the tracks of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

The lake continues to be managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

There is a song entitled "Carlyle Lake" on Sufjan Stevens' 2006 album The Avalanche.