The state’s largest lake, Grenada Lake, is a trophy crappie fishery with great birdwatching. Ross Barnett Reservoir provides drinking water to Jackson and Sardis Lake provides fantastic fishing, birdwatching, and hunting. Enid Lake is a premier fishing and hunting destination providing Class A camping and world record size fish. Two of the state’s lakes were featured in films and one was mentioned in a book. Lake Washington was featured in Haunted (2012) and Arkabutla Lake was featured in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). All of Mississippi’s lakes offer great fishing with a huge array of fish species with just a few being largemouth bass, spotted bass, blue catfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish, black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, and white bass.
1. Ross Barnett Reservoir
● Surface Area: 33,000 Acres ● Max Depth: 35 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Drinking Water Supply for Mississippi, Big Bream Fishing, Tournament Bass Fishing, Hunting Ross Barnett Reservoir was formed in 1961 to stand as a primary, permanent source of drinking water for Jackson, the capital city of Mississippi. The lake sees approximately two million yearly visitors enjoy the wide range of amenities and activities available. Ross Barnett Reservoir provides sixteen parks, twenty-two boat launches, three handicapped-accessible trails, two multi-purpose trails, a mountain bike trail connected to Mule Jail Lake, and five campgrounds. Fishing is one of the primary attractions at Ross Barnett Reservoir due to regular tournaments, a wide range of fish species, and a history of record-sized catches. Historically the lake has produced state-record fish including a fifty-seven, twelve-ounce smallmouth buffalo, a sixty-five-pound paddlefish, and an eighteen-pound, fourteen-ounce bowfin. Crappie is reported to be exceptionally abundant and The Bassmaster Classic World Championship was held at the lake in 1978. Ross Barnett Reservoir is also a highly anticipated hunting destination for Missippi locals and tourists. Common game targeted by hunters include deer, hogs, small game, and turkey. The Pearl River, which is connected to Ross Barnett Reservoir also provides great hunting and fishing opportunities.
2. Sardis Lake
● Surface Area: 31,400 Acres ● Max Depth: 76 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Convenient Location, Abundant Bass & Crappie Fishing, Birdwatching, Hunting Sardis Lake located in north-central Mississippi was initially formed as a response to the Great Flood of 1927. One of the desirable attributes that make Sardis Lake popular is its convenient location; about an hour from Memphis, Tennessee. The lake’s total surface area is over ninety-eight thousand acres however normal pool conditions are much lower at thirty-two thousand five hundred acres; making it more technically the third largest lake in the state. Fishing is on the top of the list in terms of activities presented at Sardis Lake. In addition hunting, camping, boating, skiing, swimming, picnicking, and wildlife viewing are all extremely popular. Anglers can expect to catch many fish species at Sardis Lake including largemouth bass, spotted bass, blue catfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish, black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, and white bass. Birdwatchers visiting Sardis Lake can expect to see Canadian geese, black duck, mallard, pintail, gadwall, hooded merganser, wood duck, canvasback, and ring-necked ducks. Other bird species commonly spotted include bald eagles, white pelicans, Bonaparte’s, ring-billed gulls, and herring gulls. Hunting is also popular at Sardis Lake offering a wild range of game including whitetail deer, bobwhite quail, eastern wild turkey, migrating waterfowl species, rabbit, dove, raccoon, and squirrel.
3. Enid Lake
● Surface Area: 28,000 acres ● Max Depth: 30 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Modern Camping Facilities, Flood Control, Environmental Stewardship, Recreation Management, Natural Resource Management, Water Supply, World Record Size Fish, Hunting Enid Lake is located in north-central Mississippi and was created in 1952 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of the forty-four thousand-acre Enid Lake Project. The lake’s primary function is flood control however secondary missions include environmental stewardship, recreation management, natural resource management, and water supply. Camping at Enid Lake is literally Class A with five campgrounds provided including Wallace Creek, Persimmon Hill, Chickasaw Hill, Ford’s Well, and Water Valley Landing. Fishing is exceptionally popular at Enid Lake and it’s known for producing world-record size fish. The lake holds world records for a white crappie weighing over five pounds and a shortnose gar weighing nearly six. Other fish species found regularly in Enid Lake include largemouth bass, catfish, and bream and there is also an abundance of crappie. The thirty-five thousand acres of land surrounding Enid Lake provide an excellent hunting area. Common game species targeted by hunters include deer, turkey, waterfowl, squirrel, and rabbit. In recent years several reports of alligators have emerged at Enid Lake, Sardis Lake, and Grenada Lake so visitors should use some caution.
4. Arkabutla Lake
● Surface Area: 11,870 Acres ● Max Depth: 54 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Flood Control, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Diverse Fish Species Range, Crappie Fishing Paradise Arkabutla Lake was created with three others in the state as part of the response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed and created the lake through the Flood Control Act passed by Congress in 1937. The original town of Coldwater was completely flooded and submerged in 1942 as a result of the formation of the lake. While the lake’s primary purposes are rooted in flood control it also serves as a productive fishery. Anglers can expect to take home many species within a diverse range of possibilities. Fish species in Arkabutla Lake include largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, blue catfish, black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, green sunfish, longear sunfish, redear sunfish, warmouth, and white bass. Arkabutla Lake is also known from the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The movie is a music-filled comedy-drama written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Chris Thomas King, and John Goodman. Arkabutla Lake is called Arktabutta Reservoir in the film and some traits of the lake’s creation and history are used as inspiration.
5. Columbus Lake
● Surface Area: 8,909 Acres ● Max Depth: N/A Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Known As Mississippi’s Crappie Hotspot, Dewayne Hayes Campground, Columbus Marina, Largest Reservoir Along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Commercial Water Traffic Columbus Lake, located in northeastern Mississippi, is the largest reservoir along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The Tenn-Tom is a forty-four thousand-acre chain of lakes built to primarily facilitate commercial water traffic. Popular activities at Columbus Lake include water skiing, tubing, boating, and fishing. Crappie are extremely abundant in Columbus Lake and it’s often referred to as “Mississippi’s Crappie Hotspot.” Many other types of fish species swim the waters of Columbus Lake including largemouth bass, blue catfish, and spotted bass. Additional fish species in lesser abundance in Columbus Lake include smallmouth bass, walleye, catfish, carp, bluegill, and sunfish. Dewayne Hayes Campground at Columbus Lake offers full-service camping along with playgrounds, hiking trails, multi-use courts, picnic areas, and educational programs. Columbus Marina at Columbus Lake offers an assortment of amenities from on-site laundry to WiFi and a boat ramp with launching service. Lake visitors can also take advantage of nearby Columbus, Mississippi offering antique stores and a plethora of historic sights.
6. Bay Springs Lake
● Surface Area: 6,700 Acres ● Max Depth: 73 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Stout Spotted Bass Fishing, Autumn Crappie Fishing, Old Bridge Beach, Piney Grove Beach, Piney Grove Recreation Area, Birdwatching Bay Springs Lake is located in northeastern Mississippi and is known for its superior stout spotted bass fishing. Bay Springs Lake is one of ten lakes in the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway which was created to provide a more efficient route from the interior United States out to the Gulf of Mexico. The lake also provides wildlife preservation and many recreational opportunities including boating, swimming, fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, and picnicking. Fishing is very popular at Bay Springs Lake and many anglers regard the waters for the abundant stout spotted bass. Other popular fish species caught at Big Springs Lake include largemouth bass, pumpkinseed, bream, black bass, and catfish. Camping is available for longer fishing excursions at Piney Grove Campground and Whippoorwill Campground. Bay Springs Lake is also known for Old Bridge Beach and Piney Grove Beach for their white sand and picturesque scenery. The beaches at Bay Springs Lake provide picnic shelters, volleyball courts, restroom facilities, and showers. Birdwatchers can expect to view a vast range of bird species at Bay Springs Lake including Canadian geese, mourning dove, yellow-billed cuckoo, great blue heron, turkey vulture, osprey, eastern kingbird, blue jay, American crow, barn swallow, chipping sparrow, northern cardinal, double-crested cormorant, bald eagle, and red-bellied woodpecker.
7. Okatibbee Reservoir
● Surface Area: 3,800 Acres ● Max Depth: 29 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Municipal Drinking Water, Flood Control, Fishing, Camping, Hunting, Okatibbee State Wildlife Area, Okatibbee Dam Okatibbee Reservoir is located in the central-eastern region of Mississippi and was built in 1968 to reduce flooding along the Chickasawhay River and Okatibbee Creek. Today lake visitors can utilize the cabins, full hookups, and primitive campgrounds at Okatibbee Lake and enjoy the many activities available from fishing and hunting to boating and birdwatching. The earthen gravity dam named Okatibbee Dam is responsible for forming Okatibbee Reservoir which also provides municipal drinking water. Anglers report Okatibbee Reservoir to have some of the best largemouth bass, catfish, and crappie fishing in Mississippi. In addition, the lake boasts a wide range of fish species including black bass, gizzard shad, threadfin shad, spotted sucker, blue catfish, channel catfish, warmouth, bluegill, longear sunfish, redear sunfish, spotted bass, white crappie, and black crappie. Five public boat ramps are provided at Okatibbee Reservoir for full lake access and bank fishing is also available. Deer and squirrel hunting on the surrounding nearly seven thousand acre wilderness area managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Rabbit, quail, and turkey are also hunted at Okatibbee Reservoir, but to a lesser extent. Okatibbee State Wildlife Area is located north of Okatibbee Reservoir and serves as an important wildlife protection and refuge resource.
8. Lake Washington
● Surface Area: 5,000 Acres ● Max Depth: 21 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Oxbow Lake, Unique Double Crescent Shape, Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge, Excellent Crappie Fishing, Appeared In the Movie Haunted (2012), Hunting Lake Washington is located in west-central Mississippi and it was once actually part of the Mississippi River. In 1300 AD the Mississippi River diverted its course to form the modern-day lake. Lake Washington is an oxbow lake and it has a unique double crescent shape. Crappie are abundant at Lake Washington and draw anglers from hundreds of miles around. Many other types of fish also can be found at Lake Washington including bowfin, bluegill, buffalo, bullhead, carp, channel catfish, crappie, drum, flathead catfish, gar, green sunfish, hybrid white bass, largemouth bass, minnows, silversides, and yellow bass. Anglers should note that alligators are also relatively common in Lake Washington but more so in the surrounding protected areas. Despite the lake’s smaller size, a historic mansion constructed from a Sears & Roebuck Company kit in the early nineteen hundreds was used in the 2012 filming of the movie Haunted. Lake visitors can also explore nearby Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge, the oldest wildlife refuge in the state. The refuge is home to many types of animals, reptiles, and amphibians. including raccoon, nutria, opossum, swamp rabbit, beaver, muskrat, mink, bobcat, white-tailed deer, salamander, spring peeper, bullfrog, Fowler’s toad, American alligator, common snapping turtle, midland smooth soft shell turtle, broad-banded water snake, timber rattlesnake, and eastern cottonmouth.
9. Tunica Lake
● Surface Area: 2,500 Acres ● Max Depth: 30 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Bream & Crappie Fishing, Tunica Casinos, Larry Brown’s The Rabbit Factory Tunica Lake was part of a 1933 United States Army Corps of Engineers project resulting in the creation of thirteen cutoffs along the Mississippi River. The cutoff forming Tunica Lake was the last one constructed in the project in 1942; the time of the lake’s inception. Tunica Lake is connected to the Mississippi River by a small channel called The Shoo Fly Bar. Bream and crappie are the primary species targeted by anglers at Tunica Lake. Many other types of fish also inhabit Tunica Lake including largemouth bass, white bass, yellow bass, bowfin, buffalo, channel catfish, common carp, drum, flathead catfish, gar, and green sunfish. The depths at Tunica Lake tend to vary with river stages and with location, so anglers should be aware. Late May, around Memorial Day, is the best season for anglers seeking bream; due to cooler water temperatures and spawning. Amenities can be found in the town of Austin, located north of Tunica Lake, and a small community complete with cottages, fishing camps, bait shops, an RV park, and four boat ramps rests on the south side of the lake. The lake is also notably mentioned in Larry Brown’s 2003 novel The Rabbit Factory.
Largest Lake In Mississippi
Finally, we reach the largest lake in Mississippi. Like other lakes on this list it was created in response to the Great Flood of 1927.
10. Grenada Lake
● Surface Area: 35,000 acres ● Max Depth: 50 Feet ● Camping/Overnight Available: Yes ● Boating/Docks Available: Yes ● Swimming Permitted: Yes ● Fishing Permitted: Yes ● Best For: Largest Lake In Mississippi, Flood Control, Trophy Crappie Fishery, Birdwatching Grenada Lake, located in north-central Mississippi, was originally created to assist with flood prevention for the Yazoo River Basin. The lake’s creation was a response to the Great Flood of 1927. It was formed through the Grenada Lake Project, a part of the larger Mississippi River Basin Flood Control Project. Beyond the initial purposes of flood prevention, Grenada Lake has become a well-known and utilized outdoor recreational destination for locals and tourists to Mississippi. Grenada Lake is a renowned trophy crappie fishery producing catches of the species up to three pounds! In addition to the killer crappie fishing, Grenada Lake offers a range of other fish species including largemouth bass, spotted bass, channel catfish, flathead catfish, blue catfish, bluegill, green sunfish, longear sunfish, redear sunfish, warmouth and white bass. Hugh White State Park at Grenada Lake is conveniently seated in between Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi offering additional outdoor recreational activities and amenities. Birdwatching at both Grenada Lake and the state park is very popular with common species being horned lark, northern harrier, American kestrel, loggerhead shrike, eastern bluebird, eastern meadowlark, various blackbirds, short-eared owl, vesper sparrows, Savannah sparrows, and field sparrows. Other activities and amenities provided at Hugh White State Park at Grenada Lake include camping, boating, canoeing, kayaking, biking, hiking, golf, disc golf, picnicking, and swimming.
