Hoover Reservoir is a 2,818-acre City of Columbus water-supply reservoir on Big Walnut Creek northeast of the city. Completed in 1955, it remains managed by the City of Columbus as a principal drinking-water source and public recreation setting. City-owned land preserves a long green corridor along the reservoir, linking water-supply protection with fishing, paddling, and quiet shoreline use northeast of downtown Columbus.

The reservoir has about 45 miles of shoreline and reaches roughly 60 feet deep. Its long, wooded basin contains coves, open reaches, and the Big Walnut Creek channel that directs water through the elongated pool. Hoover contrasts with nearby Alum Creek Lake, a Corps project also tied into Columbus-area water planning, while retaining a more supply-oriented operating character of its own.

Fishing, birding, paddling, and controlled boating are central uses; motors are limited to 10 horsepower. Anglers pursue bass, crappie, saugeye, catfish, and panfish under Ohio regulations published by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The horsepower limit supports a quieter setting than unlimited-power metro lakes, making Hoover especially popular with shore anglers, kayakers, and birders working the wooded shoreline.

The normal full pool is listed at 894 feet above mean sea level. No surveyed geodetic vertical datum, winter-pool target, or flood-pool value is assigned in the catalog for this municipal reservoir, so operational changes should be checked with Columbus utilities. Monitoring current conditions remains important for ramp depth, cove access, and shoreline fishing when supply operations or weather shift the usable water line.

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