Kaw Lake is a large U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Arkansas River in north-central Oklahoma, east of Ponca City in Kay and Osage Counties. Impounded by Kaw Dam and completed in the mid-1970s, the lake sits in the Tulsa District and is documented by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Authorized purposes include flood risk management, water supply, hydropower, recreation, and fish and wildlife. Public references use both “Kaw Lake” and “Kaw Reservoir.”

At conservation pool the lake covers on the order of 17,000 acres with an extensive shoreline of roughly 168 miles. The basin mixes broad open-water expanses with riverine arms and protected coves typical of large Arkansas River main-stem projects. Depth and bottom character vary from shallower flats and shoreline margins to deeper water near the dam and channel, giving boaters and anglers a wide mix of habitats across a long east–west pool.

Kaw Lake supports recreational boating, camping, and a warmwater sport fishery managed under Oklahoma regulations. Anglers commonly pursue largemouth and smallmouth bass, catfish, crappie, and white bass. Public access is available through Corps and area parks, ramps, and shoreline facilities around the Ponca City vicinity, with fishing and boating rules guided by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Pool elevations are managed with a conservation pool at 1,010.0 feet NGVD29, an inactive pool near 978.0 feet, and a flood-control pool that extends to about 1,044.5 feet. Inflows from the upper Arkansas River basin, flood operations, and releases for downstream needs move the surface through that operating range. Monitoring current levels matters for boat-ramp usability, flood-pool awareness, shoreline access, and understanding how much storage remains above inactive pool.

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