WATER & COAST
Lake Istokpoga
Highlands County · Central Florida
The fifth largest lake in Florida, ten miles long and five wide, and almost nowhere more than a few feet deep.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Lake Istokpoga covers 26,762.9 acres in Highlands County, which makes it the fifth largest lake in Florida. It runs about ten miles long and five miles wide. What surprises people is the depth: the average is only four feet and the deepest point is ten, so a storm turns it dangerous very quickly and local boaters watch the sky rather than the clock. Arbuckle Creek and Josephine Creek feed it and the C41 canal carries water out. The name is said to come from the Seminole and to mean a lake where someone was killed in the water, from an account of people trying to cross and being caught in mire and whirlpools. Two islands sit in it, Big Island and Bumble Bee. It is known across the state for its fishing, with fish camps, public boat ramps and parks around the shore, and the settlements of Lorida, Sebring and Lake Placid all sit near it. The snail kite, an endangered bird that eats almost nothing but apple snails, uses the lake
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