Canton Lake Camping

Canton Lake is located in west Oklahoma on the North Canadian River, 2 miles north of the town of Canton. This man-made lake offers extensive opportunity for outdoor recreational activities. Canton Lake plays host to a large number of campers, picnickers, boaters, fishermen, and hunters every year. It is one of the few places that offers these types of recreational opportunities in western Oklahoma. Its gently sloping sandy beach is an open invitation for swimming and sunbathing. Water skiing is popular on the broad expanse of water paralleling the dam where winds are subdued.
Services and supplies are available on access roads leading to project areas and at the commercial concession on the lake.
The Corps of Engineers operates five multi-use recreation areas that offer a combination of overnight camping and day-use opportunities to the visiting public. Sightseers may view the lake from the 2.5 mile stretch of State Highway 58A which crosses over Canton Dam. Three parking areas/pullouts with fishing jetties are located on the dam. Other features include a nature trail, overlook visitor center, outdoor amphitheater, scenic drive, and active prairie dog town.
Canton Lake is Oklahoma's leading fisherman's paradise. It provides several species of fish, including crappie, white bass, hybrid bass, channel catfish, and largemouth bass. Canton is most widely known for an abundance of walleye and has become the primary source of walleye eggs used to stock other Oklahoma lakes. Canton Lake hosts an annual Walleye Rodeo fishing derby during the month of May.
A major attraction for the hunter is the 14,862-acre public hunting area managed by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. This area primarily offers hunting for bobwhite quail, deer, waterfowl, squirrel, wild turkey, and dove, and is open all year.

Canton Lake is a lake in Blaine and Dewey Counties in Oklahoma, near Longdale and Canton. Its main source of water is the North Canadian River. It is about an hour away from Enid. The lake serves as a municipal water supply reservoir for Oklahoma City, which pays to have water released from the lake for water-supply purposes.
Canton Dam was a 1948 project of the Southwestern Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The earthen structure is 68 feet (21 m) high and 15,140 feet (4,610 m) long at its crest, with a maximum storage capacity of 383,000 acre-feet. The lake has a shoreline of 45 miles (72 km). Canton is owned and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers but Oklahoma City retains the storage rights.
The lake is home to several species of fish, including largemouth bass, white bass, channel catfish, crappie, and walleye. Canton has become the primary source of walleye eggs for incubation and stocking of other state lakes. Since 1968, community leaders and local merchants have promoted an annual Walleye Rodeo. The four-day event offers visitors the chance to win cash and other prizes that total over $30,000.
Facilities at the lake include boat ramps, picnic areas, RV and tent campsites, drinking water, group shelters, restrooms, showers, a swimming beach, concession services, and a nature trail.
In early 2013, Oklahoma City officials diverted 30,000 acre-ft of water from Canton Lake to Lake Hefner, to replenish the city's water supply. Later, spring rains replenished the level of that lake, which had to dump water into the North Canadian River to prevent the lake from overflowing. However, the effect was to leave Canton Lake 13 feet (4.0 m) below its normal level. This has contributed to an algae bloom.
In April 2016, the lake finally replenished from the 2013 water diversion Oklahoma City made.
In August 2022, Oklahoma City officials have requested a water release from Canton Lake to replenish Lake Hefner. The release is planned to lower lake Canton by about 2 feet (0.61 m) and raise Lake Hefner by an equal amount

Read more about Canton Lake at Wikipedia