Clendening Lake Water Level
Clendening Lake is at 897.85 ft today (Oct 31), 0.15 ft below its 898 ft full pool, down 0.04 ft this week.
Ohio · Brushy Fork
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Water level history
About Clendening Lake
Clendening Lake is a reservoir on the Brushy Fork in Ohio, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 898 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Clendening Lake's water level
Clendening Lake sits on Brushy Fork of Stillwater Creek in Harrison County, just east of the village of Tippecanoe, and it is one of the ten permanent lakes in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. The arrangement is split: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District owns and runs the dam, which the National Inventory of Dams lists as finished in 1936, while the MWCD runs the recreation around it. The dam controls 69 square miles of drainage. At summer pool, 898 feet, the lake covers about 1,800 acres and holds roughly 26,500 acre-feet, and it can store about 54,000 acre-feet when it fills during a flood. The district was formed in 1933 to stop the kind of damage the 1913 flood did along the Muskingum, so Clendening's first job is still holding water back from the towns downstream.
The level follows a simple yearly cycle. The Corps holds 898 feet as the top of the recreation pool from spring into November, then starts a five foot winter drawdown on November 15, letting the lake down over about 35 days to 893 feet by around December 19. That empty space catches snowmelt and spring rain. The lake sits at 893 through January and early February. Refill starts in mid February, with an intermediate target of 896 feet by mid March and full summer pool again by the end of March. Above 898 the lake is storing flood water that would otherwise be running down Brushy Fork and Stillwater Creek. The flood control pool tops out at 910.5 feet and the dam crest is at 925.5, so a lake a few feet high in spring is doing exactly what it was built to do.
Development is what Clendening lacks. Harrison County calls it the largest lake in the state designated a primitive lake; its shoreline runs more than 40 miles and is used mainly by youth camps run by the Boy Scouts, the YMCA and 4-H, and the Corps notes there is no commercial development except the marina. Boats are held to 10 horsepower. Clendening Lake Marina and Campground handles docking, rentals, fuel and boat storage. The fishing has a long reputation for catfish: Richard Affolter's 76.5 pound flathead, caught here in 1979, is still the Ohio state record, and his father Elmer held the earlier record with a 65 pound flathead from the same lake in 1962. The MWCD names saugeye, bass, panfish and catfish as what draws anglers from around the state.
Clendening Lake — frequently asked
What is Clendening Lake's normal pool level?
Summer pool is 898 feet above sea level, which the Corps of Engineers treats as the top of the recreation pool from late March to mid November. In winter the target drops to 893 feet. At 898 the lake covers about 1,800 acres and holds roughly 26,500 acre-feet. Anything above 898 is flood storage, which runs up to 910.5 feet before the flood control pool is full.
When is the winter drawdown at Clendening Lake?
The MWCD schedule for the 2025 to 2026 winter started the drawdown on November 15, lowering the lake five feet from 898 to 893 over about 35 days. The Corps guide curve uses the same dates again for 2026, reaching 893 around December 19. The drawdown makes room for snowmelt and spring rain and gives crews a chance to work on docks and shoreline while the water is down.
When does Clendening Lake refill in spring?
The Corps guide curve holds 893 feet through January and the first half of February, then steps the target up to 896 feet around February 16, which the MWCD lists as the suggested level by March 15. Full summer pool of 898 follows in the second half of March. How fast the lake actually comes up depends on rain, and a wet spring can push it past 898 early.
What is the highest Clendening Lake has ever been?
The Corps lists the pool of record at 909 feet, dated August 23, 1980, eleven feet over summer pool and within about a foot and a half of the top of the flood control pool. In recent gauge records the highest reading is 903.75 feet on April 6, 2024, when the lake stayed above 900 feet for more than three weeks. It reached 902.27 in May 2022 and 902 in late May 2026.
Why is Clendening Lake low?
Most of the time a low reading between mid November and mid March is the scheduled winter drawdown to 893 feet, not drought. The lowest reading in the Corps record since 2020 was 891.53 feet on February 16, 2022, about a foot and a half below winter pool. During summer the lake is normally held near 898, so readings well below that outside winter are unusual.
What is the horsepower limit on Clendening Lake?
Boats are limited to 10 horsepower. The MWCD says the rule is there to keep boating peaceful and fishing undisturbed. Clendening Lake Marina and Campground offers seasonal and daily docking, boat rentals, bait and tackle, ethanol free fuel, propane, and boat storage with winterization.
What is the Ohio record fish from Clendening Lake?
The Ohio state record flathead catfish came from Clendening in 1979: 76.5 pounds and more than 58 inches long, caught by Richard Affolter. His father, Elmer Affolter, had set the earlier state record at the same lake in 1962 with a 65 pound flathead. That mark fell in 1973 to a fish from nearby Piedmont Lake, until Richard's catch topped it.
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