Lake? ???
 

Thinking about taking a vacation with boat next year. I'm not sure where or when I want to go...but I do know that I want it to be a chill vibe with calm water. Other requirements include fresh water and not overly muddy/brown. I would like to avoid camping as well, VRBO or a nice hotel would suffice.. I would also like a water system that is over 500 acres and has some deep water where I'm not going to hit rocks or stumps. It would be great if I could keep the boat on the water overnight as well. If you have a waterway that fits the bill in the contiguous US that is a cool vacation spot please provide your recommendations. Thanks!

Where do you live? How far willing to tow?

Michigan. Right now anywhere in the lower 48.

Brookville lake in Indiana. theres a small resort at kents harbor that rents out condos. also you can rent a boat slip and leave your boat in the water over night. its a good sized lake thats super deep and the water is very clear. i went there a couple years ago and had a blast. i would definitely recommend looking into taking a trip out there.

Norris Lake in East TN,
Lake Powell in Southern Utah

Your kidding, right? No one should go to brookville if it's more than an hour drive.

Way out of your way...but Lake Ouchita near Hot Springs, Arkansas is a place we go every year. There are also several really nice lakes in the area.
Lake DeGray, Lake Greason.... and Lake Hamilton(not necessarily nice), but many houses for rent on the lake as well as several restaurants that you can take the boat too.

We generally rent a house on Hamilton and play around some on Hamilton and then pull the boats and go to Ouchita for the day.

500 acres is a REALLY small lake.

My home lake is 330 acres and it is a great lake. However, this year was really windy and choppy. That is why i am thinking about a vacation with the boat. And yes 500 is small that is why i set that as my minimum.

Tablerock lake Mo.

Central Minnesota (aka Northern MN for anyone who lives in the twin cities). Pick a lake because they're all good as long as it's not TOO big like Mille Lacs which is always choppy. There won't be a social scene nor anyone else riding for the most part but that's what makes it so great. You only have to share with the geriatric fisherman in their pontoons.

Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. Water is always glass and you will see very few boats even on weekends. Check out the houseboats at http://bullshoalslakeboatdock.webs.com/. We've been down for the last 3 years and stayed the weekend on a houseboat. Such an awesome place and friendly/helpful people at the Boat Dock.

Smith Mountain Lake in Va is beautiful. Water runs right to the shore and up the mountains. Good prices on rental lake front homes there too. We have been going there for years.

Keowee, SC or Dale Hollow in south Tennessee

Dale hollow is on the northern border of Tennessee. Beautiful lake!

Awesome thread. This was my first year as a boat owner and wish I saw something like this at the beginning of the season. Definitely going to use some of the suggestions next season

Check out Lake Martin in AL. There is some info at lakemartin.com. The lake is 40k acres and there are a lot of rentals.

Lake martin.Alabama is a great lake deep clear and big.gets pretty crowded on weekends and there are great rentals. Dale hollow is another great lake. We are headed there in a couple of months.they have cabin and house boat rentals.

Check out southwest Missouri or northwest Arkansas. Table Rock in MO or Bull Shoals, Beaver, Ouachita or Hamilton in AR.

Between Bull Shoals and Table Rock .... Table Rock offers way better resort and tourist options (like Branson and Silver Dollar City). With Bull Shoals, there's not much to do off the water.

Bull Shoals is most scenic between just above Oakland to just above Tucker Hollow, with Highway 125 dock or Diamond City being the best locales to investigate in the center. Water is super clear (partly in thanks to Zebra mussels). Probably 80% of first time visitors to Bull Shoals stay between the dam and Oakland -- but it's neither scenic nor is blessed frequently with calm water given any little wind or boat traffic. The Theodosia arm above Oakland is scenic, but, it is narrow and twisty with hard shores such that, a boat can have passed through one of the S-turns 20 minutes ahead of me and damn if its wake isn't still sloshing between shore to shore.

Table Rock has the same aspects to it. Table Rock is incredibly scenic at the upper end, between Baxter and above Shell Knob (both up the main branch as well as up Kings River). But again, 80% of the visitors (in this instance, repeat visitors included) stay between Kimberly City and the dam. But the reasons are more obvious for this. Branson, and, all its attractions, are a big draw for things to do off the water.

Beaver is nice too. Norfork ... skip. Ouachita looks really enticing, but it's half a state away. From what I see from the highway, it looks like it has pines surrounding the shores, and that the lake level doesn't appear to fluctuate as much. There's a lot to do down there off the lake too.