Fishing Report

Cecil M Harden Lake, also known as Raccoon Lake, is a great place to fish.  Whether you like to fish from the bank, off a pier, or from a boat, Raccoon Lake is for you.

Raccoon State Recreation Area provides visitors with year round camping, boating, hiking trails, bird watching, swimming beach, boat rental and a marina.  Raccoon also offers 220 acres of managed public, hunting area as well as waterfowl opportunities while in season. The lake has 42 miles of shoreline, 2,110 surface acres of water. The lake is 62 feet deep at summer pool (winter 40'). Each year over one million visitors make their journey to Raccoon Lake. 

CLICK HERE to check the latest fishing report from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

For Raccoon Lake levels and temperatures click on  www.lrl.usace.army.mil/cmhl.com

Raccoon Lake is a flood control lake. When too much rain comes in our area we hold the water and slowly let it out. It was built to keep the farm lands and small towns from flooding.  Typically the water is only held for 2 weeks then slowly released.  If more rain were to come, the water would go out an emergency spillway; no homes get flooded when the lake is high.  All homes around Raccoon Lake can only be built on land above the flood level as carefully determined by the engineers when the lake was designed and built. The water is lowered in the winter time.  Water remains in the lake for the fish, but it pulls away from the shoreline. This lowering of the water level starts the end of November and comes back up mid spring (depending on rainfall).

The construction of Raccoon Lake began in 1956, and was completed in 1960. It was created to control the drainage of Big Raccoon Creek as it empties into the Wabash River.  Raccoon Lake is located in both Parke and Putnam Counties.  It is operated by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, under a lease arrangement with the US Army Corps of Engineers.  Throughout the sixty's and early seventy's, it was known as Mansfield Reservoir.  As time passed and community grew, Mansfield Reservoir was renamed, Cecil M. Harden Lake on Dec. 14, 1974, by President Gerald Ford.  Mrs. Cecil Murray Harden has long been recognized as one of the most active members of the community and very instrumental in obtaining funding for the flood control project.  Mrs. Harden served 5 terms as a U.S. Congressional Representative beginning in 1949.  Sometimes it can be confusing to know the correct name for this lake.  Some call it Raccoon Lake, others call it Cecil M. Harden Lake, Mansfield Lake, Raccoon State Park, or Raccoon State Recreation Area. The most popular name is Raccoon Lake.