Catclaw Lake
Jackson County, Missouri43 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from Missouri DNR for this lake.
- Impaired · Algal growth
- 34 ft max depth
- Limited data
Catclaw Lake in Jackson County, Missouri has water-quality measurements published by Missouri DNR, shown here as reported. Surface area: 43 acres.
Catclaw Lake is a 43-acre lake in Jackson County, Missouri with an estimated average depth of about 34 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Missouri DNR, last sampled 2023-10-03. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Catclaw Lake covers about 43 acres in Jackson County. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Catclaw Lake on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Catclaw Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for algal growth. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Catclaw Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Catclaw Lake
These are the measurements Missouri DNR publishes for Catclaw Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data.
Ask about Catclaw Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~34 ft est.
Surface area
43 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Missouri has not published bathymetry for Catclaw Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
988 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
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Stays near Catclaw Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Catclaw Lake in Jackson County, Missouri — live availability and prices for your trip. Switch the map to Satellite to see the lake and how close each stay is to the water.
Top-rated places to stay near Catclaw Lake
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Fishing Catclaw Lake
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2020–2024).
Water clarity
Worsening4 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+12.62 µg/L/yr5 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+5.57 µg/L/yr5 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Catclaw Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Catclaw Lake Dam (completed 1966), built primarily for recreation on the TR-BIG CREEK; earth-type dam, 31 ft tall.
- Surface area
- 43 ac
- Normal storage
- 425 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 713 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 450 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- MO DEPT OF CONSERVATION
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID MO20024 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Catclaw Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MO_7374.00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Jackson County
Frequently asked questions about Catclaw Lake
Where is Catclaw Lake?
- Catclaw Lake is a lake in Jackson County, Missouri. Its water-quality measurements are published by Missouri DNR and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Catclaw Lake?
- Catclaw Lake in Jackson County, Missouri has water-quality measurements published by Missouri DNR, shown here as reported. Surface area: 43 acres.
Is Catclaw Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Catclaw Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for algal growth. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Catclaw Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Catclaw Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 34 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate. The lake covers 43 acres.
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Where this data comes from
1 measurement from 1 monitoring station, 2023. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources
MDNR1 sample · 2023
Analytical methods
- Nitrogen and Phosphorus, Total, Whole-water, Alkaline Persulfate Digest
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)