Wister Lake
Le Flore County, Oklahoma6,745 acresView mapDirections
Oklahoma DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Wister Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 51 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Wister Lake in Le Flore County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.5 ft visibility. Surface area: 6745 acres.
Wister Lake is a 6,745-acre lake in Le Flore County, Oklahoma with an estimated average depth of about 51 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 5 public boat landings.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ODEQ, last sampled 2024-10-15. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Wister Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch5 documented ramps
- Big water6,745 acres
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Wister Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Wister Lake
These are the measurements Oklahoma DEQ publishes for Wister Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Very murky, less than 1.5 ft of visibility. TSI 71.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.5ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 71 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Wister Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~51 ft est.
Surface area
6,745 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by Oklahoma DEQ
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Oklahoma has not published bathymetry for Wister Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1,009 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
37.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
486 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.
Recreation & Access
- Quarry IslePublic
- Victor LandingPublic
- Lake Wister State ParkPublic
- Wister LakePublic
- Poteau RiverPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Wister Lake
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Top-rated places to stay near Wister Lake
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Fishing Wister Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2016–2018). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Wister Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Wister Dam (completed 1949), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Poteau River; earth-type dam, 99 ft tall and 5,700 ft long.
- Surface area
- 6,745 ac
- Normal storage
- 51,589 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 427,481 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 993 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- USACE - Tulsa District
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Other;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID OK10315 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Le Flore County
Frequently asked questions about Wister Lake
Where is Wister Lake?
- Wister Lake is a lake in Le Flore County, Oklahoma. Its water-quality measurements are published by Oklahoma DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Wister Lake?
- Wister Lake in Le Flore County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.5 ft visibility. Surface area: 6745 acres.
Is Wister Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Wister Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Wister Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 51 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 6745 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Wister Lake?
- Wister Lake has 5 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Quarry Isle, Victor Landing, Lake Wister State Park, Wister Lake, among others. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Wister Lake?
- Wister Lake has 5 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Oklahoma's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Wister Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
81 measurements from 5 monitoring stations, 2016–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- OWRB Lakes Monitoring
OKWRB-LAKES_WQX81 samples · 2016–2024
Analytical methods
- OWRB Lakes Field Data Collection
- Determination of Turbidity
Monitoring station identifiers (5)
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory