Embark on a fishing adventure at the Lake of Egypt, a serene and picturesque water body nestled in the scenic landscapes of the Shawnee National Forest, just 8 miles south of Marion, Illinois. Renowned for its abundant fish populations, the lake is a haven for anglers of all skill levels. From the thrill of the catch to the peace of being surrounded by nature, fishing at the Lake of Egypt offers an unparalleled outdoor experience.
The Lake of Egypt is located six miles (10 km) south of Marion, Illinois and covers 2,300 acres (9 km²) with 90 miles (140 km) of shoreline. The lake has an average depth of 18 feet (5.5 m) with a maximum depth of 52 feet (16 m). As a privately owned lake, it is subject to regulation by its owners and the state. Public access is allowed as are all size boat motors. Waterskiing and jet skis are also permitted in most of the lake.
Map - the lake's irregular shape reveals its origins as a dammed river amidst hilly terrain.
Lake of Egypt was founded by Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) to supply cooling water to their newly constructed coal burning power plant.
The Rich History of Southern Illinois and the "Egypt" Nickname
Southern Illinois is home to a rich lineage of history. For natives of Southern Illinois who grew up with the understanding that this area of Illinois is frequently referred to as “Egypt,” it is understood why many businesses take on an Egyptian theme.
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Some say that this nickname was given to Southern Illinois because of the Egyptian names of some of its towns, such as Cairo, Thebes, and Karnak. Others say that the name “Egypt” was coined for Southern Illinois by frontier explorers because the delta near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at the southernmost tip of Illinois looked similar to the land around the delta of the Nile River in Egypt.
Yet the uniqueness of “Egypt” as the nickname for the southern third of Illinois may best be explained by author Baker Brownell in his book “The Other Illinois”.
“… Although the legend probably was invented after the fact, it is persistent. There was a drought in the northern counties (of Illinois) in the early 1800’s…the wheat fields dried up, the streams died in their beds. But in southern Illinois rain fell and there were good crops, and from the north came people seeking corn and wheat as to Egypt of old. Thus, the name Egypt.”
A similar situation is described in The Bible (Genesis 41:57, 42:1-3).
“And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.
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“Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, ‘Why do ye look one upon another?’
“An he said, ‘Behold I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, Get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live and not die.’
“And Jacob’s 10 brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.”
Southern Illinois is bordered on three sides by the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers. Several other rivers traverse its countryside, including the Big and Little Muddy, Little Wabash, Saline, and Cache rivers. The southern part of the state is characterized by wooded hills, farms, underground coal mines, strip mines, and low marsh lands.
The Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois covers over 277,500 acres of the region. The Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuse contains many different wildlife including deer, geese, ducks, owls, wild turkeys, and many other bird species. Fifteen State Parks, recreation, and conservation areas are located within the region (see Sites and Recreation.)
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The earliest inhabitants of Illinois were thought to have arrived about 12,000 B.C. They were hunters and gatherers but developed a primitive system of agriculture and eventually built rather complex urban areas that included earthen mounds. Their culture seemed to die out around 1400-1500 A.D.
The Illini Indian tribes, after whom the state is named, and other Indian tribes arrived in Illinois around 1500 A.D. Archeologists are not certain if these Indians are were related to the previous inhabitants. They left behind all manner of artifact including burial sites, burned-out campfires along the bases of bluffs, pottery, flints, implements, and weapons. Interesting structures that were built by Indian tribes are known as stone forts or pounds. Visitors can see a stone fort built in Giant City State Park near Makanda. At least eight other structures are known in the region.
The French were the first Europeans to reach Illinois in about 1673. When they arrived, the Indians welcomed them. It was French explorers who gave Illinois its name by referring to the land where the Illini Indians lived as the Illinois.
The French explored the Mississippi River, establishing outposts and seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and the Orient. Because of increasing Indian unrest and warfare in northern Illinois, the French concentrated on building outposts in the southern part. The earliest European settlers in Southern Illinois concentrated along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers at the southern end of the state. Their settlements became important way stations and supply depots between Canada and ports on the lower Mississippi River. Important early outposts in Southern Illinois were located at Shawneetown and Fort Massac on the Ohio River.
The English ruled the Lower Great Lakes region after defeating the French in the French and Indian War and with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Their rule of this area was short lived.
During the American Revolution in 1778, the state of Virginia backed a military expedition led by 23 year old George Rogers Clark. Landing at Fort Massac in Illinois (which was abandoned a decade earlier), his force of 175 soldiers marched across Southern Illinois and defeated the English at forts in Kaskaskia, Illinois and Vincennes in western Indiana. This laid the claim by the Americans to this territory. When news of the conquest by Clark reached Virginia, it claimed Illinois as one of its counties. Virginia ceded the county of Illinois to the federal government in 1784 when it realized that it could not govern so sparsely populated and distant land.
Non-French speaking settlers were slow to arrive in Illinois probably less than 2,000 non-Indians lived in Illinois in 1800. But soon thereafter many more settlers came from the backwoods areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. These early settlers were of English, German, Scottish, and Irish descent. They chose to settle in the southern part of Illinois as its wooded hills reminded them of the mountains they left behind. They found an abundant amount of wood and lived off the land; growing some crops, fishing, and hunting for game.
In 1787, the federal government included Illinois in the Northwest Ordinance that included Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Illinois became a part of the Indiana Territory in 1800. Illinois settlers wanted more control over their own affairs and Illinois became a separate territory in 1809.
On December 17, 1811 a great earthquake awakened the settlers in Illinois with a violent trembling. Fields rippled like waves on an ocean. Trees swayed, became tangled together, and snapped off with sounds like gunshots. In some places sand, coal, and smoke blew up into the air as high as thirty yards. People as far away as Canada and Maryland felt the tremors. It was reported that the earthquake shook so violently that tremors were felt as far away as Boston.
It was reported that this earthquake made the Mississippi River flow backward momentarily. The river changed its course in several spots as a result of the earthquake as new islands appeared and others disappeared in the river. The earthquake is estimated to have been equivalent to an 8.0 on the Richter scale, although the Richter scale did not exist at that time. Fortunately, few people lost their lives because the quake centered in a sparsely populated area. Called the New Madrid fault, seismic activity is a threat to this region today.
There was very little violence in the Illinois frontier. Murders and violent assaults were rarely reported. However, for a few decades there were bandits and river pirates operating along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. On the Ohio River, these bandits and pirates often located in or near Cave-in-Rock, a natural cave facing the river.
Congress approved an Act that enabled the Illinois territory to become the 21st state of the Union. Immigration to Illinois increased after it became a state as more settlers arrived from New England and foreign countries. These settlers tended to migrate to central and northern Illinois, causing a noticeable Yankee influence in northern Illinois as opposed to the southern influence in the southern region due to a majority of settlers coming from southern states. The states population exploded from 40,000 people in 1818 to 270,000 in 1835. The 1850 census reported that 900,000 people lived in Illinois.
Early statehood problems engulfed Illinois. In the 1830s the state was near bankruptcy because of government financing of canals and railroad construction. The national financial panic of 1837 added to the states problems before the prosperity of the 1850s relieved this situation. Railroads, such as the Illinois Central Railroad, were built to allow the state’s agricultural products to be shipped to market.
Sometime in the 1830s, Southern Illinois became known as Egypt or Little Egypt. The most likely reason this region is known as Little Egypt is because settlers from northern Illinois came south to buy grain during years when they had poor harvests in the 1830s just as ancient people had traveled to Egypt to buy grain (Genesis 41:57 and 42:1-3). Later, towns in Southern Illinois were named Cairo, Thebes, and Karnak, just as in the country of Egypt.
In 1830, Congress passed a bill permitting the removal of all native Indians living east of the Mississippi River. For the next 20 years, Indians were marched west to reservations in Arkansas and Oklahoma, including the bands of the Illini Indians in Illinois. In the Fall and Winter of 1838-39, Cherokee Indians were marched out of Georgia and the Carolinas across Southern Illinois to reservations in the west. It was estimated that 2,000 to 4,000 Cherokee men, women, and children died during this 1,000 mile journey west. It became known as the Trail of Tears due to the many hardships and sorrows it brought to the Indians.
The first bank to be chartered in Illinois was located at Old Shawneetown in 1816. The first building used solely to house a bank in Illinois was built in 1840 in Old Shawneetown and was used until the 1920s. The Old Shawneetown State Bank has been restored as an historical site.
Cotton and tobacco was grown in the extreme southern region of Illinois. Cotton was grown mostly for the home weaver, but during the Civil War enough cotton was grown for export since a regular supply of cotton from the South was not available. Enough tobacco was grown to make it a profitable crop for export. Cotton and tobacco are no longer grown for export in the region. Other crops grown for export included maple syrup, honey, grapes, roots, berries, crab apples, plums, persimmons, mushrooms, nuts, fish, deer, fowl, hogs, cattle, and poultry. The invention of the steamboat greatly expanded the profitability of crops exported from Illinois.
The County of Saline was named for its ancient salt works along the Saline River. It attracted deer, buffalo, and antelope that obtained salt simply by licking the mud banks along the river where Indians and the French made salt. From 1810 until 1873 their was commercial production of salt that produced as much as 500 bushels a day. The owner of one of the salt works built a large house in the 1830s on the Saline River near Equality, known today as the Old Slave House. Still standing, its small attic rooms were thought to be used to house slaves or indentured servants who toiled in the salt works.
Even though it was prohibited since the 1780s under the Northwest Ordinance that established the territory, slavery continued in Illinois. Indian tribes were the first to have slaves (usually captives from another tribe) and the French introduced it in the 1700s. Laws were passed in Illinois after it became a territory in 1809 and later when it became a state, which allowed people to own indentured servants in Illinois, an equivalent to slavery, and other laws were enacted that prohibited people from coming to Illinois for the purpose of freeing their slaves. Many of these Black Laws or codes remained on the books until the end of the Civil War.
As many of the original settlers in Southern Illinois came from southern states, many had pro-southern sympathies and a fear that freed blacks would flood into their new homeland. The underground railroad existed in Southern Illinois but was not as active as in other parts of the state.
The Southern Illinois Artisans Shop & Visitors Center, located at Rend Lake, sponsors Arts and Crafts Festival and the Children’s Festival. On display are crafts, souvenirs, and information about natural resources and environmental endeavors of the state.
Cave-in-Rock was a haven for river pirates in the late 1700s and early 1800s who lured unsuspecting travelers on the Ohio River into this den of thieves.
The Shawneetown Bank, located in Old Shawneetown, is the oldest structure in Illinois built specifically as a bank. Constructed in 1840, the structure housed banking operations for a century.
Fort Massac, located on the Ohio River, features an annual encampment festival in October. As many as 20,000 vendors, craftsmen, buck skinners, Native Americans, and military re-enactors participate in the festivities.
The Old Slave House, located in Gallatin County, is famous for housing slaves and indentured servants who worked the nearby salt works in the 1800s.
The Du Quoin State Fair, brought by the State of Illinois in the 1980s, operates in late August until Labor Day annually. The fair includes exhibits, animal shows, festive food, carnival attractions, nightly entertainment, harness racing, and automobile races. Odd baby contests and watermelon prizes are just a few of the fascinating tales compiled in The History of the Du Quoin State Fair (from 1923-2002).
Built as a monument of peace in 1959, the cross at the summit of Bald Knob Hill can be seen over an area of 7,500 square miles when it is illuminated at night. Every Easter Sunday, hundreds of people of all denominations participate in sunrise services at the foot of the cross. The valley below and surrounding hills can be viewed from atop this hill. Built of white porcelain steel panels, it stands 111 feet tall and is 22 feet square at the base. Its arms extend 63 feet horizontally.
The Shawnee National Forest covers over 277,500 acres in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills in the region, covering roughly half of the southern tip of Illinois. About 10% of the Forest has been declared wilderness area. Designated in August 1939 as the Shawnee Forest by President Roosevelt, most of the Forest consists of over-farmed land on which people could no longer make a living. In the 1930s and 40s, the Civilian Conservation Corps planted much of this land to pine trees to prevent erosion and restore the soil.
Fish and Wildlife Service. It restricts camping and fires, and protects wildlife on the Refuse. The Wildlife Service protects and manages deer, geese, ducks, wild turkeys, owls, quail, and other wildlife.
State Parks and recreational areas include Cave-in-Rock State Park, Cache River State Natural Area, Dixon Springs State Park, Ferne Clyffe State Park, Fort Massac State Park, Giant City State Park, Golconda Marina, Horseshoe Lake Conservation Area, Lake Murphysboro State Park, Little Black Slough Heron Pond, Mermet Lake Conservation Area, Pyramid State Park, Rend Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, Saline County State Fish & Wildlife Area, Trail of Tears State Forest, Union County Conservation Area, and Wayne Fitzgerre...
Fish Species in Lake of Egypt
The Lake of Egypt teems with a variety of fish, making every fishing trip a potential story of a great catch. Key species include:
- Largemouth Bass: Known for their aggressive strikes, largemouth bass are a popular target for sport fishermen.
- Crappie: These panfish are abundant in the lake and are known for their delicious taste.
- Bluegill: Perfect for family fishing trips, bluegill offer plenty of action for anglers of all ages.
- Catfish: For those looking for a challenging catch, the catfish in Lake of Egypt provide a hefty battle.
Largemouth Bass
Fishing Tips for Lake of Egypt
To maximize your chances of a successful fishing trip, consider these tips:
- Early Morning or Late Evening: These are prime times for fishing as the fish are most active during the cooler parts of the day.
- Use Local Baits: Opt for baits that mimic the lake's natural prey, such as minnows for crappie and nightcrawlers for bluegill.
- Check the Weather: Fish behavior changes with weather patterns. Overcast days can lead to more active fish and better catches.
Marion/Shawnee National Forest KOA Holiday: Your Angling Gateway
The Marion/Shawnee National Forest KOA Holiday isn't just a place to stay; it's a part of your fishing adventure. Offering a range of amenities tailored to anglers, it enhances your fishing experience at the Lake of Egypt.
- General Store: Stock up on all your fishing supplies right here. From bait and tackle to snacks and gear, the general store has everything you need for a day on the lake.
- Fish From the Docks: For a relaxing fishing experience, cast your line from the KOA's docks. It's a perfect spot for anglers who prefer to stay on land or for those quick, spontaneous fishing sessions.
- Pontoon Boat Rentals: Explore the lake at your leisure with a pontoon boat rental available at the KOA. It's ideal for families or groups looking to enjoy fishing from the comfort of a boat, offering both mobility and stability for a successful fishing day.
While the thrill of the catch is a key part of fishing at the Lake of Egypt, the true essence of the experience is in creating memories. The serene environment, combined with the joy of fishing, provides a perfect backdrop for spending quality time with family and friends. The Marion/Shawnee National Forest KOA Holiday amplifies this experience, offering not just a place to fish, but a place to connect and relax in the beauty of Southern Illinois.
Whether you're a seasoned angler or just looking to enjoy a day by the water, the Lake of Egypt and the Marion/Shawnee National Forest KOA Holiday offer an unforgettable fishing adventure.
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