Resting around 11 miles north of Des Moines near the town of Polk City, Big Creek Lake is an 883-acre lake that provides the residents of Polk City and visitors with multiple recreational opportunities. Formed as part of the Saylorville Project by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1970s, Big Creek Lake offers some of the best year-round fishing in central Iowa, with an abundance of bluegill, channel catfish, crappie, muskie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, and particularly walleye. Other water-based fun on the lake includes pleasure and power boating, canoeing and kayaking, sailing and swimming, jet-skiing, wakeboarding, and waterskiing. The lake is bordered by 3,550-acre Big Creek State Park and a wildlife refuge, which features the 26-mile paved Neal Smith Trail, where visitors can walk, jog, cycle, or skate all the way to Des Moines.
Big Creek State Park: NW Big Creek Drive, Iowa