Iowa lake types are a little confusing to me. When I read about reservoirs I think Iowa lakes are design as a flatland reservoir. When I look on the dnr site they label them as just reservoir.

They are small 880 acre lakes

Water depth around 52 deepest/mean depth /17 I would say this is a close avg on most our lakes

Big creek lake is one of the lakes also 3- mile lake if these examples help

So what would you label these lakes 

After a brief map search, I would call big creek lake a small reservoir and 3 mile lake a medium size reservoir. 

23 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

After a brief map search, I would call big creek lake a small reservoir and 3 mile lake a medium size reservoir. 

So they are just normal reservoirs and not flatland? My question that was poorly asked was what type of reservoir would you say they are? 

3 minutes ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

So they are just normal reservoirs and not flatland? My question that was poorly asked was what type of reservoir would you say they are? 

I’ve never been to Iowa, but I’ve heard there’s some rolling hills. I’d probably call just about anything in the Midwest flat land 

In-Fisherman in their early Study Reports prior to the magazine classified man made impoundments based on terrain and dam type/use.

Highland, reservoirs in mountains, water storage & flood control.

Hill Land, reservoirs in hilly terrain for water storage.

Low land, reservoirs near coastal areas.

Flat land reservoirs in the plains states.

Canyon,Colorado River lakes being Canyon.

Dam types being earthen filled covered with rock.

Concrete with spillways that provide power generation.

In-Fisherman also classified natural lakes.

Your small lake is a Flat Land reservoir used for water storage, too small for power generation dam, but may have a power plant.

The OP’s terrain doesn’t support long  well defined creek arms but was dammed in a location where a main small river or stream was located for maximum pool size.

The Heartland of bass fishing, as we know it today, was the southern states made up of Hill Land and High Land reservoirs and most terminology centers around those specific states and reservoirs.

Tom

2 hours ago, WRB said:

In-Fisherman in their early Study Reports prior to the magazine classified man made impoundments based on terrain and dam type/use.

This is pretty much as I know it.  The descriptions in the strategies series of books has a description and a cross section of most types.

Agree with @WRB and @J Francho on the In'Fisherman classification system of reservoirs. I looked at a few Iowa lake topos and then looked at the In'Fisherman reservoir classification map and my assessment matched their classification map, that being that about 90% of Iowa reservoirs are either flatland or hill-land, many with a mix of both character types depending on whether you are looking at the upper or lower ends of the reservoir.

C'est Fini: that's it finished 

1 hour ago, Catt said:

C'est Fini: that's it finished 

Je suis d’accord merci à tous : I agree thanks everyone