Largest lakes & reservoirs in by shoreline length
The length of the exterior shoreline around a lake is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. The shoreline length can be considerably shorter or longer when lake water levels are lower or higher than normal. A lake with many coves has a much longer shoreline than a lake of similar surface area that is nearly circular in shape.When known, the shoreline miles that we report in our statistics include only the lake’s exterior shoreline, and exclude the shorelines of islands located within a lake’s boundaries. In lakes with many islands, those islands’ combined shorelines may exceed a lake’s exterior shoreline.
You can find many of the world’s longest-shoreline lakes on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, "Longest Shorelines" data is unknown or does not apply, so this table may display fewer lakes than the total 2151 articles we have published for lakes.
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Below are lakes within Compared by longest shoreline length in miles. This list does not represent all lakes in , only the 2151 lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Shoreline length in miles |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Peck Lake, MT (Missouri River Country, MT, Montana, US West Region, USA) |
1,520 mi | Fort Peck Lake, located 20 miles southeast of Glasgow, Montana on Montana Highway 24, is the 5th-largest man-made reservoir by volume in the United St… |
| Reindeer Lake, MB (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, Saskatchewan, Canada) |
1,380 mi | Reindeer Lake is the one of the largest lakes in North America, covering about 1,500,000 acres and spanning the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba pr… |
| Lake Kariba, Zambia / Zimbabwe (Zambia, Zimbabwe) |
1,345 mi | The mighty Zambezi River is the source of Lake Kariba, which spans an impressive 1.38 million acres in the southern African nations of Zimbabwe and Za… |
| Lake Sakakawea, ND (North Dakota, Northwest Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
1,340 mi | The second-largest reservoir by surface acreage in the United States (and third-largest in volume), Lake Sakakawea stretches 178 miles from Garrison D… |
| Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia (Central Russia, Northern Russia, Russia) |
1,336 mi | Also known as Rybinsk Sea Located in western European Russia, Rybinsk Reservoir is as large and impressive as Russia itself. Rybinsk Reservoir sits on the Volga River as part o… |
| Lake Baikal, Russia (Eastern Siberia Region, Russia, Russia) |
1,300 mi | Also known as Lake Baykal, Sacred Sea, Pearl of Siberia, Blue Eye of Siberia, Galapagos of Russia Russia’s national treasure, Lake Baikal, is the world’s deepest lake and is our planet’s largest freshwater lake measured by water volume. Its bottom… |
| Grand Lake O’the Cherokees, OK (Green Country, OK, Oklahoma, US Southwest Region, USA) |
1,300 mi | Also known as Grand Lake Over the Cherokees Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees stands out as a sapphire jewel tucked into the northeastern Oklahoma landscape. Created in 1940, the reservoir stretches f… |
| Toledo Bend Reservoir, LA/TX (Crossroads Region, LA, Louisiana, Piney Woods Region, TX, Texas, US South Region, US Southwest Region, USA) |
1,264 mi | Also known as Toledo Bend Lake A grand experience is assured in visiting Toledo Bend Reservoir, renowned as the largest man-made aquatic body in the southern United States. Cradled… |
| Lake Cumberland, KY (Kentucky, Southern Lakes Region, KY, US South Region, USA) |
1,255 mi | Lake Cumberland boasts an impressive 50,250 acres and 1,255 miles of winding shoreline at its normal full pool level of 723 feet above sea level. The… |
| Lake Kipawa (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
1,200 mi | Also known as Lake Kippewa Sprawled across one of western Quebec’s most beautiful environments, Lake Kipawa offers nearly 75,000 acres of pristine water stretching into countles… |
| J. Strom Thurmond Lake, GA/SC (Classic South Region, GA, Georgia, Old 96 District, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
1,200 mi | Also known as Lake Strom Thurmond, J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir, Clarks Hill Lake, Thurmond Lake J. Strom Thurmond Lake, aka Clarks Hill Lake, holds the title of second largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi River. Straddling the Georgia-… |
| Lake Tanganyika, African Great Lakes (African Great Lakes, Burundi, Congo (DRC), Kigoma Region, Tanzania, Rukwa Region, Tanzania, Tanzania, Zambia) |
1,181 mi | Located in the Western Great Rift Valley of Africa, the crystal clear water of Lake Tanganyika reaches across four countries – Burundi, Zambia, Democr… |