Consisting of nine major lakes, ranging from 86 to 1,700 acres in size, the "Chain" is a result of the McHenry Dam on the Fox River, historically the home of many Indian tribes in the mid 1600's.

The nine major lakes and adjacent smaller bodies of water pro-vide about 7,000 acres of recreational water that includes over 29 miles of dredged and natural channels connecting the major bodies of water. The "Chain" has 488 shoreline miles.

A variety of sport fish await anglers and angling has improved in recent years, especially for walleyes which have been heavily stocked since 1978. Northern pike and muskies in the trophy class also are occasionally caught there, as well as largemouth and white bass, crappies, bluegills, channel cat, bullheads, carp and yellow perch.

Location: The Chain O'Lakes is located in northeastern Illinois in Lake and McHenry Counties between Antioch and McHenry. Facilities: There are about 60 fee launching areas, around 30 boat rental operations, a half dozen private camping spots and various resort-motel-hotel operations that provide lodging on the lake.
Chain O'Lakes State Park provides added camping. Showers, electricity and two disposal stations are located on the Class A grounds. A free launch ramp also is situated on the west bank of the Fox River just north of Grass Lake. Additionally, there are three ramps at Oak Point, which is just east of the Fox River bridge on Route 173. It also has camping. Rental boats and a concession are available at Chain O'Lakes Park.