Camping is available at Le-Aqua-Na State Park. Youth, equestrian, RV, and tent groups are all accommodated here in the various campgrounds. Even though there isn’t a lot of secluded sites, the majority are open and spacious—with adequate shade at most sites. In addition, there are many electric sites and water is conveniently located throughout the areas.

When you camp here there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One is that even though the RV campground is open year-round, the shower building with flush toilets and the trailer dump station are operational only from May 1 to November 1. And the other thing to remember is to make reservations for the major holiday weekends. At other times, you usually don’t have to do this in the summer.

Everyone who camps at Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park will be given a permit and some regulations. These regulations are the following: alcoholic beverages are not permitted at any time in the campgrounds; access to the campground is prohibited after 10pm, except for previously registered campers; you must have a camping unit, establish camp, and obtain a permit upon arrival; you can’t buy additional permits in advance in an attempt to save a campsite for your friends arriving later; you must have your pets leashed all the time, pick up their waste, and attend to them at all times.

The equestrian campground has a shelter, vault toilets and a hand pump for water. And access to the area is on county roads that border the park, not the main park entrance. But you should call the park office before you have an equestrian outing because the campgrounds and trail may be closed due to wet conditions.

If you are planning to take a group of youths to use the youth camping area, you must have advanced written permission that allows 50 youths to camp.

Although groups of 25 or more are welcome and encouraged to use the park’s facilities, they are required to register in advance with the site office to avoid crowding or scheduling conflicts. And at least one responsible adult must accompany each group of 15 minors. Lastly, actions by nature can cause closed roads and other facilities, and the park posts in their brochures that visitors should "take only memories and leave only footprints at the park".

For more details about this park’s campgrounds contact Lake Le-aqua-Na State Park, 8542 North lake Road, Lena, IL, 61048. The phone number is (815) 369-4282, and a link to the camping fees is the following: http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/Programs/Camping/fees.htm.

This park is located in Stephenson County in IL, just west of Route 73 on Lake Road. The park is 6 miles south of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, and 3 miles north of Lena, IL.

We fished for seventeen hours in the two days we were at Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park. Yes, we are marathon anglers, but it paid off. We found a dock we liked, which later we discovered was near a Crappie bed (you know a Crappie’s crib). It was here that we fished. We each fished with two fishing poles. We had two medium action poles that had 10-pound test lines, and two ultra-light action poles with 4-pound test lines. The bait we used were minnows. We used a hook made by Gamakatsu called finesse wide gap, size 4. It is similar to a circle hook (a hook that looks like a half circle at the bottom).

I was told by another female angler that we would catch more fish using a circle hook or one similar to it than a small crappie hook and we did. A week prior to us fishing these two days , we used the small crappie hook and we lost some fish when we tried reeling them in. But when we used this hook we caught 28 fish in two days and we lost none (your limit is 10 per person, with no size limit per day) In addition, we also learned how to set the hook. We were told by the same female angler that once the Crappie gets the hook in his/her mouth, gently do a lift up motion... and we found this kept the fish on the line, and usually hooked the fish in the lips instead of it swallowing it down its throat.

Crappies were biting very good from 7pm and on. In fact, so good that there were a couple of instances that we had two poles in the water with fish on them and two poles that needed to have the fish taken off the hooks. At times, we couldn’t keep up taking the fish off the hooks and reeling them in.

When you take the family to Le-Aqua-Na State Park do not forget to fish. There are a few docks in the park to fish from. And there is one fishing pier for disabled people located near the swimming beach so all visitors to the park can enjoy angling.

If you have a year IL fishing license, you can fish year round at Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park. The park opens at 5:30am, and unless you are a camper here, the park closes at 10pm. For more details about this park, contact Lake Le-aqua-Na State Park, 8542 North lake Road, Lena, IL, 61048. The phone number is (815) 369-4282. This park is located in Stephenson County in IL, just west of Route 73 on Lake Road. The park is 6 miles south of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line; and 3 miles north of Lena, IL.