After two years of heavy construction, Sharon Lake at Sharon Woods in Sharonville is officially back in action. The 35-acre basin was drained, dredged and rebuilt from the shoreline in, with the overhaul adding new boardwalks, a doubled wetland area and a floating kayak launch intended to make the lakeshore easier to explore for people of all abilities. Anglers will need to be patient though, because fishing is off-limits for now while crews repopulate the fishery and let the habitat recover.
According to Great Parks of Hamilton County, the Sharon Lake Improvement Project wrapped this month, with the lake and loop trail back open and most site work complete. Great Parks puts the combined design and construction tab at more than $17 million and notes that the upgrades include new boardwalks, expanded wetlands and measures designed to cut down on future siltation.
How the Lake Was Rebuilt
Contractors drained the lake in spring 2024, scooped out decades of built-up sediment and reused much of that material to construct new wetlands and rock weirs that slow future silt build-up. The lake had not been dredged since the late 1980s, and work records show dredging occurred from 1986 to 1988, which crews say made a deep excavation necessary to restore both water quality and recreational depth. The staged draining, dredging and refill has already brought back turtles and other wildlife, as reported by DredgeWire.
Fishing, Boating and Accessibility
Park officials told the Cincinnati Enquirer that fish stocking will start this spring with very small, finger-sized feeder fish, with larger bluegill, bass and catfish coming later once the food web stabilizes. To protect those young populations, the lake will stay closed to anglers for up to three years while natural habitats reestablish. The upgrades also reconfigure parking, trails and new amenities to expand access for people with mobility needs, park officials said.
Boathouse and Harbor Plans
Great Parks says it will open a temporary boathouse at the Lakeside Lodge in late May to allow paddling access while the permanent harbor area is rebuilt. In a Great Parks newsroom release, the agency outlines a separate Sharon Woods Harbor Revitalization that begins site preparation now, launches construction in fall 2026 and aims to open a redesigned harbor in spring 2028. Great Parks says the harbor project will add a new boathouse, play areas, restrooms and expanded parking.
What Visitors Should Know
Sharon Woods drew roughly 1.2 million visitors in 2025, making it one of the system’s busiest parks, according to reporting in the Cincinnati Enquirer. The lake loop trail was rerouted to fix steep sections and a narrow tunnel, and engineers added a marked Kemper Road crossing with pedestrian-activated beacons to improve safety, as covered by WCPO. We previously covered the project’s refill milestone last December in our own reporting on the lake’s big refill moment.
