As a result, boaters must be cautious to not become stranded in muck near the shore line.

With such shallowness, this lake is extremely dangerous for boaters during windstorms, as the waves get quite high.

Most of the shoreline is undeveloped and there are two islands, Big and Bumble Bee, in the lake's interior.

Some residential properties and private boat docks and beaches dot areas on the shore.

Local legend is that the word Istokpoga is of the Seminole language meaning "a lake where someone was killed in the water"[4] because a group of Seminole Indians attempted to cross the lake and were bogged in the mire and swallowed by whirlpools.