The Calamus fishing listing covers what’s under the water; the SRA is what makes it easy to stay there. More than 5,000 acres of the reservoir are wrapped in parkland: three main campgrounds with Electric Plus and basic sites (Nunda Shoals has full hookups, 50-foot RV capacity, and immediate beach access), shower houses at Homestead Knolls, Nunda Shoal, and Valley View Flat, and sand beaches that are the honest draw — this is a Sandhills lake you can swim in.
The local-secret part is the fish hatchery visitor center. It’s free, it’s under-visited, and it explains the whole system — what you’re catching at the end of your line started here. Half the electric sites are reservable up to a year ahead; the rest are first-come, first-served, which is why Burwell locals just roll out on Friday afternoons in summer and take their chances.
Everything’s mature and shaded, which matters on a reservoir surrounded by sandhills. Two fish-cleaning stations, five boat ramps with docks from spring to fall, and a dump-and-fill station at Little York Point. It’s one of the few Nebraska reservoir parks where the camping infrastructure feels built for a week, not a night.