Fish Lake Beach Camping Resort - Volo, Illinois

Smiles B. K.

Story time about my terrible experience with Fish Lake Beach, now that we have sold and huge red flags and buyer/owner beware. 🚩🚩🚩🚩
My mom, bought her park model
in March of 2023. My sister and I spent the entire summer painting, decorating and fixing it up for her. And when she arrived she cried the happiest of tears with all our hard work, it was beautiful. That same summer she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. We made the best of her summer and enjoyed so many memories at Fish Lake, that I will forever cherish. She truly loved it there and so did we.
Sadly, she passed the end April of 2024. Prior to that, from her hospital bed, she made sure her entire season was paid for, golf cart fees, car passes, everything was in order. We got car passes, and the plan was for her to be there eventually so we moved all her belongings.
Her wishes for us were to enjoy it, and her exact words were for my sister and I to “keep it in the family”.
Well, Fish Lake clearly had other plans. They found out about my mom’s passing (no clue how cause we sure didn’t tell them yet) and immediately refused us access. Honestly, I don’t even think they really gave us condolences - just immediately told us they own the land and we can’t enter. I went to the office, explained that we just wanted this season to stay there, since it was paid for already, and THEN make a decision about whether to keep it or sell it. We showed them the will, which left everything of my mom’s to my sister and I. But still they denied us access and told us neither of us can own it, since it’s in the adult section and we have “children”- mind you my sisters step-daughter is 17.
We needed to get the perishables and obviously her personal belongings out of there. So my sister and I went to do just that. Susan saw us in her park model and started banging on the door and berating us for even being there. Even when we explained the need to remove perishables (so we don’t get mice) and obviously personal belongings, she treated us as though we were “ stealing” and threatened us with calling authorities. She refused to let us take my Moms car off the property. They made us strip our car passes off our cars and hand them in, as if we were trespassers.
Even though we never put the golf cart on the property, they “had to check” if we could be refunded for that too. I guess I still don’t know if we will ever get that back.
The way they have treated a grieving family is terrible. It could have been handled with so much more grace. They choose not to do that. Even when we went in to stage it for sale, they questioned us being there. They did cut the grass, but nothing else. Terrible amounts of leaves and sticks on the property. We would have gladly maintained it until it sold but again, they refused us any access.
Their reasoning is that they didn’t want a park model to be “abandoned” due to family issues. Well, guess what, it was abandoned this summer, when we could have spent another summer honoring my mom and what she wanted. Plus it was paid for so what’s the big deal?
Susan would never give us straight answers and always had to check with “her lawyers” before giving us any answers, which were usually by email. She’s a keyboard warrior for sure.
They also informed us that the new policy is that if it doesn’t sell within a year, then the park model must be removed from the property. It’s a new policy and to be perfectly honest, I think they created it just for us lol. Luckily, once they finally put it on the market, it sold very quickly. They made us fix issues that passed the “inspection” when mom had bought it, probably just to delay our sale even more. The fact it sold so quickly is probably also due to the fact that they listed it for less than what it’s worth.
I don’t know why Susan and the entire Fish Lake Beach staff chose to treat us so terribly. But I do know, they have ruined Fish Lake for me forever. I will forever tell anyone and everyone how awful they treated our already heartbroken, grieving family.
Do better Fish Lake, do better.

BJ H.

Huge campground with lots to do especially is you have kids. The area for transient campers is very, very tight and cramped. If you are looking for privacy, this is not the campground for you. We were so close to the site next to us that where we could park our truck, it felt like we were literally in their site. There is a beautiful beach and lake which we enjoyed with family. There is a nice pool and hot tub BUT was very chaotic during family swim time and no one seemed to be monitoring the kids (including the parents) There were some older kids doing cannonballs into the hot tub. They do have an adult swim time in the morning which is nice. Nice camp store with some supplies and a snack bar which serves snack foods and ice cream and it is conveniently located right at the beach area. All the employees we had contact with were very professional and helpful. All in all it is a nice campground with great amenities.

Camille R.

My family and I just had a wonderful time at FLB! Everyone is so friendly and respectful. We loved going to the pool, playing in the sand box by the entrance and meeting friendly people and pets!
We would love to come back.

The only downside for us (hence the 4 star review) was the smell and taste of the water. I couldn’t stand it and had to buy bottled water.

Jana

Our campsite was actually very nice. We had a great view of the lake. The bathrooms are fine.
Unfortunately, our vacation was somewhat overshadowed by the exceptionally poor customer service. Or rather the unfriendliness of the staff. It was very annoying when we did our laundry and had to take all our light-colored clothes with rust stains out of the machine. We went to the office with this problem and were told: "We've never had a problem like this before". With these words, the first person left us standing there. As if our concern didn't count. Incidentally, I found two more complaints of this kind on Tripadvisor after this incident.
So we spoke to the lady working at the computer in the entrance area on the left-hand side. Again with little understanding, she then moved to speak to the boss. After 2 minutes, she returned from the back of the office with the words "There's nothing we can do. Besides, we don't know if your clothes looked like that before!"
All this with little understanding, empathy or friendliness towards us as guests. And of course: We come on vacation with our ruined clothes, only to blame the hotel. That's my goal on vacation....naturally not....All the behavior, tone of voice and facial expressions of the staff were extremely rude. No apologies or anything. Our only concern was the way this problem was handled. That is zero customer service or courtesy. Two beers on the house and an apology would have been okay, especially since we were able to remove the stains with a hand wash.
What we can say though, no matter how nice this spot is, we will not be returning as the staff are just so cheeky.

Steve

Just came for a visit. Friendly staff, open bathrooms readily available for changing. Great views as well.

Charles P.

Made reservations in January. Arrived early June. Received a spot near the bathrooms with the access walkway to them was right under our bedroom slideout. At check we were greeted by a person who was talking to us with his mouth full. Pieces of food kept flying out os his mouth as he spoke to us-somewhat unintelligibly. Then he showed us to our site. I had questions but after poiting at it as he drove by the site, he sped off before I could catch him.
You will get a lot of information the day before you show up. Part of what you get is a reminder that they will charge you even more to gaurantee a site. But since We booked so early, they had plenty to choose from. But I got the one described above.
I think there are lot of regulars that get preferential treatment and that is why I was bumped to a really poor spot. I think the fact that it is mostly regulars is also the reason that it is loud well after 11PM. So pay extra to gaurantee your spot if you want. But it was already a high price. Especially for how dinky the spaces were. When we visited our local friends they confirmed bad experiences as well.
We chose this place because it was within 15 minutes of our destination. I would rather drive an hour next time so that i will not be taken advantage of.

Dove

Great place to get away. Very nice RV park, beach, pool, washers, dyers, different types of sites.

They do not offer a military discount. They fly flags and have an eagle outside the gate, Home of the Brave.

It's home of the free because of the brave.

I am a 100% disabled veteran who had to leave a day early. They do not offer a refund if you have to leave early.

They make enough money to offer a military discount, I hope I can update this next year on my next time around.

puppykitten 1.

The resort was so nice, we had a camper the space between the sites weren't the best. Could barely fit two cars.. but the experience made up for it! Candy bingo had so many good candies! The lake was smaller than I thought but still nice! The people were also very nice! Clean place!