Houser C, Smith A, Lilly J. 2021. Relative importance of recreational boat wakes on an inland lake. Lake Reserv Manage. 37:227–234. Wakes generated by recreational boats have the potential to erode the shoreline, damage infrastructure, or disrupt aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, boat wakes are an increasingly important focus of coastal management, particularly along vulnerable shorelines. This short communication quantifies the relative importance of recreational boat wake energy along the shoreline of an inland cottage lake in Northern Ontario, Canada. Measurements of recreational boat wakes at the end of one of the longest fetches for locally generated wind waves on the lake account for >61% of total wave energy. Based on this result, recreational wake energy likely is the primary source of wave activity along sections of the lake adjacent to the primary sailing lines but not aligned to the primary directions of wind wave energy. Recreational boat wakes may be a significant source of wave energy on other inland lakes.