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I imagine that's a factor, but it's primarily the fact that sea water is really hard on the delicate parts of the rocket due to corrosion and mineral deposits.

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And very rapid cooling as well as the chance of impact damage. Sea landings may look gentle but really they aren't.

then wouldn't it make more sense to just build a very big pool/use an unsalty lake ?

You'd still need to steer the rocket there but you can avoid worrying about vertical landing.

There was an SSTO proposal from the 1970's that did involve building a huge splashdown lake. That proposal also used vertical landing, however. (The craft was so large, landing gear would've been prohibitive, so the whole thing just floated.)

Mars does not currently have lakes.

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