Lake Mitchell is a popular destination for fishing and boating in Cadillac, Michigan. The lake totals more than 2,500 acres and is connected by a navigable canal to Lake Cadillac. This lake is relatively shallow with most of the lake less than 15 feet deep. There are some holes with some deeper water that drops below 20 feet deep. Anglers target largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, crappie, bluegill and other sunfish.
The Water is Murky
The water is murky on Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell. For the shallow water bass anglers, this is great because you can go heavier with your tackle when fishing around the docks. This also allows bass anglers to go with a heavier 40 to 50 pound leader when you are using lures that northern pike love to eat, so you can avoid the dreaded bite-offs that are common when using lighter line with northern pike in the area.
Fish the Docks
Lake Mitchell has a ton of boat docks, however, this lake has a lot of shallow water, so many of these docks will not be very productive after the bass spawn is over. Find the deeper docks and you’ll have better success fishing the docks. Anglers usually target largemouth bass, bluegill and crappie around the docks.
Fish the Drop-offs
If you take a look at the contour map of this lake, you will see that there are plenty of drop-offs and many irregular contour lines. You are going to find a lot of fish that are found around these drop-offs, especially the areas with some deeper weeds. These drop-offs aren’t dropping off into super deep water, but there are plenty of nice drop-offs that go from 10 to 15 or even out to 20 feet of water. You will find just about everything that swims in the lake in these areas from summer through fall.
Fish the Main Basin
There is not a lot of deep water on Lake Mitchell, so when the fish do go deeper during the summer months, the main basin is going to hold a lot of fish. Find the steeper drop-offs and weed beds and you’ll find a variety of fish species.
Fish the Weeds
There are plenty of weeds in Lake Mitchell. Fish the newly formed green weeds in the spring and start working farther out as water temperatures warm through the summer. You can catch a lot of bass, pike and panfish over submerged weeds and along the deeper weed edges.
