Burt Lake
Burt Lake is popular lake for fishing and boating. The lake is over 17,000 acres and has a very diverse fish population. Anglers target walleye, muskie, northern pike, smallmouth bass, trout and perch. Burt Lake has been a popular walleye lake in the past and it still produces some very nice fish here, however, a lot of anglers struggle to catch walleye in the clear waters here. The smallmouth bass fishery has really taken off. It may not be easy to always catch a bunch of smallmouth bass here, but there are some absolute giants roaming these waters.
Burt lake is a huge lake and the best fishing usually occurs offshore, so you’re going to need a good-sized boat if the wind is blowing because the waves will pickup out here. Make sure to bring some good maps and/or electronics to help you find schools of baitfish which will help you find the fish that you want to catch. There is a lot of water out here and the fish move around a lot in the summer months.
Mullet Lake
Mullett Lake is also a popular lake for fishing and boating. It is a very deep lake that covers more than 17,000 acres. Anglers target walleye, perch, smallmouth bass, northern pike and trout. Mullet Lake is another huge lake in this area and it fishes similar to Burt Lake. The water is clear and deep, however, it gets much deeper in Mullet Lake. It can be tough to fish, but if you can figure it out, it will definitely reward you. There are a lot of quality fish in the lake. Smallmouth bass grow very big here and many people know about this lake because of these huge smallmouth bass.
Black Lake
Black Lake is a good-sized lake covering more than 10,000 acres. It has a good mixture of shallow and deep water with it maxing out around 50 feet deep. Black Lake does not get as much attention as nearby Burt and Mullet Lakes, however, it is a good fishing lake for a variety of fish species. Walleye have been stocked in the lake to make up for the lack of natural reproduction in the lake. Northern pike are here in good numbers with some big fish available too. Anglers can target muskie here. You have to sort through the smaller perch to find the bigger ones, but there are plenty of perch if you’re looking for some action. Black Lake is also home to some good sturgeon fishing, however, the sturgeon fishing season might not even last a few hours because they only let anglers catch a small number of them.
Crooked Lake
Crooked Lake, is considered the starting or ending point for the Inland Waterway in Northern Michigan. Technically, Round Lake is the head of the Inland Waterway, but the creek that connects these waters is no longer navigable. Crooked Lake covers around 2,300 surface acres and it is around 50 feet deep at its deepest point. Most of this lake is much shallower though and there is a lot of vegetation in the lake. This lake is a good action lake for northern pike, bass, walleye, perch and bluegill. There are some quality fish in the lake too.
Pickerel Lake
Pickerel Lake is a mostly shallow lake, however, it does have some very deep water in it as well. The lake covers more than 1,000 acres, but once summer rolls around, the productive fishing water is a much smaller area as most of the better fish will move into the deeper water areas of the lake. Finding fish is not too hard here, but getting them to bite can be tricky since the better spots get fished pretty hard all summer long. Live bait can definitely help anglers boat a lot more fish.
Learn more about Pickerel Lake
Round Lake
Round Lake is the head of the Inland Waterway, however, the creek that connects Round Lake to Crooked Lake is no longer navigable. Round Lake is a small, shallow lake with a maximum depth of 14 feet. The average depth is under 6 feet though, so most of this lake is fairly shallow. Anglers target bass, pike, perch, bluegill and other sunfish.
