Bog Lake in Delta County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Bog Lake is set in Delta County, Michigan. The surface lies 577 feet up. Surface area runs to about 7 acres — small enough to read in one session. Most waters listed here for Delta County are larger. Manistique lies 21 miles from the water. Gladstone is 25 miles away, with Escanaba at 25 miles. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Bog Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Species logged across Delta County include white sucker, alewife, rock bass and yellow perch. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. At Bog Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 19°F to 66°F. The middle months are generous; the ends are demanding. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from mid April. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid April in spring and again near mid December in autumn. Spring is short and heavy here; autumn is longer and steadier. It holds true on Bog Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Portage Bay Sfcg Boat Launch provides a boat ramp about half a mile away. Mapping shows a campsite some half a mile from the water. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Charboneau Lake, 0.3 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. The position on Bog Lake is worth confirming on the day.