Fishing Butterfield Lake in Ontonagon County, Michigan

• Overview

  This water sits in Ontonagon County, Michigan. Around the bank it is pine and birch. At 16 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. For supplies, Ontonagon is 19 miles out. For a city, Thunder Bay is 112 miles off. The boundary is close enough to be worth checking before you fish. The water is easy to walk round in a long session.

• Where to Fish on Butterfield Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Open biodiversity records for Ontonagon County list yellow perch, pink salmon, walleye, brook trout and northern pike. The list covers the county rather than this water alone, so treat it as a guide. Work Butterfield Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 65°F and January near 13°F. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at late November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. It sets the rhythm of the year at Butterfield Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. Access points are not mapped for this water, which suits people who like quiet. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Sixmile Lake, 1 mile away, makes the obvious fallback. Signs at Butterfield Lake carry more weight than any list.