Dorsey Lake Fishing in Alger County, Michigan

• Overview

  Dorsey Lake sits in Alger County, out in Michigan. The water sits 1,043 feet up. At about 39 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. About 1.1 miles of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. Start from K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, 14 miles down the road. Harvey lies 18 miles off, Gwinn another 18 miles. The boundary is near enough that local access rules are worth double-checking.

• Where to Fish on Dorsey Lake

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Public occurrence data for Alger County names yellow perch, rainbow smelt, northern pike, white sucker and rock bass. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. The shape of Dorsey Lake decides where the fish sit.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 64°F at the top of summer and 15°F at the bottom of winter. The year runs cold to warm and back, with clear transitions. Ice is part of the season here, ending near mid April. In an average year the thaw lands around mid April and the freeze near early December. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Anyone fishing Dorsey Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. State or provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Laakso Lake, 3.8 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position on Dorsey Lake before loading the car.