Grass Lake Fishing near Mancelona, Michigan

• Overview

  In Michigan, Grass Lake belongs to Kalkaska County. It stands 1,040 feet above sea level. Small at around 9 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. 3.1 miles away sits Mancelona, the nearest town. Rapid City is 9.2 miles away, with Bellaire at 9.5 miles. Water in the same corner: Mayville Lake (1.6 miles), Henry Lake just 1.6 miles, Green Lake (2 miles), Peckham Lake just 2.1 miles and Lake Arthur (2.2 miles). The boundary is close enough to be worth checking before you fish.

• Where to Fish on Grass Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Fish documented in Kalkaska County include yellow perch, white sucker, rock bass, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. Grass Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 67°F and January at 19°F. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from mid April. Open water usually runs from mid April until about early December. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. Grass Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Mayville Lake, 1.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. The position on Grass Lake is worth confirming on the day.