Lake Esau Fishing in Presque Isle County, Michigan

• Overview

  The Presque Isle County end of Michigan holds Lake Esau. This is mixed forest country. It measures some 319 acres, and wind has room to build across it. Roughly 2.7 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Few waters listed in Presque Isle County are bigger. Alpena lies 17 miles from the water. Rogers City follows at 19 miles, then Hubbard Lake at 38 miles. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Lake Esau

  Our records carry no depth, so judge it from the bank. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Species logged across Presque Isle County include rainbow smelt, alewife, bloater and lake whitefish. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. On Lake Esau the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 67°F and January at 19°F. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. The lid arrives early and lasts until roughly mid April. Open water usually runs from mid April until about mid December. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. Anyone fishing Lake Esau regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is a mapped slipway roughly half a mile away. A carry of half a mile from the nearest parking is the price of fishing here. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. For a change of water, Lotus Lake is 1 mile distant. Ask locally about Lake Esau if anything is unclear.