Little Summit Lake, Michigan: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Baraga County, Michigan, is where Little Summit Lake sits. The land about it is lake country bush. The water covers some 41 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Roughly 1.2 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Compared with other Michigan water on our list, it sits high. L'Anse lies 10 miles from the water. Baraga lies 12 miles off, West Ishpeming another 32 miles. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Little Summit Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. 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. Across Baraga County, recorded fish include yellow perch, pink salmon, white sucker and walleye. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. At Little Summit Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 64°F in July and bottom out at 11°F in January. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Ice-out usually falls in late April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Break-up sits around late April on average, with the water closing again about late November. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. It sets the rhythm of the year at Little Summit Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No made access is recorded, so a short walk in is the likely arrangement. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Kortio Lake sits 0.6 miles off and takes the overflow. None of that is settled for Little Summit Lake in what we hold.