Palmer Lake Fishing near Manistique, Michigan

• Overview

  The Schoolcraft County entry here is Palmer Lake, in Michigan. The surface lies 630 feet up. Shoreline comes to about 2.3 miles, small enough to learn in a day. It ranks high for size among our Schoolcraft County listings. Manistique sits 7.5 miles from here and is the nearest stop. Green Bay sits 139 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Palmer Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. County-wide records name rainbow smelt, alewife and bloater. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. The near bank of Palmer Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 65°F; the cold one sits at 15°F. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer and winter test it. Once it clears, about mid April, the fishing comes on quickly. Ice usually gives way near mid April, and forms again about early December. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Palmer Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Season dates differ by species, so read the table. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Salter Lake, 1.1 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Treat access at Palmer Lake as something to verify.