Paw Paw Lake, Michigan: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  You will find Paw Paw Lake in Berrien County, Michigan. The bank is 610 feet above sea level. About 943 acres, so local knowledge or a boat saves a lot of walking. It is the biggest water on our Berrien County list. Paw Paw Lake sits 0.3 miles from here and is the nearest stop. After that come Watervliet at 1.6 miles and Coloma at 2.5 miles. The boundary is near enough that local access rules are worth double-checking.

• Where to Fish on Paw Paw Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Public occurrence data for Berrien County names alewife, rainbow smelt, bloater, yellow perch and lake trout. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. On Paw Paw Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 72°F in July and bottom out at 24°F in January. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. The lid usually goes in late March, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The season between ice runs from about late March to late December. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. On Paw Paw Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. A pier or jetty stands 170 yards away, which helps on a crowded bank. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. For a change of water, Little Paw Paw Lake is 1.2 miles distant. Nothing here settles the position at Paw Paw Lake for certain.